Hi, I’m Will. I’m the Director of the Open Knowledge Center & Head of Information Policy at North Carolina State University where (as the title might suggest) I work on information literacy and open knowledge, with a particular focus on copyright issues and open education.
I did my graduate work on information science and policy at UNC Chapel Hill, where I also earned a JD at the law school. My current research is focused on developing shared copyright literacy in support of global systems of open knowledge. I’ve been supported in this work by the IMLS, the Hewlett Foundation, and LYRASIS. I’m currently a visiting researcher at the University of Amsterdam as Fulbright Schuman Innovation Fellow, researching support for copyright literacy in European open science communities.
My work centers around the intersection of law, open knowledge, and information policy in higher education, with a strong focus on developing the core legal and intellectual infrastructure needed to develop a global body of open knowledge. I am proud to work at a public land grant institution and deeply invested in building more genuine connections with the public through open practices and communicated scholarship. Feel free to learn more about my recent projects or reach out any time.
I grew up (and went to school) as an actor and a dancer and can still be found on stage from time to time. I’m also a lapsed gamer, and my first scholarly article was focused on First Amendment challenges to using ESRB ratings to regulate violent games. In recent years both acting and gaming have taken a back seat to parenting, which regularly calls on both my ability to play silly games and to make an entertaining spectacle of myself.
You can contact me at wmcross [at] ncsu [dot] edu and follow me on twitter at tceles_B_hsup