(Episode 174) Openness, equity and the changing information ecosystem with Monica Westin

In this episode, Nick talks to Monica Westin, Director of Open Policy Development at Cambridge University Press, about her wide-ranging work across the open knowledge movement - including roles with DORA, NISO, COUNTER Metrics, and Wikimedia UK.

We discuss some of the challenges facing research communication, and explore knowledge equity, responsible research assessment, and the future of open access publishing.

We talk about the role of Wikimedia and Wikipedia in supporting open knowledge, and why making research outputs more visible and reusable matters.

We consider the impact of generative AI on the information ecosystem. From attribution and provenance to Creative Commons licensing and the future of openness, and discuss how researchers, publishers and information professionals can respond to rapid technological change while remaining committed to the principles of open knowledge.

Links:

Cambridge University Press Open Access policiesKnowledge Equity NetworkKnowledge Equity & Open Scholarship WeekCUP Publishing Futures report (2025)Letter: University research must incentivise quality over quantity (Financial Times: paywall)Open Access : who's converting and who's just adding? (Rob Johnson LinkedIn post)Cambridge Open Engage platformCollateral Damage? Human Creativity and Interaction in the AI Crawling Era (Wikimania Panel)María Teresa Freyre de Andrade (Wkipedia Article)Beyond the Editathon: A New Contribution Model for ExpertsCreative Commons Signals

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