Here is the continuation of Heather’s bio from the June ’06 CWB newsletter:
I encourage all Chemists Without Borders members (and, indeed, all chemists) to openly share their research. Open access is about making the results of research immediately openly available over the world wide web to anyone, anywhere. There are two main approaches to open access: publishing in an open access journal, and self-archiving in an open access archive. To learn more about open access, start with Peter Suber’s Open Access Overview, at: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm Open access is the key to two elements which I believe are important to CWB goals. Open access to our knowledge about chemistry will become a keystone for the chemistry education aspect of CWB. Currently, access to chemistry information is very uneven, with the best access in the wealthiest countries, and the least access in the developing world. Subscription or purchase of chemistry information is very expensive. Open access will make it possible for more people to learn about chemistry in the developing world, which in turn will mean educated partners for CWB, and more areas of the world that can contribute to charitable efforts, rather than only being beneficiaries. OA can also directly support CWB workers in the future, as they will have ready access to knowledge they might need to solve problems in the field. Open access, when it involves immediate sharing of information, is also key to more rapid advances in our understanding. It was open sharing of information and working together that made it possible to map the human genome in record time. Think what might happen if we applied the same approaches to ameliorating environmental problems, finding low-cost pharmaceutical solutions to common problems, or sustainable, environmentally friendly energy sources. CWB can help make open access a reality through advocacy efforts with funding agencies, universities, researchers, and students, as well as by setting up a chemistry-focused open access archive for open sharing of chemistry research. Collaboration Research There are a great many resources that could be brought to resolving the kinds of issues CWB would like to address, from water remediation to affordable pharmaceuticals to environmental issues. There are about 6 billion humans on this planet, a very great many brains, other talents, and willingness to work; there are natural resources, and manmade resources, even if they are not immediately available where they might be needed. Resolving CWB issues, one might argue, is not a resource issue at all, it is, rather, a matter of coordinating efforts. Even as the more hands-on projects proceed, it might be worthwhile for CWB and other similar organizations to move forward at the same time to advance our understanding of how different peoples can quickly come to work together effectively for the good of all.
Well said. Comments?
ELMO
Money makes the world go ’round. Capitalism has proven far more effective in bringing new technology to people in the world than communism. OA sounds like communism to me. A few people might happily agree to live together in a commune, but to make it happen on a large scale, it has to be by force. Hence, things like the Federal Research Public Access Act.
Open Access is about access, not about politics – unless, of course, it is the political scientists who are making their work openly accessible. When this is the case, ideally, access to every conceivable political viewpoint will be available.
Open Access fits best with openness in government. In my view (not as a political expert), this generally means democracy.
The focus of the Open Access movement is works that authors give away – academic research done because it is an expectation when you are a faculty member, or funded by a research funder for the public good. As I have written elsewhere, Open Access is Good for Business!.
The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006. Let’s not forget that businesses are taxpayers, too!
Communism is defined as “a theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members” (dictionary.com). Open Access information does not strip the author of ownership rights. The Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org) supports authorship rights.
Funding of institutional, academic, and government research (at least in the US) is provided by tax payers; as such, tax payers should have open access to this information. Open Access research and dissemination promotes democracy since the definition claims to exemplify “the principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community”(dictionary.com), Open