Monday, September 06, 2004
Open Access
The open information movement is a logical result of our increasingly information-driven world. The open-source software movement gains momentum and influence every day, and regardless of current debate, the open-encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is probably going to soon become a respected, viable model.
With all this going before, it's only a matter of time before the scientific literature is forced to follow suit. The first step has happened: the NIH proposes requisite free access to the results of all NIH-funded research. This makes sense, not only from a knowledge-wants-to-be-free perspective, but also because this is publicly funded research. Why should we pay twice for it? Of course, the publishing industry has other ideas, but they probably don't have the power to override public opinion here (as the pharmaceutical, oil, and recording industries seem to), so this will happen. And I'll be very happy about it!
With all this going before, it's only a matter of time before the scientific literature is forced to follow suit. The first step has happened: the NIH proposes requisite free access to the results of all NIH-funded research. This makes sense, not only from a knowledge-wants-to-be-free perspective, but also because this is publicly funded research. Why should we pay twice for it? Of course, the publishing industry has other ideas, but they probably don't have the power to override public opinion here (as the pharmaceutical, oil, and recording industries seem to), so this will happen. And I'll be very happy about it!
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