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Leveraging Open Source Hardware Solutions for Clean & Quality Air in Ghana

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Photo credit (Vocal Media) Growing up in Accra, Ghana, my daily routine involved waking up at an ungodly hour to try and catch a bus to my local high school. Each morning, my father would rouse me from my slumber as early as 4 am to ensure I beat the infamous Accra morning traffic. On one particular day, I vividly recall arriving at my bus stop around 6:30 am to 7:00 am. There, I encountered a local Ga woman, who, inexplicably, was openly burning waste by the roadside on the path to my school. As a young teenager, dressed neatly and eager to make a positive impression on my high school peers, I was distressed by the prospect of smelling like burnt waste so early in the morning. I found myself wondering, "Why is she burning waste right here, so close to the road, and at such an early hour?" In hindsight, the more appropriate question should have been, "Why does she need to burn waste at all?" Unfortunately, this story is just one of countless experiences that m

Open Licensing in the African Maker Ecosystem

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  Open licensing refers to the practice of releasing creative works, such as music, images, designs, software, etc. under a license that allows for free access, use, and distribution. The use of open licenses in Africa is gaining popularity as a means of promoting access to knowledge, information and encouraging innovation and creativity.  Open licenses enable collaboration, development, access, and inspiration from your creative works without requiring you to give up the rights (copyright) automatically granted to you for your creation. An open license lets you retain ownership of your work, while allowing others to use, share, and remix it, without requesting your permission. For most open licenses, all that is required of the users is to attribute you for your work. ( BCCampus ) Open licensing in Africa's maker ecosystem can play a significant role in promoting innovation and development on the continent. Open licensing in the African Maker Ecosystem refers to the prac

Why Open Science Hardware (OScH)?

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Reviewed by: Brianna Johns & Abdoul Kafid Toko Hi there, If you're reading this article, then my guess is you want to know about open science hardware. What exactly is open science hardware? Why is open science hardware important? We will get to it in a minute - but first, let me tell you something about open science if you didn't already know. :) Open science is an inclusive and collaborative approach to scientific research and its application in society. Scientific research simply put is any inquiry in the fields of natural or applied science for the extension of knowledge. (Law insider) This is crucial given the barriers imposed by closed knowledge systems and the traditional Intellectual Property (IP) regime. ( Gathering for Open Science Hardware ) Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind. It can be an invention, a design. Etc. (Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines) There are many types of intellectual property. The best-known types are copyr

Open Access Repositories : What are they and their significance to African Researchers?

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      What do you think an open access repository is? According to Queens Mary University of London in London, UK, a digital repository is an online archive for the storage of digital objects; these can range from digital archives, moving or still image galleries, manuscripts, anything that is in electronic format and needs a place to be stored either in the short or longer term.An Open Access Repository on the other hand is a digital repository where the content is freely available to download and reuse (sometimes with restrictions), where no login or subscription is required.   Africa is home to several Digital repository . In Ghana, the University of Ghana has an open access repository called the University of Ghana Digital Collections(UGSpace) . UGSpace is the institutional repository of the University. It is accessible to everyone around the country, continent and the world. One can find research on Ghanaian and African history dating back to 1469. You can easily creat

Open Science: Welcome to the amazing universe of accessibility, transparency, reusability & interoperability

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  The concept of Open Science is indeed a fascinating one. Open Science makes your research results available to everyone interested. Imagine Jack designs and creates a pen (blue, red & black), which he puts on the market. Everybody has a material to write with if they want to scribble down something. Now, let's say John, a technology enthusiast and creator, comes up with an idea to create a pen that actually writes all the rainbow colors in one ink, just imagine!   Now John has an amazing idea based on Jack’s idea but he stumbles into an obstacle, he attempts to reproduce what Jack has done but he does not know how to. John then spends a lot of time researching how to design a pen. But, what if there was a simpler way for John to actually implement his ideas with all the resources he requires at his convenience, and with more ease and comfort? This is where open science comes in.       According to the Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH) , “science hardwar