Hello Richard, Yes, indeed, you are right, the coordinated actions required for bibliodiversity are similar to the efforts needed to deal with the covid19 pandemic.
For your second question, the way I am envisioning the collaborations taking place is as follows: much of the discussions across the different stakeholder communities will happen at the national and sometimes regional level, while the international coordination will take place, in parallel, within each different stakeholder community. Although not a perfect solution, because some countries are more cohesive than others, many communities already have fairly strong regional and international relationships with their peers, including scholarly societies, libraries, funders (e.g. the funders forum at RDA), governments, as well as publishers, and repositories. > Are translation technologies adequate to the task envisaged for them in the > document? I’m not an expert on translation technologies, but my colleagues tell me that for some languages the technologies are quite far along already and work well (e.g. Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese), for others it will take a bit longer. They are suggesting a timeline for most languages to have fairly good translation tools available within the next 5 years. > Might it be that the different interests and priorities of these stakeholders > are such that joint action is not possible, certainly in a way that would > satisfy all the stakeholders? After all, funders got involved with open > access because after 20+ years the other stakeholders had failed to work > together effectively. However, in doing so, these funders appear (certainly > in Europe) to be pushing the world in a direction that the authors of this > report deprecate. What, practically, can the movement do to achieve the > aspirations of the document beyond making a call to action or further > declarations? The point of this call to action is to raise awareness with funders and others about this important issue. I’m not so cynical to think organizational perspectives can never change. Strategies can (and should) evolve as we gain a better understanding of the landscape, and adopt new ideas and principles. We hope that this call to action will have that type of impact. And, yes of course not all interests will align, but we are already seeing more cohesiveness at the national level than in the past. In Canada, where I am based, for example, the funders, libraries and local Canadian publishers are now in regular dialogue and collaborating to work on common action items and to better align policies, funding and infrastructure. This is also happening in other jurisdictions such as France with its Committee for Open Science <https://www.ouvrirlascience.fr/the-committee-for-open-science/> and Portugal where the national funder, universities (including libraries and university presses) and scholarly societies have created and maintain a national infrastructure for Open Access (hosting repositories and journals) and aligned policies. All the best, Kathleen Kathleen Shearer Executive Director Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) www.coar-repositories.org > On Apr 16, 2020, at 1:31 AM, Richard Poynder <richard.poyn...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > “Designing a system that fosters bibliodiversity, while also supporting > research at the international level is extremely challenging. It means > achieving a careful balance between unity and diversity; international and > local; and careful coordination across different stakeholder communities and > regions in order to avoid a fragmented ecosystem.” > > That seems to me to be a key paragraph in this document. And the pandemic — > which requires that information is shared very quickly and broadly, and > across borders — does certainly highlight the fact that the current scholarly > communication system leaves a lot to be desired. > > I have three questions: > > Are translation technologies adequate to the task envisaged for them in the > document? > > How is it envisaged that researchers, policymakers, funders, service > providers, universities and libraries from around the world will all work > together, and by means of what forum? I know there are a number of > organisations and initiatives focused on the different issues raised in the > document (not least COAR) but how exactly, and by what means, will these > different stakeholders coordinate and work together to achieve the stated > aims? I know there are a number of library-led organisations (like COAR), but > is not a more diverse forum (in terms of the different stakeholders) needed? > How many members of COAR are also members of cOAlition S for instance? > > Might it be that the different interests and priorities of these stakeholders > are such that joint action is not possible, certainly in a way that would > satisfy all the stakeholders? After all, funders got involved with open > access because after 20+ years the other stakeholders had failed to work > together effectively. However, in doing so, these funders appear (certainly > in Europe) to be pushing the world in a direction that the authors of this > report deprecate. What, practically, can the movement do to achieve the > aspirations of the document beyond making a call to action or further > declarations? > > Richard Poynder > > > On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 at 15:53, Kathleen Shearer <scholc...@lists.ala.org > <mailto:scholc...@lists.ala.org>> wrote: > (Apologies for the cross posting) > > Dear all, > Today, my colleagues and I are issuing a “Call for Action!” > > With the publication of this paper, Fostering Bibliodiversity in Scholarly > Communications: A Call for Action > <https://www.coar-repositories.org/news-updates/fostering-bibliodiversity-in-scholarly-communications-a-call-for-action/>, > we are calling on the community to make concerted efforts to develop strong, > community-governed infrastructures that support diversity in scholarly > communications (referred to as bibliodiversity). > > Diversity is an essential characteristic of an optimal scholarly > communications system. Diversity in services and platforms, funding > mechanisms, and evaluation measures will allow the research communications to > accommodate the different workflows, languages, publication outputs, and > research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of different > research communities. In addition, diversity reduces the risk of vendor > lock-in, which inevitably leads to monopoly, monoculture, and high prices. > > We are living through unprecedented times, with a global pandemic sweeping > the world, leading to illness, death, and unparalleled economic upheaval. > Although our concerns about bibliodiversity have been growing for years, the > current crisis has exposed the deficiencies in a system that is increasingly > homogenous and prioritizes profits over the public good. > > Stories abound about the urgent need for access to the research literature, > as illustrated, for example, by this message by Peter Murray-Rust posted > <http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pipermail/goal/2020-March/005395.html> to the > GOAL mailing list on March 31, 2020 > > “My colleague, a software developer, working for free on openVirus software, > is spending most of his time working making masks in Cambridge Makespace to > ship to Addenbrooke’s hospital. When he goes to the literature to find > literature on masks, their efficacy and use and construction he finds paywall > after paywall after paywall after paywall ….” > > For those who were not in favour of open access before, this global crisis > should settle the debate once and for all. > > We must move away from a pay-to-read world in which researchers, > practitioners and the public cannot afford to access critical research > materials, or have to wait for embargo periods to lift before they can > develop life saving techniques, methods and vaccines. Access to the research > is simply too important. Yet, pay-to-publish, the open access model being > advanced by many in the commercial sector, is also inappropriate as it places > unacceptable financial barriers on researchers’ abilities to publish. > > It is time to reassess some of the basic assumptions related to scholarly > communications, including competition, prestige, and the role of commercial > entities. The same values that underlie our research and education systems > should also guide research communications. > > To that end, we are calling on researchers, policy makers, funders, service > providers, universities and libraries from around the world to work together > to address the issue of bibliodiversity in scholarly communication. > > The problems we encounter have never been more complex and urgent, nor has > the need for solutions been greater. There is a real danger that new budget > constraints and an increasing proportion of funds directed towards large > commercial entities could lead to greater homogeneity and monopolization, > further hampering the free flow of research needed to address the critical > challenges we face. > > Read the blog post here > <https://www.coar-repositories.org/news-updates/fostering-bibliodiversity-in-scholarly-communications-a-call-for-action/> > and full paper here <http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3752923> > Kathleen Shearer > Executive Director > Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) > www.coar-repositories.org <http://www.coar-repositories.org/> > > > > > > -- > Richard Poynder >
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