OpenCon 2018

Communities lie at the core of successfully making the transition to systems of research and education that are open by default. Culture is actively created by the individual decisions that people make everyday. However, when looking what open advocates prioritize and where investments are made, it seems this is regularly forgotten. Too often we built for rather than with. We create technical infrastructure then ask communities to adapt to the tools rather than building them in deep collaboration with the communities they seek to serve. We talk about the important of changing behaviors, but too rarely support the numerous and varied ways in which this work needs to happen. To make open research and open education a reality—in ways that realize their full potential and are equitable—community building needs to be the foundation upon which our other efforts are built. This panel will explore examples of how community building can lie at the core of the shift to open and reasons why this is essential.