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Great to see many of us having differing views on this topic. Students like us will mostly support open-access because it benefits us. Nevertheless, we should be neutral and look at safeguarding the interests of PUBLISHER, CONTENT-PRODUCER AND READER.
Publishers earn revenues through collecting fees from readers and while their revenue may be affected (Amanda) , i shared with her a new concept called ‘author’ pay whereby the author pays to the publisher instead to get their works published. Coupled with the revenue earn from readers (Universities, Individuals), they are not at a disadvantage. I got this inspiration from reading Jessica-Peacock (uosm2033) about her thoughts on a new business model which led me to find out more. READ HERE
Several famous Content-Producers went through much effort before getting their work accepted. They should be given credit for their work and paid reasonably. What’s makes worse is the problem of online piracy where people illegally download works and pass off as their own.
For READER , we should be responsible and acknowledge the source we take from. In education perspective, governments/institutions should be involved. Amanda and Simon brought an issue on cost of open-access. US government introduce laws that requires taxpayer-funded research to be open-access 12 months after publishing which is a good way for both readers and publishers. READ MORE. As what I replied to Amanda, encourage non-profit-organisation/publishers to give back to society by handling out bursaries to help the less-fortunate. An example is CLASS where I recently received S$X from them as part of their effort in giving back to society.
In conclusion, I think education plays a big part in one’s life. And nobody should be denied access to education because they can’t afford it, and therefore it is the collaborative effort among all to ensure information is disseminated to those who need it.
My 2 Comments:
Amanda (MANG 2049): http://limxuanamanda.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/topic5-openness-to-free-access-to-online-materials/
Jessica-Peacock (UOSM 2033): http://jesspeacock.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/access-denied/comment-page-1/#comment-33 (Comment on Google Docs as it is currently not published on her blog)
My reply to Amanda:
yiming@ SotonMANG2049 