MINUTES
Time: 5 pm-6 pm (11 to 12 Noon EST; 5 pm GMT+1)
Participants: Dianne Kaseman, Gerry Hanley, Pierre Bey, Ian Magrath, Julie Estal
OLD BUSINESS
1. Subscribers/contributors
- An intern has been hired for about 3 months to help catalogue materials on the OERC website. Gerry will provide her contact details to OERC Executive Committee members ASAP
-Participants in this meeting provided positive feedback to the Health G20 initiative (see http://www.pro-brook.com) mentioned by Ian. If some Executive Committee members are interested in including an article about OERC in this publication, they will need to find sponsors. OERC Executive Committee members are invited to contact Ian for more information
- Pierre Bey agreed to invite his contacts to join the OERC Community and contribute materials in French for users based in French-speaking LMICs. The letter signed by Larry is in the process of being adapted and translated. Once finalized, it will be sent to Pierre Bey/INCTR French Branch’s relevant contacts next month.
- Gerry said that it may be possible to include a piece about OERC in the next issue of MERLOT Newsletter, which will be sent out next month.
- Ian indicated that it may be possible to write an “editorial” for The Lancet Oncology Journal, the International Journal of Cancer, the European Journal of Cancer and/or Cancer World Magazine. He offered to contact the editors of these various publications. Pierre Bey also mentioned the Bulletin du cancer as worthy of consideration in this context.
- Gerry stressed the importance of setting the right expectations to the potential readership and of inviting readers to participate to this initiative knowing that it is still in its early stages. He will email a draft text together with some simple instructions on how to contribute materials which could be used when contacting journal editors.
- Gerry will draft a discussion document to be included in the white paper on content validation to be submitted to the OERC Advisory Board for its review. He will also post it on the OER for Cancer group on Merlot Voices to start a forum discussion on the pros and cons of the knowledge v prescription systems. Ian suggested providing examples such as the controversy about the usefulness of mammography to encourage people to get involved in this discussion.
- Dianne will liaise with Gerry and Larry to draft an article on OERC to be included in the next issue of INCTR NETWORK Magazine, which should be sent out in September. Ian gave a brief outline of this article, which could start with some background information on the open access movement, followed by remarks on the aims of OERC and an invitation to contribute materials and use this website. Gerry suggested mentioning the “review by readers” v prescriptive systems debate and how OERC could help strike a balance between these two models.
NEXT MEETING: August 24th 2010