I thought that the list would be interested to read the story that appeared in today's Washington Post on making all US federally funded research universally available after 1 year: Here's the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/white-house-moves-to-make-federally-funded-research-open-to-the-public/2013/02/22/e2de59fc-7d22-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html
Obviously not everything that one might wish for but it is a start.
Nigel
----- Original Message -----
From: "the.Duke.of.URL" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 2:03 pm
Subject: Re: JSTOR
> Hi John,
>
> The impact factor. The biggest piece of bs in this entire
> exercise. The
> impact of a piece of research may not be felt for years,
> especially if
> it is ahead of its time. The Nobel committee knows this but not
> some
> university bureaucrats when it comes to promoting some poor person
> on
> the basis of this bs requirement.
>
> This is managerialism, the rationalization of bureaucracy, gone
> wild,
> though not as wild as in the US government. David Owen, a
> certified
> psychiatrist who as far as I know never really practiced, though
> that is
> beside the point, wrote a book not that many years ago called In
> Sickness and in Power. His argument was that a very large number
> of
> people in positions of great power were mentally ill. And these
> weren’t
> just politicians. It seems that sometimes it was the office they
> held
> that brought on the illness - for instance, it appeared to make
> Blair
> hubristic in the extreme, though not as badly as with Bush Jr and
> Cheney. Cheney used to be driven around Washington with a gas mask
> on
> the seat beside him in his car. Either this is a complex charade
> or
> there is/was something wrong with Cheney psychologically. This is
> not
> normal behavior. Any clinical psychologist will tell you this.
>
> Of course, it could be argued that we live in unnormal times. And
> indeed
> we do. If anyone thinks it is bad here, it is worse across the
> pond. If
> you think the Nixon administration was terrible, and it was, I
> would
> advise a closer look at the Obama administration. And I want to
> support
> him and believe that he will in the end do the right thing.
>
> Sorry. Didn't mean to go on. It is just that the impact factor,
> publish
> or perish, and some of the craziness of some of our politicians
> and
> business leaders all appear to be part of the mix of some
> authoritarian
> bureaucratic impetus pushing us further and further in a
> particular
> ideologically biased direction. I don't think it is too bad here
> yet,
> but I may not be the best person to make such a judgment.
>
> Larry
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "John Urquhart" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 06/02/2013 15:45:35
> Subject: Re: JSTOR
> >No, not at all. Scientists have to 'publish or perish'. The advent
> >of such criteria as impact factor has only accentuated this trend.
> >
> >Best wishes,
> >
> >John Urquhart
> >
> >On 1 February 2013 15:46, Martin Rathfelder
> <[log in to unmask]>
> >wrote:
> >> What sort of contract is involved. Are scientists paid by the
> >>journals?
> >>
> >> On 01/02/13 12:22, John Urquhart wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Aaron Swartz's death has drawn attention to a fundamental
> problem in
> >>> society, namely the use of copyright to restrict the flow of
> >>> information. The irony is that all those scientists who want
> their>>> work to be disseminated as widely as possible have
> joined a system
> >>> which forbids them to communicate their peer-reviewed articles
> >>> electronically for free. Aaron Swartz was trying to break the
> >>> societal division which allowed only members of academic
> >>>institutions
> >>> to have direct free access to the world's store of knowledge.
> >>>
> >>> The solution lies in scientists' negotiating the right to
> >>>disseminate
> >>> their peer reviewed articles, say, six months after being
> published
> >>>in
> >>> a journal. Paradoxically, this would actually increase
> subscriptions>>> and the signal value of a particular journal
> that agreed to this
> >>> request. Six months is a long enough period to take into
> account the
> >>> insatiable curiosity of those looking for new knowledge, but
> short>>> enough to enable considered research to reassess the
> original>>> information by having access to original scientific
> articles.
> >>>Without
> >>> this kind of solution, 97% of the general population is
> excluded
> >>>from
> >>> meaningful scientific debate, and has to rely mainly on
> filtered
> >>>press
> >>> releases.
> >>>
> >>> John Urquhart
> >>>
> >>> On 21 January 2013 18:48, the.Duke.of.URL
> <[log in to unmask]>
> >>>wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Dear John,
> >>>>
> >>>> While I completely sympathize with your point of view, I
> don't
> >>>>think it
> >>>> is
> >>>> the case that Swartz 'hacked' into JSTOR. He just did
> something for
> >>>>which
> >>>> neither MIT nor they were prepared. He appears to have had
> >>>>legitimate
> >>>> access
> >>>> to the archive. It is usually impractical for the average
> user of
> >>>>JSTOR
> >>>> to
> >>>> download about half a million documents. He obviously had no
> >>>>intention of
> >>>> reading them all. Therefore, they could not have been for
> his own
> >>>> personal
> >>>> use. JSTOR appears to have been operating under such an
> assumption.
> >>>>And
> >>>> were
> >>>> caught out.
> >>>>
> >>>> MIT's role in this is a lot more cloudy. They claim to be
> >>>>investigating
> >>>> and
> >>>> therefore can't really comment.
> >>>>
> >>>> What is disgusting is that institutions' first line of
> defense is
> >>>>not mea
> >>>> culpa with an intention of fixing what went wrong if
> anything but
> >>>>to
> >>>> accuse
> >>>> an individual, usually someone vulnerable, of doing
> something
> >>>>wrong.
> >>>> Therefore, not their fault.
> >>>>
> >>>> Part of the problem here is that we seem to be operating
> under a
> >>>>deeply
> >>>> entrenched blame culture, which is reinforced virtually
> every day
> >>>>by the
> >>>> lying of politicians and other public officials as a first
> >>>>reaction. I
> >>>> have
> >>>> no idea how to overturn this.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> larry brownstein
> >>>> ------ Original Message ------
> >>>> From: "John Urquhart" <[log in to unmask]>
> >>>> To: "the.Duke.of.URL"
> <[log in to unmask]>;[log in to unmask]>>>> Sent:
> 21/01/2013 11:53:02
> >>>> Subject: Re: JSTOR
> >>>>>
> >>>>> It is significant that JSTOR's statement is not signed by an
> >>>>> individual accepting responsibility for that statement, or
> at
> >>>>>least
> >>>>> acting as a point of contact. Had this been done, it would be
> >>>>> possible to point out to him that the creators of the
> world's
> >>>>>store of
> >>>>> knowledge appear to be forced under the present system to
> >>>>>surrender
> >>>>> copyright to the publishers of their work. Otherwise, they
> would
> >>>>>be
> >>>>> at liberty to publish on the internet their original papers
> >>>>>without
> >>>>> individuals such Aaron Swatrz risking their lives and
> reason to
> >>>>>hack
> >>>>> into the world's store of knowledge. In the long-run,
> Swartz's
> >>>>>death
> >>>>> is the responsibility of all those scientists who
> subscribed to
> >>>>>this
> >>>>> totalitarian system of thought, which perpetuates a class
> >>>>>structure
> >>>>> and bodes ill for the futures of both science and society.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Please note: my name,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> John Urquhart
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 16 January 2013 00:37, the.Duke.of.URL
> <[log in to unmask]>
> >>>>>wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Whatever one may think of JSTOR's statement, it does
> indicate
> >>>>>>that the
> >>>>>> justice department's persecution of Swartz can not be
> defended on
> >>>>>> rational
> >>>>>> grounds.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> From JSTOR:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Aaron Swartz
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> We are deeply saddened to hear the news about Aaron
> Swartz. We
> >>>>>>extend
> >>>>>> our
> >>>>>> heartfelt condolences to Aaron’s family, friends, and
> everyone
> >>>>>>who
> >>>>>> loved,
> >>>>>> knew, and admired him. He was a truly gifted person who
> made
> >>>>>>important
> >>>>>> contributions to the development of the internet and the
> web from
> >>>>>>which
> >>>>>> we
> >>>>>> all benefit.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> We have had inquiries about JSTOR’s view of this sad event
> given
> >>>>>>the
> >>>>>> charges
> >>>>>> against Aaron and the trial scheduled for April. The case
> is one
> >>>>>>that
> >>>>>> we
> >>>>>> ourselves had regretted being drawn into from the outset,
> since
> >>>>>>JSTOR’s
> >>>>>> mission is to foster widespread access to the world’s body
> of
> >>>>>>scholarly
> >>>>>> knowledge. At the same time, as one of the largest
> archives of
> >>>>>> scholarly
> >>>>>> literature in the world, we must be careful stewards of
> the
> >>>>>>information
> >>>>>> entrusted to us by the owners and creators of that
> content. To
> >>>>>>that
> >>>>>> end,
> >>>>>> Aaron returned the data he had in his possession and JSTOR
> >>>>>>settled any
> >>>>>> civil
> >>>>>> claims we might have had against him in June 2011.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> JSTOR is a not-for-profit service and a member of the internet
> >>>>>> community.
> >>>>>> We
> >>>>>> will continue to work to distribute the content under our
> care as
> >>>>>> widely
> >>>>>> as
> >>>>>> possible while balancing the interests of researchers,
> students,>>>>>> libraries,
> >>>>>> and publishers as we pursue our commitment to the long-term
> >>>>>> preservation
> >>>>>> of
> >>>>>> this important scholarly literature.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> We join those who are mourning this tragic loss.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> larry
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Dr L Brownstein
> >>>>>> [alt-e]: [log in to unmask]
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Review Editor
> >>>>>> Radical Statistics
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "It's difficult to reason someone out of something that
> they've
> >>>>>>never
> >>>>>> been
> >>>>>> reasoned into."
> >>>>>> -- Jonathan Swift
> >>>>>>
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> >>
> >> --
> >> Martin Rathfelder
> >> Director
> >> Socialist Health Association
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