Open Access News

Housekeeping

2009-07-08T20:34:00.003-04:00

I'm at a conference and then will be on vacation. Preparing for the trip, including wrapping up work on other projects, along with Peter's start at the Berkman Center and travel directly before that, have contributed to the abnormal quiet in posting at OAN. I apologize and, as Peter did, urge readers to follow the OATP feed and other blogs for more comprehensive news about OA in the next weeks. I'll be back on the job at the end of the month.

Obama to nominate Collins as NIH director

2009-07-08T20:22:00.003-04:00

The White House, President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate Francis Collins as NIH Director, press release, July 8, 2009. (Thanks to Heather Joseph.)

Today, [U.S.] President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Francis S. Collins as Director of the National Institutes of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. ...

Comment. This is good news for OA supporters in two ways. First, Collins has been a public advocate for OA to data, most notably in the Human Genome Project, which he lead. Even if that wasn't the case, simply having a permanent director at NIH will enable the agency to better explain its public access policy -- such as defending against the Conyers bill and supporting FRPAA.

See also our past posts on Collins, including past rumors of the appointment.

Young people and OA

2009-07-02T21:33:00.004-04:00

Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Expectations of the Screenager Generation, presented at RLG Annual Partnership Symposium (Boston, June 3, 2009). (Thanks to Fabrizio Tinti.) Report on a study of 12-18 year olds and their expectations of libraries and information resources.

... Their Information Perspectives

Information is information

Media formats don�t matter ...

What Attracts Them to Resources

Convenience, convenience, convenience

Available 24/7

Working from home

At night or on weekends

Immediate answers

Lack of cost

Efficient ...

What Attracts Them to Resources

Independence

Prefer to do own search

Use the Internet

No librarian necessary ...

What We Learned

Libraries are trusted sources of information

Search engines are trusted about the same

Screenagers

Lack patience to wade through content silos and indexing and abstracting databases

Like convenience and speed

Do not view paid information as more accurate than free information ...

More on the theory of research sharing

2009-07-02T20:59:00.002-04:00

David Wojick, Sharing Results is the Engine of Scientific Progress, OSTIblog, June 17, 2009. (Thanks to Fabrizio Tinti.)

[The Office of Scientific and Technical Information]'s mission is to help scientists share their results, but what role do results play in science? Here we present a simple model of one of the most basic uses of results, namely as the engine of scientific progress. Research results are more than just accumulated knowledge. Research results make possible new questions, which in turn lead to even more knowledge. The resulting pattern of exponential growth in knowledge is called an issue tree. It shows how individual results can have a value far beyond themselves, because they are shared and lead to research by others.

The reader is referred to the Sharing Results Issue Tree. [Note: omitting diagram.] This is an abstract example of a fundamental pattern that occurs throughout science. It begins with Result 1, which is an important finding by a researcher named Smith. Given this result there are three important new questions that can be formulated -- Questions A, B & C. It is important to realize that these questions could not have been asked until Result 1 occurred. Result 1 does much more than simply add to our knowledge, it raises important new questions.

Each of the three questions now becomes the object of new research. It is important to realize that in many cases this new research will be undertaken by researchers other than the one who got Result 1. This could not happen unless these new researchers know about Result 1, which requires sharing of results in some way or other. Thus sharing is essential for scientific progress.

The new questions that grow out of Result 1 yield Results 2 through 9. These new results are obtained mostly by researchers other than Smith, such as Brown, Gupta, Kim, etc. This is a large increase in knowledge, which is only made possible by the sharing of Result 1. Thus Result 1's value extends far beyond its contribution to knowledge. ...

Progress is not just the cumulative product of individual efforts, it requires sharing for its very being. We take this sharing for granted but it is by no means assured, and it is far from being efficient. The Internet promises to greatly improve the process of sharing scientific results, which should speed up progress. But this promise is still largely unmet. This is the challenge that OSTI is working on, how to speed up scientific progress by making sharing efficient.

More on EOS; OA in Belgium

2009-07-02T20:35:00.002-04:00

Bernard Rentier, Faux d�part !, Bernard Rentier, Recteur, June 22, 2009. Read it in the original French or Google's English.

I certainly rushed some things in announcing last week the launch of the [Enabling Open Scholarship] website. The next day we had an important meeting of the founders of the EOS group that I chair and we have decided that the site still requires some work, some improvements, a more recent update and a finalization of the Advisory Board. ... Embarrassing, especially since ... applications for membership in EOS abounded on every side from the first day! Hopefully this incident will not adversely affect the participation of many universities at the final launch ...

The role of the EOS site, in fact, will be mainly to rally the leaders of universities worldwide, to convince them to set up institutional repositories and help them. Its second goal is to persuade funders of the importance of free access to the publications of research they have funded and the need to develop systems to harvest from institutional repositories. For us, [Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique], signatory of the Berlin Declaration on open access, is expected to speak out soon in this regard. ... French-speaking Belgium thus could become the first "country" to adopt this system in its entirety, which should serve the cause of our researchers and their reputation.

See also our past posts on Enabling Open Scholarship and its predecessor, EurOpenScholar.

Cancellations and OA, the flip side

2009-07-02T20:28:00.002-04:00

Jonathan Eisen, Another reason to publish as Open Access - libraries hurting big time financially and they will be cancelling many subscriptions, The Tree of Life, June 27, 2009.

If you need any more incentive to publish a paper in an Open Access manner if you have a choice - here is one. If you publish in a closed access journal of some kind, it is likely fewer and fewer colleagues will be able to get your paper as libraries are hurting big time and will be canceling a lot of subscriptions. ...

Court orders release of Elsevier license terms

2009-07-02T20:21:00.001-04:00

Association of Research Libraries, Elsevier Motion to Block License Release Denied in Open-Records Decision, press release, June 23, 2009.

An injunction filed by Elsevier to block release of information included in a licensing contract between the publisher and Washington State University (WSU) was denied by a court in the state of Washington last week. A public-records request for contract terms had been submitted to the university by researchers gathering data on the terms of large-publisher bundled contracts.

Whitman County Superior Court, State of Washington, ruled Friday, June 19, 2009, in favor of full disclosure for a public-records request submitted to Washington State University by Ted Bergstrom, Paul Courant, and Preston McAfee for license information regarding the WSU-Elsevier contract. On June 9, Elsevier had filed a Motion for Injunction against release of the data. According to court papers, the plaintiff argued that disclosure of the Elsevier-WSU contracts would �disclose aspects of Elsevier�s pricing methods and formula so as to produce private gain and public loss. Such disclosure would violate Elsevier�s rights under Washington statutes�to preserve the confidentiality of its proprietary pricing methods and formulae.� ...

Researchers Ted Bergstrom, Professor of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Paul Courant, University Librarian, Dean of Libraries, and Professor of Public Policy, Economics, and Information, University of Michigan, said, �We believe that state open-access laws serve the public interest by requiring full transparency of contracts that involve millions of taxpayer dollars. We will continue to collect and analyze the terms of �Big Deal� contracts signed by a large number of universities and to share this information with the library community. We appreciate the efforts of university librarians who have helped us to collect contract information and we are grateful for ARL�s support and encouragement.�

It is not enough for institutions to assume that public-records requests will ensure that information about contracts and licenses can be made publicly accessible. Last month, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors supported a resolution to encourage its members to refrain from signing nondisclosure agreements with publishers and to share information about their agreements, insofar as possible, with each other. Tom Leonard, President of ARL and University Librarian, University of California, Berkeley, said, �By responding to an open-records case in this manner, Elsevier has only increased our resolve to push for both open contracts and public disclosure of terms in our negotiations. This case is a telling example of why we should not be signing these nondisclosure agreements.�

Why do publishers participate in developing country access initiatives?

2009-07-02T19:48:00.002-04:00

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Why are publishers participating in developing country access initiatives?, post to the Healthcare Information For All by 2015 mailing list, June 30, 2009.

INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) and ACU (Association of Commonwealth Universities), through their Publishers for Development initiative, recently hosted an online discussion on the question, 'Why are publishers participating in developing country access initiatives?'

All participants were learned society and commercial scholarly publishers (publishing in all sectors, including health). The results of the discussion are provided below. ...

There are a number of major access initiatives - and many smaller schemes focused on specific disciplines or even individual titles - which enable developing country researchers and students to access scholarly information freely at point of use. Commonly these are focused on supplying free or proportionately priced access to academic journals and databases, but there are also several support programmes which aim to strengthen the capacity of libraries to access and use these resources more effectively.

Publishers already provide considerable support to these schemes, offering proportionately discounted access to their principal titles - or in some cases free access - most often in electronic form, but occasionally also for print subscriptions where libraries still struggle to make good use of online information. ...

Some key motivations for publishers� participation:

A moral argument: For many there is an important moral or philanthropic argument. Publishers, committed to advancing scholarly and scientific investigation, wish to extend access as widely as they can, and to ensure as many people as possible can reap the benefits of research. Developing countries are unable to pay �market rates� but publishers can help by making subscriptions more affordable, thereby ensuring the digital and academic divide is narrowed.

The business case: This moral argument is also underpinned by a business case. Publishers� key objective is to serve their authors as well as they can. Making sure that their publications - and thus their authors� research - are disseminated as widely as possible is central to this. ... Discussion also noted that as well as serving the authors some publishers serve society partners who have this dissemination as part of their articles of existence. ...

Authors are not so much interested in the quantity of readers, but that the "right" people are reading - that can be those that have influence over their careers or those that could advance their research by putting it into direct practice. ...

See also our past posts on INASP and on developing country access initiatives, such as HINARI.

Skeptical review of Anderson's Free

2009-07-02T19:36:00.002-04:00

Malcolm Gladwell, Priced to Sell, New Yorker, July 6, 2009. A review of Chris Anderson's Free: The Past and Future of a Radical Price.

... Anderson�s ... point is that when prices hit zero extraordinary things happen. Anderson describes an experiment conducted by the M.I.T. behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the author of �Predictably Irrational.� Ariely offered a group of subjects a choice between two kinds of chocolate�Hershey�s Kisses, for one cent, and Lindt truffles, for fifteen cents. Three-quarters of the subjects chose the truffles. Then he redid the experiment, reducing the price of both chocolates by one cent. The Kisses were now free. What happened? The order of preference was reversed. Sixty-nine per cent of the subjects chose the Kisses. The price difference between the two chocolates was exactly the same, but that magic word �free� has the power to create a consumer stampede. Amazon has had the same experience with its offer of free shipping for orders over twenty-five dollars. The idea is to induce you to buy a second book, if your first book comes in at less than the twenty-five-dollar threshold. And that�s exactly what it does. In France, however, the offer was mistakenly set at the equivalent of twenty cents�and consumers didn�t buy the second book. �From the consumer�s perspective, there is a huge difference between cheap and free,� Anderson writes. �Give a product away, and it can go viral. Charge a single cent for it and you�re in an entirely different business. . . . The truth is that zero is one market and any other price is another.�

Since the falling costs of digital technology let you make as much stuff as you want, Anderson argues, and the magic of the word �free� creates instant demand among consumers, then Free (Anderson honors it with a capital) represents an enormous business opportunity. Companies ought to be able to make huge amounts of money �around� the thing being given away�as Google gives away its search and e-mail and makes its money on advertising.

... Look at YouTube, he says, the free video archive owned by Google. YouTube lets anyone post a video to its site free, and lets anyone watch a video on its site free ...

The only problem is that in the middle of laying out what he sees as the new business model of the digital age Anderson is forced to admit that one of his main case studies, YouTube, �has so far failed to make any money for Google.� ...

[T]here�s plenty of other information out there that has chosen to run in the opposite direction from Free. The [New York] Times gives away its content on its Web site. But the Wall Street Journal has found that more than a million subscribers are quite happy to pay for the privilege of reading online. Broadcast television�the original practitioner of Free�is struggling. But premium cable, with its stiff monthly charges for specialty content, is doing just fine. ... The only iron law here is the one too obvious to write a book about, which is that the digital age has so transformed the ways in which things are made and sold that there are no iron laws.

See also our past posts on Anderson's Free.

Presentations from European OA meeting

2009-07-02T17:38:00.002-04:00

The presentations from Open Access - What are the Economic Benefits? (Brussels, June 22, 2009) are now online:

Johannes Fournier, How funders can take action
Peteris Zilgalvis, Towards an open access policy in European Research
Kostas Glinos, Open Access: toward a European e-Infrastructure

Comparative study says benefits of OA outweigh costs

2009-07-02T17:21:00.002-04:00

Knowledge Exchange, Benefits of Open Access clearly outweigh costs in three European Countries, press release, July 1, 2009.

For Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands free access to scholarly materials could offer significant benefits not only to research and higher education but also to society as a whole. This has been calculated by Australian economist Professor John Houghton in studies which have taken place in these three countries on the costs and benefits of scholarly communication. He has now summarised these findings in a report commissioned by Knowledge Exchange, which is a partnership of the IT bodies from Denmark (DEFF), the United Kingdom (JISC), the Netherlands (SURFfoundation) and Germany (DFG). ...

Adopting this model could lead to annual savings of around EUR 70 million in Denmark, EUR 133 million in The Netherlands and EUR 480 in the UK. The report concludes that the advantages would not just be in the long term; in the transitional phase too, more open access to research results would have positive effects. In this case the benefits would also outweigh the costs. ...

See also our past posts on Houghton's research.

July SOAN

2009-07-02T14:00:00.001-04:00

I just mailed the July issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter. This issue takes a close look at OA and the variety of digitization projects. How far can we defend the principle that the results of publicly-funded digitization projects should be OA? What if the public funds are supplemented by private funds? What if the works to be digitized are under copyright? What if the project wants to provide gratis rather than libre OA?

The round-up section briefly notes 166 OA developments from June.

Feedback sought on citation sharing service

2009-07-02T00:02:00.002-04:00

A Citation Services draft project proposal, drafted at a recent workshop in Amsterdam, is now soliciting feedback. For background, see posts by the JISC Information Environment Team and Alma Swan.

Victoria committee recommends encouraging, not requiring, OA

2009-07-01T23:10:00.005-04:00

The Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia on June 24 released the final report of its Inquiry into Improving Access to Victorian Public Sector Information and Data. (Thanks to Dave Bath.)

See especially Recommendation 8:

That the Victorian Government encourage as part of its funding agreements with research agencies and higher education institutions that research results be deposited in open access journals or repositories. The Government should consider providing additional funds to these agencies to allow them to publish in open access journals that charge a fee for publication.

From the report:

In its report Public sector support for science and innovation, the [Australian Government] Productivity Commission argued that mandatory requirements would better meet the aim of free and public access to publicly-funded research results. This is despite claims that requiring publicly funded research to be made available via open access could have a detrimental impact on the journal publishing industry. According to the Australian Publishers Association, the increasing availability of peer-reviewed manuscripts in repositories �will lead to cancellations and the eventual demise of the journal upon which their peer-reviewed process depends.� A possible solution, as noted by the Productivity Commission, is the �author pays� approach whereby authors are responsible for paying publishers or repositories a fee on the basis that the publication is publicly and freely accessible. ...

While it would be difficult for the Victorian Government to require research agencies and higher education institutions to completely comply with an open access policy, it does have a role in encouraging this practice. The Government should encourage, as part of its funding agreements with these organisations, that research results be deposited in open access journals or repositories. The Committee believes this is an important step to maximise the value of the Government�s research and development investment, and further contribute to scientific research and innovation.

BMC adds 'Post to Twitter' button

2009-07-01T23:01:00.002-04:00

Matthew Cockerill, BioMed Central and Twitter, BioMed Central Blog, June 24, 2009.

Recently we have noticed more and more researchers using Twitter as an informal channel to share thoughts on the latest open access research published in our journals. We're always keen to facilitate such discussions, and with that in mind we have recently added 'Post to Twitter' as a convenient option in the right hand toolbar of each BioMed Central journal article.

We've also in the early stages of using Twittter ourselves - you can follow us as BioMedCentral.

So far, our Twitter feed includes blog posts and hot article notifications, along with various short updates and links relating to BioMed Central and open access publishing. ...

Forthcoming libre OA journal on stem cells

2009-07-01T22:53:00.002-04:00

Stem Cell Research & Therapy is a forthcoming peer-reviewed OA journal published by BioMed Central. See the June 26 announcement. Authors retain copyright and articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License. The article-processing charge is $1690, subject to discounts or waiver.

Most BMC journal impact factors increase

2009-07-01T22:30:00.004-04:00

Matthew Cockerill, New and improved impact factors for BioMed Central journals in the 2008 JCR, BioMed Central Blog, June 24, 2009.

The latest edition of Thomson Reuter's Journal Citation Reports has just been released, with official Impact Factors for a total of 58 BioMed Central journals [Note: 59 to my count]. Impact factors are by no means a perfect quality metric, but these journal citation data provide strong evidence of the growing success of BioMed Central's open access journal portfolio.

Highlights include:

Impressive initial Impact Factors for two key titles in the BMC series: BMC Medicine and BMC Systems Biology

Initial Impact Factor for Nutrition & Metabolism, placing it in the top 25% of the NUTRITION & DIETETICS category ...

An increased Impact Factor for BMC Bioinformatics, now ranked #3 of 28 in MATHEMATICAL & COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY ...

An increased Impact Factor of Malaria Journal. The TROPICAL MEDICINE category now has open access journals in both the #1 and #2 spots. ...

A significantly increased Impact Factor for Critical Care, ranked #4 of 21 in CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE. ...

Of the 59 IFs for BMC journals listed in the post, 12 are new, 29 are improved, and 18 are not improved.

Forthcoming libre OA journal on water

2009-07-01T20:38:00.003-04:00

Water is a forthcoming peer-reviewed OA journal on "the ecology and management of water resources" published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International. Authors retain copyright and articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution license. There are no article-processing charges in 2009; I can't tell if there will be later.

OCLC scraps WorldCat data policy, will write new one

2009-07-01T20:30:00.002-04:00

OCLC, Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship releases final report, press release, June 26, 2009.

The Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship, convened jointly by the OCLC Board of Trustees and Members Council to represent the membership and inform OCLC on matters concerning shared data, has issued its final report recommending that the proposed Policy on Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records be withdrawn and a new policy drafted.

After review of the recommendations, OCLC has formally withdrawn the proposed policy. A new group will soon be assembled to begin work to draft a new policy with more input and participation from the OCLC membership. ...

In May, Jennifer Younger, Review Board Chair, and Edward H. Arnold Director of Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame, presented a report to OCLC Members Council recommending that the proposed policy be formally withdrawn and a new policy should be drafted. "We affirm that a policy is needed, but not this policy," said Dr. Younger. ...

[S]aid Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO: "Soon we will announce a new initiative to develop a record use policy that reflects both the rights of individual libraries and the needs of the cooperative to sustain and grow WorldCat for future generations. ..."

A new group will be named to begin work to draft a new policy. Until a new policy is in place, OCLC has reaffirmed the existence and applicability of the �Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records,� which have been in place since 1987, as recommended by the Review Board. ...

See also our past posts on WorldCat or OCLC.

WorldWideScience adds new discovery, sharing features

2009-07-01T20:20:00.002-04:00

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Find and share global research with new tools at WorldWideScience.org, press release, June 26, 2009.

You can now quickly hone your research results list to the documents you need and then share them via social networking sites using the new features at WorldWideScience.org. This free online science gateway to global databases now offers clustering of results by publication and author, as well as by topic and date. This enhancement allows you to quickly narrow a results list from the databases ...

Using a quick share tool, you can add your results to social networking sites to discuss and share with friends and colleagues. In addition, you can easily bookmark your search topic as well as set up weekly alerts.

WorldWideScience.org has been upgraded for increased speed and improved relevance ranking. WorldWideScience.org searches more than 375 million pages of research information in real time via a single query. ...

See also our past posts on WorldWideScience.

Milestone for IR at U. Li�ge

2009-07-01T20:09:00.002-04:00

Myriam Bastin, 12,000 references in ORBi, the institutional repository of the University of Li�ge, announcement, June 26, 2009.

Just six months after its official launch (November 2008), ORBi, the institutional repository of the University of Li�ge (ULg), has reached 12,000 deposits and gives access to the full texts of almost 9,000 publications! These impressive figures are the results of a voluntary Open Access policy at the University of Li�ge, which has defined the "mandate ULg", ie the obligation for all researchers to deposit in ORBi the references of all scientific publications since 2002 and the full texts of all scientific articles since the same year. Free access to them is conditioned by respect for copyright. This success also reflects the very positive reaction of by researchers regarding this policy and this new way of visibility. ...

See also our past posts on ORBi and the University of Li�ge.

Pharmacy Education journal converts to OA

2009-07-01T20:05:00.001-04:00

International Pharmaceutical Federation, FIP Re-Launches Pharmacy Education, An International Journal for Pharmaceutical Education, announcement, June 30, 2009.

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is pleased to announce the online re-release of Pharmacy Education, an International Journal for Pharmaceutical Education. Previously published in hard copy circulation by Informa Publishing, Pharmacy Education is now an official FIP Electronic Publication, available online free of charge. The online publishing and re-release has been made possible by the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and in collaboration with the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP).

Pharmacy Education will continue to be an independent, peer-reviewed academic publication ...

A new online format provides a comprehensive and interactive environment which encourages increased feedback and communication on published articles (including all previously published archives since 2000), related international events and relevant global issues in the field of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education.

"The journal has always aimed to disseminate the latest research and information in pharmacy education," said Professor Ian Bates, Editor-in-Chief of the journal. "The new, open access format will allow for a broader reach to all audiences, especially to researchers from low income countries seeking engagement with the wider global community." ...

Note that access to the full text requires free registration.

Obama Ed. department drafting plan to fund OERs

2009-07-01T19:57:00.001-04:00

Scott Jaschik, U.S. Push for Free Online Courses, Inside Higher Ed, June 29, 2009. (Thanks to Kevin Donovan.)

Community colleges and high schools would receive federal funds to create free, online courses in a program that is in the final stages of being drafted by the Obama administration.

The program is part of a series of efforts to help community colleges reach more students and to link basic skills education to job training. The proposals are outlined in administration discussion drafts obtained by Inside Higher Ed. A formal announcement could come in the next few weeks. ...

John White, press secretary for the Education Department, said Sunday that the department would discuss the plans "when the time is right." He said that there is a lot of "high level discussion and excitement" around these ideas related to community colleges.

The funds envisioned for open courses -- $50 million a year -- may be small in comparison to the other ideas being discussed. But in proposing that the federal government pay for (and own) courses that would be free for all, as well as setting up a system to assess learning in those courses, and creating a "National Skills College" to coordinate these efforts, the plan could be significant far beyond its dollars.

The draft language suggests that the administration is throwing its weight behind the movement to put more courses online -- and offer them free -- and is also pushing that movement in the direction of community colleges. ...

According to the draft materials from the administration, the program would support the development of 20-25 "high quality" courses a year, with a mix of high school and community college courses. Initial preference would go to "career oriented" courses. The courses would be owned by the government and would be free for anyone to take. ...

While the program is described as one that emphasizes community colleges and high schools, it would be open to public agencies and to private for-profit or nonprofit groups.

Advocates for open courses guess that the proposal reflects the ideas of Martha J. Kanter, the under secretary of education. Kanter was previously chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. In that position, she helped to create the Community College Consortium for Open Education Resources, which has pioneered the idea of making textbooks and other course materials for community college students available free and online. ...

UNESCO releases its first openly licensed publication

2009-07-01T19:51:00.003-04:00

UNESCO releases new publication on open educational resources, press release, June 26, 2009. (Thanks to Mike Linksvayer.)

UNESCO has released its first openly licensed publication. Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace brings together the background papers and reports from the first three years of activities in the UNESCO OER Community. Access the online edition � or buy the book! ...

In particular, the license is Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike.

Housekeeping

2009-07-01T10:05:00.002-04:00

Today I step back from systematic daily blogging in order to free up time for my new position at Harvard's Berkman Center and Office for Scholarly Communication.

The blog itself will continue and Gavin will continue at something like his current pace. I will continue my daily crawl for OA-related news. I'll continue to tag what I find for the OA tracking project (OATP). I'll continue to write the monthly SPARC Open Access Newsletter (SOAN). I'll continue to work full-time for OA.

I'll even continue to blog, though only sporadically. Open Access News (OAN) will be smaller and more selective than in the past. I cannot assure you that the news it covers will be the most important subset. (That presupposes that Gavin and I will be on top of all new developments and in a position to pick the most important.) I'll blog what I notice, what moves me, and what I have time for, with the accent on the third criterion. It should be a eclectic bunch. I know that I'll notice a lot of important news, thanks to OATP, and I know that I'll be moved to blog a lot of it. But because of my new projects, even the most important news will be important news that I only have time to tag, not to blog.

For a comprehensive source of OA news, subscribe to the OATP feed, which is available by RSS, email, and a blog-like web page with the most recent items displayed first. The OATP feed has been more comprehensive than this blog since April and it grows more comprehensive and useful every day. To help the cause, please join OATP as a tagger and help select new items for inclusion in the feed. For more details, see the OATP home page or my SOAN article about it from May 2009.

In the same May SOAN, I reflect on the losses and gains from this transition. I'm acutely aware of them both.

To my fellow bloggers: When you encounter a new OA development, please tag it for OATP even if you also blog it. That will alert people who may not read your blog. If your blog post goes beyond a citation, link, and excerpt (for example, adding a comment or links to related developments), then tag your own post as well. That will make your blog visible to people who may not be reading it. OATP is an austere source of news designed to nourish and complement richer sources, not supplant them. (I'm stepping back from near-full-time blogging not because OATP makes it unnecessary, but because my new position makes it impossible.) We all need the deeper coverage, commentary, and discussion that you can provide.
To my correspondents who send me news: I'm grateful for your help and still want to know what's going on. But if you want me to blog the news, I'll have to beg off. I can tag it rather than blog it. But I hope that you will consider tagging it yourself. Tagging new developments for OATP is the best way to alert the OA community, including me. (I still welcome emails about developments that are offline or confidential, and therefore not yet taggable.)
To my readers: If I've had any influence on the realization of OA, it's because of you, and I've never lost sight of that. Thank you for reading and, above all, thank you for taking action. I have one request and one promise. The request is not to stop reading OAN. It will still be here, still posting, even if its volume and role are changing. The promise is that I'm not going away and I'm not leaving the front lines. I'm just shifting a chunk of my time from the blog to other projects which I hope will advance the cause from other directions.