Reinterpreting knowledge commons and sociospatial strategies of community-led publishing in times of transition

What role do sociospatial strategies, open infrastructures and solidarity play during the digital transformation of the scholarly publishing system? In a highly contested field where the die seems already cast of how to publish and read, many scholars band together in a common struggle against an enclosure and co-optation of knowledge infrastructures and disrupt solid power geometries (Massey 1999). In my talk I will begin with prospects and challenges for scholars and academic institutions during the digital transformation of the scholarly publishing system as well as its associated mechanisms of producing social inequalities (Larivière et al. 2015; Herb & Schöpfel 2018). Followed by stressing on sociospatial practices and its strategic relevance for stakeholders being involved within the Open Access community. In this connection, I will more precisely exemplify approaches differing from established forms of scholarly publishing. As a case study for establishing solidary infrastructures of scholarly publishing, I will bring the Radical Open Access Collective into focus of my talk (Adema & Moore 2018). In this regard, I will highlight the Collective’s reinterpretation of knowledge commons (Hess und Ostrom 2007) and sociospatial strategies they apply for vertical collaborations and horizontal alliances via establishing infrastructures in order to create a solidary knowledge commons.