International Open Access Week 2012

Post date: Oct 27, 2012 1:08:31 AM

2012 has been a year with many legislative discussions, (particularly in the USA but also internationally) about proposed changes to intellectual property law, with much of the script written by the commercial media giants. Therefore it is more important than ever that we become educated and educate others about open access to prevent draconian legislation from stripping away the fair use rights to which academics have become accustomed. Legislation in the USA. has been shelved for post-election debate, so we haven't seen the last of the commercial media hydra rear its ugly heads to threaten the rights of individuals. As authors and educators, we need to become advocates of our own intellectual property as well, and demand open access for our published works whenever possible.

The concept of open access has many facets. The creators of PHD Comics released a video titled "What is Open Access" by the creators of PHD Comics (see video panel below) which explains in comprehensive yet simple terms why open access is important to the future of human progress.*

To further breakdown the notion of open access, Renaissance Scholarly Communications owner and consultant John H. Hagen delivered a keynote address for an online Latin American Open Access Week Conference hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University - Lima, Peru on Wednesday, October 24th. Hagen's presentation titled "Fear and Loathing in Academia 2.0" provided an overview of the history of scholarly communications, the present state of scholarly publishing, resources to advocate for open access as well as how the convergence of technologies and increasing transparency and access to information and resources will provide for an abundant future. A copy of the Powerpoint presentation is available for download.

*Source: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1533