Stevan,
For the future success of the Harnad model of scholarly communication the
most urgent and overdue priority *is* the mandating of self-archiving, I
agree, since without the mandate it seems likely that some other model of
scholarly communication will pass this model by (considerably before the
heat death of the universe). Clearly there is legitimate scope for the use
of mandating policies in a number of areas (the deposit of theses for
example), but as a general tool it is more than a little unattractive.
> However, the research community needs all the help it can get in order
> to induce it to do the right thing, in its own interests (and those
> of research). ....100% OA has already been fully within the research
> community's reach for over a decade now, and they still have not grasped
> it. OA is already long overdue, hence the time has already passed for
> sitting waiting expectantly for possible, eventual, dynamic changes that
> may take until the heat death of the universe to come to come to pass,
> if not helped along by a little practical good sense today...
The blame for the failure of the Harnad model (sans mandates) here is aimed
fair and square at the research community, and the slow rate of institutions
lining up to mandate their researchers to deposit their research is being
presented as a resistance to help.
This is an exasperation.
Maybe you should be looking at your model again, rather than blaming others
for its deficiencies in the field.
Best wishes,
Philip
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Philip Hunter
IRIScotland
Digital Library Division
Edinburgh University Library
George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LJ
Tel: +44 (0)131 651 3768
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