Becoming Open Knowledge Institutions: Divergence, Dialogue and Diversity

The Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative (COKI) is an innovative research project that collects and analyses publicly available research output data to assist and encourage researchers, academics, administrators and executives to understand the actual and potential reach of openness in research, and to assess their progress on the path towards open knowledge institutions. By taking a broad global approach and using multiple data sources, the project diverges from existing approaches, methods and bibliometric measures in the scholarly research environment. It combines analysis of research output, citations, publication sources and publishers, funders, social media events, open and not open access to provide overviews of research output and performance at institutional, funder, consortial and country levels. The project collects and analyses personnel diversity data such as gender, focusing on widening the reach of data analysis to emphasise the importance and value of diversity in research and knowledge production. Interactive visual tools present research output and performance to encourage understanding and dialogue among researchers and management. The path towards becoming open knowledge institutions involves a process of cultural change, moving beyond dominant publishing and evaluation practices. This paper discusses how through divergence, diversity and dialogue the COKI project can contribute to this change, with examples of applications in understanding and embracing openness.