Thursday, September 29, 2011

Does it pay to beat your head against the traditional publishing wall?

I just submitted this title to the Science Online 2012 conference.  What do you think of it?  If it gets approved, who would like to see speak at this session?

Does it pay to beat your head against the traditional publishing wall?

Most academic scientists are still concerned with publishing in "traditional" journals because they are rewarded the most for publishing articles in those outlets. However, many scientists are beginning to see the advantages of publishing in new venues and Open Access journals. Should one argue with traditional publishers and their backers concerning the unsustainable scholarly communications model we are currently in, or will that exercise be futile? John Wilbanks noted: "So don’t waste breath fighting with people on the internet. Keep driving train tracks into the ground, relentlessly. Never stop building infrastructure, never stop using existing standards, never stop creating new businesses and projects that recognize open as infrastructure. That’s how we win."

Suggested by Joe Kraus (@jokrausdu)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

"We are people of the screen."


This is from "TOC 2011: Kevin Kelly, 'Better than Free: How Value Is Generated in a Free Copy World'".  Found this via Patricia Anderson and this blog post.