My talk at the Biomed Central Open Access 2010 conference in Nairobi
A few weeks ago I made a sentimental visit to the remote village where I grew up. It is Matatiele, up near the border of Kwa-Zulu Natal, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho, in the footlhills of the Maloti mountains. The village appears to be well run and - at least on the surface- prosperous (although I know there is a lot of poverty in the surrounding countryside). We drove from Durban, through Underberg and Swartberg, alongside the now disused railway line that was the last scheduled passenger steam train service in the world, to Kokstad and then to Matatiele. Our return route took us away from the highway, but still on a tarred road, to Mount Frere and Maclear then Encgobo, Dutywa and finally East London. Mountain valleys and memories all the way.
I don’t think it’s a generation thing, I think it’s a generative thing. There are those who understand the generative potential of new tech and those who don’t. Some of those who don’t are 18, some of those who don’t run tech companies, although perhaps not for much longer. To show that it’s not an age thing, I interviewed South African communications and open access expert Eve Gray, and we spoke about the Kindle, the future of publishing and the Rolling Stones.
http://memeburn.com/2010/06/qa-with-eve-gray-the-kindle-ipad-wwii-and-the-future-of-publishing/
An opening forum with people like Yochai Benkler, Sunil Abraham and Michael Geist, then lively interactive workshop on open development plus good time for socialising.
My background is in university press and academic textbook publishing. I also run a publishing strategy consultancy, Eve Gray & Associates, based in Cape Town. My interest is in the potential of electronic media and new copyright models to open up the volume and increase the impact of African scholarly publishing.
My lifestream gives shorter musings on my work, events I'm attending, my travels and breaking news from the industry. For longer posts read my blog, Gray Area, at http://gray-area.co.za
