Abstract: This article inquires whether and to which degree some fundamental traits of the worldwideweb may encourage us to revise traditional conceptions of what constitutes scientific information and knowledge. Turning to arguments for 'open access' in scientific publishing and its derivatives (open content, open archives, etc.) contemporary tendencies in 'social software' and knowledge sharing, the authors project a new look on knowledge, dissociated with linear notions of cumulation, progression, and hierarchy (of e.g. scientific argument), but related to circularity, heterarchy, and evolution. Arguing from a medium theoretical perspective, they illustrate their ideas with developments in library science, current debates in epistemology and theories about information architecture, with a particular focus on 'unsystematic' folksonomies.
From the body of the paper:
The coupling of information and its material carrier, which resulted in the economic interest of the publisher and the corollary legal constructs of the author and copyright were eroded by the prospects of digital publication and distribution. In a particular example: scientific publishing has started to be redefined by calls for openness and accessibility of research results. The latter's momentum, spearheaded by the Open Access Movement also pointed the way for new and creative possibilities of knowledge sharing and production —freed by barriers to access, especially the positive sciences have shifted the bulk of innovation to a lively preprint circuit, powered by debate and massive peer review. This may have shifted the outlook of what it means to 'write science' in the first place, and how we, in the future, will define knowledge, problems, and problem solutions. Ultimately, this will translate in a reformulation of the locus cognoscendi, and, especially, enliven the debate about the place of the observer in the field of his observation.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/07/2006 08:23:00 PM.
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.
