Open Michigan Blogs October 2016

Welcome to the new Open Michigan! Re-launching as a partnership of the University Library and Health Information Technology and Services, we are the home for all things open at the University of Michigan—including expertise and services for not just open educational resources, but open data and open publications as well.

In the past, Open Michigan always worked closely with partners in the Library to host events, promote sharing, and create OER. By officially joining forces, we can provide the University of Michigan community with a one stop shop for information and resources about open content of all kinds. Here you can find information about sharing research data, identifying reputable open access journals, and using openly licensed content in your work. This new site still has all of our OER collections, and after a dormant period we are beginning to publish new materials, such as new solutions sets for Dr. Garikipati’s very popular Finite Element Methods, and a module on improving hospital-based care for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

We’re excited to launch the new Open Michigan during Open Access Week, a global event to raise awareness about the benefits of open access, which is the unrestricted access and use of research outputs. The theme for this year’s OA Week is “Open in Action,” encouraging scholars, students, librarians, and other members of the academy to take action to make their work open and accessible. There are many ways to share your work with the world, and you’ll learn about them via our themes of “Find,” “Share,” and “Connect.”

As a public institution, the University of Michigan is committed to serving our university community, the residents of the state of Michigan, and the broader world in which we live. That means making sure that publicly-funded research (and its underlying data!) is accessible to citizens, providing a platform for teachers and students to find and re-use high-quality educational materials, and educating scholars about the benefits of sharing their work with the world beyond our campus. Throughout our new site you’ll find resources for doing all of this and more.

If you want to learn how to openly license your course, data, or research publication, or if you have general questions about all things Open at the University of Michigan please feel free to contact us.