Contextualizing openness: Situating open science

Contextualizing Openness offers a fascinating look at Open Science and the democratization of knowledge in international development and social transformation with a focus on the Global South. This volume presents contri­butions from the 12 projects that form the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet) organized around four central themes: Defining Open Sci­ence in Development, Governing Open Science, Negotiat­ing Open Science, and Expanding Open Science for Social Transformation. The collective goal is to illustrate how the opportunities and challenges associated with openness vary across regions and, further, to identify the key dif­ferences that characterize the actors, institutions, as well as the infrastructure and governance of knowledge-based resources in highly diverse settings. To understand the movement toward Open Science and its impact on the thinking and practices that drive development, we must challenge the asymmetry of global knowledge production and of access to this knowledge. Contextualizing Open­ness aims to stimulate further research and debates about how to collectively design a knowledge system that is open and equitable for all.