Document details

A Decolonial Approach to Open-Access Repositories: How to Set Up a Subject Repository for Documents on International Cultural Relations

Stuttgart: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) (2023), 78 pp.

Contains 4 figures, bibliogr. pp. 63-76

CC BY

"This study is based on desk research, supplemented by a three-month open commenting period and a public workshop whose participants have substantial experience in the technologies and practices analysed, or are members of the communities of practice, amongst them experts who work in “Global South” contexts. A s a result, a recommendation matrix was developed which tackles the most important issues: balancing “Global North” privileges by subtraction instead of just adding diversity, working towards social justice by involving the communities of practice from the very start, setting up a polycentric governance structure based on values defined by the communities, establishing ethics of care and translation processes to mediate different roles and accommodate individual needs, supporting multilingualism, low connectivity environments, interoperability, and experiments, all with a critical stance towards standardisation and rationalisation, planning sustainably for the long term, collaborating and cooperating, doing everything transparently, at a moderate pace, learning humbly and perpetually." (Abstract)
1 Introduction, 10
2 Open Access and Subject Repositories in the World, 23
3 Operating a Subject Repository with Decolonial Sensitivity, 40
4 Recommendations and Outlook, 61