The benefits of an open access strategy

Some IP owners have strategic aims for their ideas that are not necessarily linked to revenue generation. It could be that the IP has been created to foster innovation, share knowledge or to support advocacy initiatives. This case study demonstrates how Open Access can support these aims.

Open Access grants free and open access to information, meaning that there are no financial or legal barriers to accessing it. It is open for anyone to use freely, download, read, copy and distribute. Although the IP is freely available, owners can still stipulate how it can be used by others through the application of Creative Commons Licences; these grant the public permission to use creative works under copyright law.

Case study: Climate Stripes

Professor Ed Hawkins MBE is a climate scientist in the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading. He leads a research project involving thousands of volunteers recovering weather data from the mid eighteenth-century.

The research project involved recovering information from hand-written archives. Professor Hawkins uses novel graphical visualisations of this data to show how the planet is warming, most notably the Warming Stripes, to start conversations about climate change.

The University of Reading has pursued an Open Access strategy to make these graphics free to use for any purpose (with appropriate credits). This is because the aim is not revenue generation, but rather to ensure this research is shared as widely as possible with academics, industry and the general public. Users of the Warming Stripes (also known as the Climate Stripes) are asked for voluntary donations to help support a scholarship scheme for Meteorology students. Take a look at some of the examples of the way the stripes have been used.

Reading bus featuring the climate stripes. ©Reading Buses

Optional activity

You can download the climate stripes for where you live using the ‘Select Region’ menu on the left. Here are the stripes for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, for example:

How effective do you think the Open Access strategy has been in promoting this University of Reading research worldwide? Share your thoughts in the Discussion area below.