I doubt that most conventional publishers will permit the Foundation to re-sell their articles at anything less than their own list price, which is often as high as $40 per article. (that's what this amounts to) -- or for a flat rate to provide access to anyone who gets a Wikipedia account.
On Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 6:51 PM, Gwern Branwen <[email protected]> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA512 > > On Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 5:56 PM, FT2 wrote: >> The following idea is based on a suggestion someone just came out with. A >> number of users were discussing BLPs and the point that verification of >> written sources and journals was not that easy in many cases. >> >> >> >> Many colleges or libraries use a subscription and their members or even >> members of the public can then read those references. I'm not an expert, but >> the following idea came to mind as worthwhile asking for thoughts on, if it >> has any merit. >> >> >> >> Suppose the Foundation subscribed to various key databases. A proxy (however >> one does it), gets set up that people can log in to, and then read those >> journals or databases. The Foundation sets a fee scale for access, in >> whatever way works, and any person who wants to subscribe, can do so. In >> some cases, subscription might be free. Anonymity, including anonymity of >> any payment, is easy (see below) >> >> >> >> * General and society benefits -- spread of knowledge; user and third party >> enjoyment at having access to information they might otherwise not have; >> less widely used subscription-only databases may be made more accessible >> >> >> >> * Wikipedia quality benefits -- users can purchase easy access to reliable >> sources that otherwise they may not conveniently have; users can verify >> citations and references that they might otherwise not be able to; articles >> will more regularly become exposed to updated research (if the idea takes >> off). >> >> >> >> * Other project benefits and possible features -- Financial (steady income >> stream from subscriptions); small trial ability; great scaleability if >> successful; inherently fairly safe in an income/expenditure sense. >> >> >> >> Payment can readily be made anonymous (the means to pay via anything from >> credit card to paypal to "internet gold" already exists) so that >> pseudonymous users can participate equally, a login account is issued with >> payment so no identification to WMF is needed, and given a login the login >> can be used from home, school, mobile, or work. >> >> >> >> One novel example of pricing differentiality might include, a lower rate (or >> free) for users who routinely add cited high quality content to the project, >> or who use/have used the sources directly to benefit articles. Perhaps a >> cheaper rate for users with at least one FA or two GAs, or a subjective >> decision for the year, for users who can show good cause in their >> contributions. Some ideas, but the principle is interesting. >> >> >> >> If there are practical issues, so be it, but I don't see an obvious problem, >> and it might be worth passing round for thoughts. >> >> >> >> FT2 > > Another service the Foundation could subscribe to: the Internet > Archive's on-demand-archiving service > https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Internet_archive#Archive-It > . We lose many links to linkrot, and those links are often references > and in ever more instances, are unique. Many of them are already > covered in the publicly accessible portions of IA, but even when they > are, it is very rare for an editor to check. > > And the benefits of this service are very clear. Given that we're > supposed to be friendly and have links with IA, perhaps WMF wouldn't > even have to pay for it. > > - -- > gwern > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) > > iEYEAREKAAYFAklNhQoACgkQvpDo5Pfl1oKqdgCfescrNXY3PQFtsOqpom4HAv1r > fT8An3qwLU4pP2e3uv1PUjXPJHU0P5rF > =qgPY > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > WikiEN-l mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l > -- David Goodman, Ph.D, M.L.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
