The Cluster and the University Library invited Dr. Martin Eve (Lincoln University) for a two day intensive workshop with Dulip Withanage and Dr. Andrea Hacker to develop and design a publication tool for Open Access books. The workshop took place March 27-28.
Building this publication tool is part of the objective of the DFG-funded collaborative project to launch the Open Access Gold book-series “Heidelberg Studies in Transculturality” which is aimed at recent PhDs and junior researchers.
In two days, the group documented needs, requirements, technology, and processes of a pure Open Access book press taking into consideration all aspects of book-production. The results will serve as a blueprint for the construction of the tool, which will take two years to complete. The finished product will complement the publishing platform Open Monograph Press (OMP), which was developed by another collaborating partner, the Public Knowledge Project (PKP).
Martin Eve is lecturer in English Literature, Chief Editor of Orbit: Writing Around Pynchon, and founder and Project Director of Open Library of the Humanities.
The book series is a pilot project that informs the overall goal of the project to develop a sustainable business model for the production of open access books. The Cluster’s Editiorial Office will manage the manuscript development from submission to the finished product and the university library will make available and promote the new online publications. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing funding for project staff and academic assistants in the amount of 380,000 euros over two years.
The project is being coordinated by Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels of the Cluster directorate and the director of the university library, Dr. Veit Probst. Open-access experts Dr. Hacker and Dr. Nissen are responsible for the implementation.