Re: What is Open Access?

[Susanna Mornati <mornati@cilea.it>]

In reply to Stevan Harnad's statement that "The Open Access movement is
focused primarily on one specific form of content: articles published in
peer-reviewed research journals and conference proceedings", Joe Esposito
wrote:

> JE:  This is sheer nonsense.  Open Access is not a trademark.  Google the
> term and you will see any number of meanings for it.  I haven't taken a
> count, and don't plan to, but my impression is that for most people who
> have heard of it, OA applies to all content, as in "information wants to
> be free."  The poorly written and biased Wikipedia article has a broader
> view than Stevan Harnad, and the Wikipedia is an OA publication.
Of course Open Access is not a trademark. But the Open Access movement is
widely known as pertaining the research world and its peer-reviewed,
give-away output that is presently behind commercial barriers. The rest of
"content" is either produced and happily sold for money, or produced and
made easily available for free. So why bother a movement for it?

Susanna Mornati


Dr. Susanna Mornati
Project  Leader AEPIC, www.aepic.it
Coordinator PLEIADI, www.openarchives.it/pleiadi
CILEA - Inter-Academic Consortium for ICT, Italy