A professional online discussion forum of which I'm a longtime member is in the midst of a serious conversation about whether or not the membership accepts being indexed by a service that will make our posts googlable. For one, the service that indexed our listserv did not request permission, which is a clear breach of courtesy. For another, some list members have confessed they are rather freer on the list, given that people must join to participate and read, than they might be elsewhere on the web. Those who are concerned about unwanted internet exposure have expressed a variety of reasons for this concern, including [1] cyberstalkers, [2] unwanted exposure of their views to employers, colleagues, students, personal acquaintances, [3] use of sig file and other info for spamming, [4] possible exposure to government surveillance.
Of course, some other list members have said they feel comfortable with the list's being indexed, not fearing the reaper in any of its forms. A few, especially the professional writers among us, welcome the attention by anyone interested in their writing or ideas.
A compelling argument made by one or two was that professional / expert conversation was a public service, and so we ought to give open access to our remarks. Yet others questioned whether we shouldn't get paid for our expertise, as consultants, rather than giving it away (I think that generally goes against scholarly culture, at least the one in which I was formed). Personally, I'm eager to give away what I know, if it will help anyone. Like many academics, I'm only too glad to be asked....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/17/2006 09:40:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
