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Dear All,<br>
<br>
Happy New Year 2017. On behalf of GeoForAll community , we are very excited to support the Year of Open 2017 and looking forward to work with you all on expanding Open Education worldwide.<br>
<br>
15 years ago the term “Open Educational Resources” was created, the Budapest Open Access Initiative was launched, and the first Creative Commons licenses were released;<br>
<br>
10 years ago the Cape Town Open Education Declaration was written;<br>
<br>
5 years ago the first Open Education Week took place and the first OER World Congress was held, resulting in the Paris OER Declaration.<br>
<br>
2017 is a great year to celebrate our achievements while making even more people aware of the benefits of openness. That’s why we’re calling 2017 the Year of Open, and we want the global open community to lead the way. Here’s how:<br>
<br>
<p>* Use promotional materials <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B-2iwGe3GdicVWZpVG9jOExoVDQ" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk489403" previewremoved="true">
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B-2iwGe3GdicVWZpVG9jOExoVDQ</a> . The more people see the Year of Open logo, the more they will want to find out what it’s about.<br>
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* Get the word out about open. Write blog posts, op-eds, articles; make videos; hold discussions with new audiences. Let everyone know you support open by using the #yearofopen hashtag.<br>
<br>
<br>
<p> * Participate in Open Education Week <a href="https://www.openeducationweek.org" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk119397" previewremoved="true">
https://www.openeducationweek.org</a> - let’s make this the biggest and best one yet. Open Education Week is one of the key activities for open education globally, with online and locally hosted events around the world. Get ideas on the website, and let us
know what you’re doing so it will appear on the Open Education Week events calendar.<br>
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<br>
The Year of Open is not just for open education; we encourage our colleagues working in other areas of open to join with us. Look for more information in the coming few weeks, and the official launch on 1.17.17.<br>
<br>
Access to quality education opportunities is everyone's birthright. Open principles in education (open educational resources , open standards, free and open software, open access to research publications) are key to lower entry barriers and make sure there
is no digital divide etc. Open principles in education are key for breaking down the artificial barriers and rapidly bringing down the walls of digital divide. Caring and sharing are important values in education .<br>
<br>
Education and empowerment are key for getting rid of extreme poverty and help create digital economy opportunities also for billions of our economically poor brothers and sisters across our planet . Education and empowerment of students are also key for developing
creative and open minds in students which is critical for building open innovation and contributes to building up Open Knowledge for the benefit of the whole society and for our future generations.So let us all join efforts and work together to enable open
principles in education to help create a world that is more accessible, equitable and full of innovation and opportunities for everyone.<br>
<br>
Details of why this is important at <br>
<p><a href="http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/07/sharing-is-caring-why-openness-is-key-for-true-empowerment-and-sustainability/" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk810647" previewremoved="true">http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/07/sharing-is-caring-why-openness-is-key-for-true-empowerment-and-sustainability/</a>
<br>
</p>
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Wishing everyone Happy New Year 2017...<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
<br>
Suchith<br>
<br>
Dr. Suchith Anand<br>
<p><a href="http://www.geoforall.org/" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk517444" previewremoved="true">http://www.geoforall.org/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.geoforall.org/" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk517444" previewremoved="true"></a><a href="http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk548864" previewremoved="true">http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/</a>
<br>
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<br>
GeoForAll - Building and expanding Open Geospatial Science<br>
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