Digital Scholarship, Digital Technology and ODL Issues

Abstract

44th Distance Education Association of Southern Africa Annual Meeting and Conference 18 – 20 September 2009, Maseru, Lesotho By Paul G. West, Director, Knowledge Management & Information Technology Commonwealth of Learning (COL) // Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with you today about Digital Scholarship. When I was asked to speak, I was given the guideline: to cover Online Publications, Open Access, and the thorny issue of Copyright. I will certainly try to cover these areas from my perspective and hope I will not jam up the gearbox while I am at it. // I will be looking at these areas from a global perspective, showing that our countries in Southern Africa are not working in isolation, but rather as part of the global educational scene. Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana form part of the Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth and so educators especially in these countries are reminded of how they are collaborating in a global setting with partners in the Indian Ocean, Caribbean and the Pacific. // As we look further afield across not just neighbouring borders, but across further borders, we face new challenges in addition to those we know of such as deferent languages and cultures. We face continued rapid change in technology and in legal frameworks.