Thanks for saying this. As a non-academic without access to JSTOR, its so frustrating when a google search throws up relevant academic papers in JSTOR or similar databases, and I can't read them.
Hmmmm.. as an "Indian (forrmer) hacker" lets see what can be done to strike a blow for hactivism. Sarbajit On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 9:21 PM, Owen Densmore <o...@backspaces.net> wrote: > Rather than focus on the particular case of JSTOR, let us lift the > discussion up to the military-industrial complex level .. here being the > academic-publishing complex. > > Fundamentally we have painted ourselves into the corner; our universities > and research institutions have colluded with the publishing industry to > create an inequality: the ordinary citizen cannot read the papers that are > so important to the progress of knowledge. > > When looked at in this context, we have created an underclass, and worse, > harmed the overall advance of knowledge by eliminating potentially astute > participants -- the "civilians" who cannot access the publisher's knowledge > base. > > Yes, we do need to recompense those performing the publishing task. But at > this point, most of the paper writers are "self publishing" anyway, using > the internet and digital media. > > Our system is nearly feudal: our academic journals attempt to be so > selective as to provide a (useful) need: referees of the worth of the > papers. A (generally) welcome filtering function. They in turn are > aggregated into large collections like JSTOR so that universities can access > them with lower cost. This too is reasonable. Feudal but reasonable. > > But this intertwined matrix has evolved to be both obsolete due to the web > an harmful do to moving from protecting knowledge to making it available > only to the select. > > Like buggy whip makers, publishing has to evolve. Clearly they do provide > useful service. But now they need to get on with it, letting "the rest of > us" have access. > > -- Owen > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 6:56 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES <e...@psu.edu> wrote: > >> Owen, >> There was a lot of interesting back and forth on one of the history of >> psychology lists a few weeks ago regarding JSTOR. They have (and they claim >> they generously have) recently made all papers pre-1923 open access. This >> is clearly a boon to anyone interested in the history of any academic field. >> However, there was a question over whether it was significant, as anything >> pre-1923 is public domain. I insisted that it was at least a little >> generous, because their scans are not public domain, and, at any rate, JSTOR >> is under no obligation to let Joe Schmo access such articles through their >> search system. >> >> The case of current articles, and articles produced as a result of >> government grants, is a little different, but I'm still not convinced JSTOR >> is in any wrong. Why aren't people blaming the journals, and demanding that >> the journals publishing these articles be free? That is, why are we bothered >> that the electronic version is not free, but we tacitly accept that the >> print version should cost money? For that matter, why not just blame the >> authors? Why not pressure the authors themselves to simply post the results >> publicly on a webpages for all to see? Frankly, that would be easy for all >> government funded research to be available for free. >> >> JSTOR is just a distributor, why blame the distributor? >> >> Just some thoughts, >> Eric >> >> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 06:02 PM, *Owen Densmore <o...@backspaces.net>*wrote: >> >> Interesting sum-up of the JSTOR battle, and paid-by-taxpayer academic >> papers being sold. >> >> http://www.badscience.net/2011/09/academic-papers-are-hidden-from-the-public-heres-some-direct-action/ >> >> The article admits that there are reasons for pay-walls when the site >> "adds value" by scanning old papers for example. But they, like most of us >> I think, believe there are other ways to make papers available and allow >> JSTOR and their like flourish. >> >> I think its simple: if the papers are pay-walled for long enough, pressure >> will develop, and either a Wiki-Leaks stunt will occur, or China and/or >> India will just hack the sites so that their students have free access. >> >> -- Owen >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> >> Eric Charles >> >> Professional Student and >> Assistant Professor of Psychology >> Penn State University >> Altoona, PA 16601 >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
