Open Access, journalism, & promoting the academy

[heatherm@eln.bc.ca]

Recently, there has been a lot of interest in Open Access, not only from
within the academy, but to some extent, among journalists as well.  With
significant legislation under consideration, is it possible that this
attention will continue for a while and perhaps expand?

If so, will there be golden opportunities for those responsible for
promoting our universities to highlight the value of the research they do?

Aside from the many other excellent reasons for switching to Open Access,
there is one that may particularly appeal to journalists.  Investigative
journalists, after all, are often involved in translating those research
breakthroughs into information that can be understood by all of us. An
openly accessibly scholarly literature will make this task easier
regardless of the topic. Journalists are particularly likely to want to
seek out important research at their local institution, however, as this
may afford them opportunities for an in-person interview with the
specialist, without paying for travel expenses.

Obviously, seizing this opportunity in the short-term will be easiest for
universities which already have substantial OA activities, whether these
are an institutional commitment to OA, substantial instiutional
repositories, hosting of disciplinary repositories, alternative
publication initiatives, and so forth. Any university, regardless of OA
activities, could of course talk about the value of the research they do,
because research does matter!

just a thought -

Heather Morrison
BC Electronic Library Network
heatherm@eln.bc.ca