Introduction
Research and writing about social change can be extremely valuable for informing future action. However, too often there are barriers between activists and academics.
People engaged in social change can struggle to access relevant research due to online paywalls and the expense of academic publications. Researchers and writers can find it difficult to reach beyond academia and policymakers to find movement audiences for their work.
The Commons Social Change Library can bridge the divide.
Reaching Campaigners and Other Audiences
Since 2019 the Commons has established itself as “the go to portal” for social change resources. We share more than 1000 resources from over 700 contributors in over 40 languages. These come from many different sources and organisations around the world and are made available via a user friendly and free to access portal.
The library enables campaigners, advocates and social change organisations to update and learn skills, locate new findings and research, and improve the effectiveness of their work.
A final element to consider in designing and carrying out anti-extractivist research is the dissemination of our research results. How and where are we publishing our results in ways that are accessible to the community and to other communities and groups who could benefit from the knowledge? – Jamie Gorman, Beyond Extractivism in Research with Communities and Movements
Demonstrating Impact
Publishing with the Commons enables researchers to showcase the societal benefits of their work and deepen the impact of research outcomes. Working with the Commons can support researchers to develop compelling research impact statements about their work for grant submissions and career progression.
The number of times an article is accessed on the Commons can be provided. Such metrics are increasingly being considered by institutions and bodies such as the Australian Research Council (ARC) alongside academic citations in measuring overall impact.
By publishing accessible and applied work and findings, and sharing videos and materials from conferences, the Commons helps researchers and scholars to grow their reach and achieve public impact outcomes.
Our website is used by audiences that rarely access reports and academic publications yet are hungry for new insights and keen to improve their practice.
Data from Google Analytics
Who Uses the Commons
In the past five years the Commons Library has:
- Had more than 1.5 million website views
- Averaged 10 000 website views per week
- Shared social media posts and videos with 100 000s more views
- Highlighted hundreds of resources in our regular newsletter and other emails, directly reaching 4500+ people per month
- Had our resources quoted and featured on more than 350 Wikipedia pages, bringing further traffic to the website and attention to findings and publications
- Had 1000s of referrals from educational institutions in Australia and around the world including universities
- Steadily increased contributions in languages other than English, including research that is originally published in other languages, or is translated from English into other languages
- Experienced significant global engagement. In 2023 the countries with the most visits were the USA, India, Australia, Philippines, United Kingdom, Pakistan and Canada
- Consistently ranked highly on Google searches concerning activism and related terms
Content and Contributors
The Commons librarians are attuned to developments across a range of movements. As new issues arise we distribute and promote relevant resources to help campaigners and community builders to seize the moment.
The librarians also respond to direct queries on a wide range of social change topics. Feedback provided to researchers and educators has helped catalyse new research projects resulting in fresh resources.
The Commons includes more than 35 collections from social change partners. These include:
- Leading Change Network,
- Democracy Resource Hub,
- PowerLabs,
- Global Grassroots Support Network,
- Australian Progress, and
- Waging Nonviolence.
The Organising Models Mapping Project is an example of a research project which has resulted in a collection with practical application for organisations.
What Resources Can You Contribute?
The Commons prioritises resources that use accessible language to emphasize insights, trends and case studies which activists and communities can draw upon and consider in relation to campaigning and other social change work.
Resources we currently carry from academic and other researchers include:
- Summaries and articles regarding research findings, such as Activism and Pre-Suasion by Dr Chris Brown, Professor Brian Martin, Liane Munro, and Dr Dalilah Shemia-Goeke
- Research reports such as Why North-South Intersectionality Matters in Climate Justice: Perspectives of South Asian Australian Youth Climate Activists by Dr Ruchira Talukdar
- Excerpts from books, reports and courses with links to where full resources can be purchased or downloaded, such as Labour Power and Strategy by Dr Jane MacAlevey
- Recordings and videos of conference presentations, panels and lectures, such as Learning in Movements: Bridging the Scholar-Activist Divide convened by Dr Iain McIntyre at the 2023 Peace Studies Conference
- Case studies covering particular campaigns and movements, such as Australian Case Study: Divestment Campaign, 2013-2021 by Dr Robyn Gulliver
- Topic overviews explaining key concepts with links to webpages, journals and other resources, such as Degrowth as a Concept and Practice by Associate Professor Anitra Nelson
- Interviews with researchers about their findings, such as Movement Success, Durability and Research, Commons Conversation Podcast with Professor Winnifred Louis
- Reflections on movement research, such as Beyond Extractivism in Research with Communities and Movements by Dr Jamie Gorman
Project Work
In addition to hosting resources we work in partnership and provide customised services to organisations and networks. This includes collating tailored resource kits, hosting collections, developing curriculum, writing case studies, researching issues and assisting them to improve and build their own resource libraries. Check out some of our projects.
Contact
If you are interested in contributing resources to the Commons (see Writing for The Commons Social Change Library) or discussing collaborative work then please contact us.
