[Afridig] FW: Invitation to partner with ReCreate SA and others on international seminars to be held in January 2023 in South Africa (Right to Reseach Project)

Tue Sep 20 21:22:38 SAST 2022

Good evening,

Please see emails below.  Keith Breckenridge has suggested that I forward them to your list for attention.  If any of your researchers feel they could contribute to the discussions on TDM, AI, Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Open Science, right to research or related topics, please let me know.  

Thanks, 

Kind regard

Denise

Denise R. Nicholson t/a Scholarly Horizons

BA HDipLib (UNISA), LLM (WITS)

Scholarly Communications and Copyright Consultant

ORCID no. - orcid.org/0000-0002-8591-3276

Email:  <mailto:denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com> denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com

Cell: +27 834422572

Website:  <https://www.scholarlyhorizons.com/> https://scholarlyhorizons.com

Webinars/Workshops:  <https://scholarlyhorizons.co.za/webinars-workshops/> https://scholarlyhorizons.co.za/webinars-workshops/

Based in Edenvale, Gauteng, South Africa

Recipient of SALI Trust-LIASA Lifetime Achievement Award (Sept 2021)

Recipient of UNISA Chancellor's Calabash Award for Outstanding Educator (Nov 2021)

Expert Advisor to IFLA Committee on Copyright & Legal Matters

From: Keith Breckenridge <keith at breckenridge.org.za> 
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2022 13:37
To: Denise Nicholson <denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com>
Cc: Jonathan.Klaaren at wits.ac.za
Subject: Re: Invitation to partner with ReCreate SA and others on international seminars to be held in January 2023 in South Africa (Right to Reseach Project)

Hi Denise,

It would be good to link the group doing digitisation work with these panels?  Do you want to forward to afridig at lists.wiser.org.za <mailto:afridig at lists.wiser.org.za>  and I'll push it through?

k

-------
Keith Breckenridge  W I S E R - The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand | Pbag 3, PO Wits,  Johannesburg, South Africa, 2050 | Phone +27(0)11-7174272 | Web: wiser.wits.ac.za  <http://wiser.wits.ac.za> 

On Sat, 17 Sept 2022 at 20:58, Denise Nicholson <denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com <mailto:denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com> > wrote:

Dear Malebakeng, Jonathan, Keith and Daisy, 

I hope you are both well.  It has been a while since we have communicated.  

I retired from Wits at the end of December 2020 and now have a small consultancy, called Scholarly Horizons.  I am writing to you as a member of the co-ordinating team of ReCreate South Africa.  We are planning a series of high-profile seminars in January 2023, including international and regional guests.  We would like to invite you to partner with us in these events and to meet with us online to discuss these events.  There may be other academics you would like us to include in this meeting so please let me have their names and emails so we can contact them too. Please send me some dates and times that are suitable to you so Kyla McNulty from ReCreate (copied in this email) can set up the meeting.  We have also recently communicated with a number of researchers at the University of Cape Town and the University of Pretoria, and they are keen to partner with us and host the events.       

ReCreate SA is a coalition of academics, activists, authors, creators, educators and others, who support balanced copyright with exceptions for education, research, and access to knowledge. We are working closely with the global Right to Research Project convened by the Program on Infromation Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at the American University - Washington College of Law. ReCreate SA affiliates include the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), South African Guild of Actors (SAGA), Blind South Africa, Right to Know, SECTION 27, Scholarly Horizons, and others.

As you know, Text and Data Mining is an increasingly important research technique for expanding human knowledge. Global pandemics like Covid-19 and climate change make it vital to use technology in the interest of humanity.  Researchers working to expand human knowledge need digital tools and data that are often restricted to large corporations.  In Africa, researchers have a particular interest in ensuring that traditional knowledge is protected and that African languages form part of the global knowledge system. But how easily can African and global researchers use computational data analysis? What are some examples of the questions being asked by TDM researchers on the continent?  In many jurisdictions, copyright law is a key barrier to accessing the collections of data required for TDM in fields like Open Science or digital humanities. What are the best examples of legal frameworks to support Access to Knowledge and the Right to Research?  How can Africans play a leading role in advancing these frameworks?

Purpose of planned seminars:  To bring together leading thinkers on text and data mining, computational research, copyright and related issues in Africa with researchers, policy makers and community activists to deepen understanding of the field and related matters and promote solutions that support African research.

Proposed dates for seminars: Between 23 - 27 January 2023

Venues: University of Cape Town and University of Pretoria 

Current Partners: UCT IP Unit and iNtaka Tech Law Centre, UP Data Science and Natural Language Processing Department, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at American University - Washington College of Law, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT), Strathmore University, Kenya, University of Pretoria, Future Africa and Department of Computer Science, and others.

Possible Participants and Invitees: Academics and policy makers from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and beyond. Researchers from the continent. Community activists. USAf and research bodies such as ASSAF, NRF, HRSC, CSIR. Government Departments including DTI, DAC, DSI, DHET, and lawmakers from the National Assembly and NCOP.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Thanks

Regards

Denise Nicholson

Denise R. Nicholson t/a Scholarly Horizons

BA HDipLib (UNISA), LLM (WITS)

Scholarly Communications and Copyright Consultant

ORCID no. - orcid.org/0000-0002-8591-3276 <http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8591-3276> 

Email:  <mailto:denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com> denise.nicholson at scholarlyhorizons.com

Cell: +27 834422572

Website:  <https://www.scholarlyhorizons.com/> https://scholarlyhorizons.com

Webinars/Workshops:  <https://scholarlyhorizons.co.za/webinars-workshops/> https://scholarlyhorizons.co.za/webinars-workshops/

Based in Edenvale, Gauteng, South Africa

Recipient of SALI Trust-LIASA Lifetime Achievement Award (Sept 2021)

Recipient of UNISA Chancellor's Calabash Award for Outstanding Educator (Nov 2021)

Expert Advisor to IFLA Committee on Copyright & Legal Matters

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