[Air-L] open-access is the future: boycott locked-down academic journals

[Jason Wilson]

Hi all, 

As someone involved with the journal danah singles out, I've responded to this on danah's blog, and reposted on a group blog I'm involved with. 

To cut and paste the response would be too large for the list's size limits. Suffice to say that I found this assessment of academic publishing as simplistic as I did the first time I heard these ideas, many years ago. 

I think anyone who is in new media studies, and who has had good experiences with academic publishing, should join this debate. It certainly feels important to me. 

Dr Jason Wilson
Research Associate
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane
Australia

j5.wilson at qut.edu.au
jason_a_wilson at yahoo.com.au

http://spooner.beds.ac.uk/nmrg
http://gatewatching.org

----- Original Message ----
From: danah boyd <aoir.z3z at danah.org>
To: aoir list <air-l at aoir.org>
Sent: Thursday, 7 February, 2008 4:07:51 PM
Subject: [Air-L] open-access is the future: boycott locked-down academic journals

At 
AOIR 
this 
year, 
we 
heard 
a 
lot 
about 
open-access 
journals 
and 
the  
future 
of 
academic 
publishing.  
These 
talks 
were 
extremely 
well- 
received.  
At 
the 
same 
time, 
I 
have 
a 
sneaking 
suspicion 
that 
most 
of  
us 
came 
back 
home 
and 
continued 
to 
publish 
with 
the 
same 
respected  
journals 
that 
we've 
always 
published 
with.  
I've 
certainly 
seen 
a 
lot  
of 
CFPs 
from 
folks 
wanting 
to 
publish 
issues 
in 
locked-down 
journals.

Today, 
an 
article 
of 
mine 
was 
finally 
published 
in 
Sage's 
Convergence  
series.  
I 
should 
be 
excited 
by 
this, 
but 
I'm 
actually 
quite  
depressed.  
While 
I'm 
lucky 
to 
be 
visible 
enough 
that 
some 
folks 
will  
find 
out 
about 
my 
article 
and 
ask 
me 
for 
a 
copy, 
most 
of 
the 
articles  
in 
that 
issue 
will 
barely 
get 
read 
because 
they 
are 
virtually  
inaccessible.  
Additionally, 
while 
scholars 
will 
ask 
me 
for 
my  
article, 
most 
policymakers 
and 
technologists 
will 
not, 
even 
though 
the  
article 
is 
probably 
more 
relevant 
to 
them 
than 
it 
is 
to 
you.  
I  
believe 
that 
the 
locked-down 
nature 
of 
this 
publishing 
regime 
silences  
academics 
while 
capitalizing 
off 
of 
our 
free 
labor 
at 
every 
turn.  
I  
think 
that 
this 
is 
unfair, 
unacceptable, 
and 
irresponsible.

Thus, 
since 
I'm 
a 
blogger, 
I 
wrote 
a 
ranty 
blog 
entry 
about 
the 
topic: 
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2008/02/06/openaccess_is_t.html

In 
said 
ranty 
blog 
entry, 
I 
laid 
out 
a 
set 
of 
steps 
for 
how 
to 
proceed  
to 
make 
change.  
For 
example, 
I 
think 
that 
all 
tenured 
faculty 
have 
a  
responsibility 
to 
stop 
publishing 
in 
locked-down 
journals 
and 
help  
build 
up 
the 
reputations 
of 
open-access 
ones.  
(I 
even 
believe 
that  
those 
who 
flout 
journal's 
restrictions 
by 
publishing 
their 
pieces 
on  
their 
websites 
are 
failing 
future 
generations 
by 
not 
pushing 
for  
change 
to 
happen.)  
I 
offer 
steps 
for 
scholars, 
libraries,  
universities, 
tenure 
committees, 
disciplinary 
associations, 
and  
scholars 
at 
all 
stages.

In 
short, 
I'd 
like 
to 
see 
a 
boycott 
of 
locked-down 
academic 
journals.  
 
I 
think 
that 
it's 
particularly 
critical 
in 
our 
field 
since 
we 
are  
doing 
work 
that 
is 
relevant 
beyond 
the 
academy.  
I 
think 
that 
we 
need  
to 
stand 
in 
solidarity 
to 
stop 
this 
abuse 
of 
our 
labor 
and 
this  
silencing 
of 
our 
voices.

Am 
I 
crazy?

danah
_______________________________________________
The 
Air-L at listserv.aoir.org 
mailing 
list
is 
provided 
by 
the 
Association 
of 
Internet 
Researchers 
http://aoir.org
Subscribe, 
change 
options 
or 
unsubscribe 
at: 
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join 
the 
Association 
of 
Internet 
Researchers: 
http://www.aoir.org/






      Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address.
www.yahoo7.com.au/y7mail