Planned interview with OSI's Melissa Hagemann

["Richard Poynder" <aotg20@dsl.pipex.com>]

Dear All,

I shall shortly be interviewing Melissa Hagemann, the program manager of
the Open Society Institute's Open Access Project, and would welcome
suggestions for questions that you would like to see me put to Melissa.

I attach at the bottom of this message some background information on the
OSI Open Access Project, which most of you will perhaps know of in
connection with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

. Are you curious as to why OSI took an interest in the OA movement?

. Do you want to know how the Open Access Project fits within the larger
OSI agenda?

. Do you ever wonder how the $3 million funds that were set aside for the
project are being spent, and what the procedures are for awarding grants?

. Would you like to make any suggestions/recommendations to Melissa as to
other ways in which the Open Access Project could improve its support for
the OA movement?

If you have any questions about these or any other matter concerning the
Open Access Project, and Melissa's role within it, or suggestions you
would like to make to her please email them to me at aotg20@dsl.pipex.com
and I will put them directly to Melissa.

Best wishes,


Richard Poynder
Freelance Journalist
www.richardpoynder.com
http://poynder.blogspot.com


Background on the OSI Open Access Project:

The Open Access Project is part of OSI's Information Program.  It was
created following the December 2001 meeting held in Budapest that led to the
Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.soros.org/openaccess). 

The formal mission statement of the Open Access Project is as follows: 

"The Open Access Project builds upon the principles outlined in the
Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and aims to assist the
international effort to make research articles in all academic fields
freely available online. To achieve open access, the BOAI recommends two
complementary strategies:  the development of institutional repositories
and open access journals."

The OSI Information Program intends to spend $3 million on promoting open
access, perhaps more. A list of the grants already funded is available at:

http://www.soros.org/openaccess/grants-awarded.shtml