Video is now available of our February 28 event "Protests, Petitions and Publishing." The intense discussion covered recent developments in the debate over access to scholarly literature. See Allan Adler of the Association of American Publishers (AAP)–often quoted in the press defending the Research Works Act–explaining the AAP's position. Hear the American Anthropological Association's Oona Schmid lay out the challenges facing scholarly societies and their publishing programs. Listen to Columbia University's Peter Woit explain why mathematicians would not be terribly sad if Elsevier disappeared; Woit has a more complicated view of the publishing house Springer and of Google, however. Gail Drakes of New York University sees the academic commons as an important component of a larger cultural commons, a space not defined by copyright law in which information and ideas are exchanged. Anthropologist Alex Golub of the University of Hawaii argues that anthropologists have always wanted to create broad access to scholarship, but he asserts that current scholarly communication models in anthropology are unsustainable and innovation is crucial.
"Protests, Petitions and Publishing: Widening Access to Research in 2012" is part of the Research Without Borders (RWB) speaker series. On April 5 our next event will feature George Mason University Center for History and New Media Managing Director Tom Scheinfeldt speaking on "Invisible College: THATCamp as Scholarly Society." For past events, search for the #rwob hashtag on Twitter or view the full RWB video playlist on YouTube.
