Image from Giphy
After reading most of my peers’ posts, there was a unanimous decision that online material would benefit society and users if it were free online. However, taking this into consideration, whether it is the public or individuals, there will most likely be a party, which has to pay for the materials in order for it to be available. For instance, under new proposals, the government will pay publishers a fee each time a paper is published and in return, the research will be available to those who wish to see it. This will allow academics and businesses to develop and commercialise their research more easily and herald a new era of academic discovery (Ghosh, 2012). This is perhaps the most important point to keep access to online materials free, as it contributes to further research and the economy. I believe that it is right for the government to make public taxpayer-funded research accessible.
Many of the posts this week, including mine, centered on academic journals. I did find Isaac’s post interesting regarding his focus on Newspaper introducing paywall, something I did not consider in the open access debate. We are indeed entering a period of subscription culture with many varying newspaper and magazine publications implementing paywall at a fast speed. It brings me relief to know that some choose to remain free.
While the chances of facing a paywall in near future seems inevitable, I thought perhaps I could research a little on it and understand how it works. I managed to come across this article that explains the 5 types of paywall and how they actually help the respective companies in gaining revenue (Jackson, 2014).
In conclusion, the ideology of using the Internet to promote global learning will suffer, if the struggle for open access continues. As people around the world may not have access to potentially beneficial resources, which could have sparked new ideas and give birth to new innovations from which we can all benefit.
I vote for Open Access.
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References
Gov.uk, (2012). Making published taxpayer-funded research accessible – Investing in research, development and innovation – Policies – GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/investing-in-research-development-and-innovation/supporting-pages/making-taxpayer-funded-research-accessible [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Ghosh, P. (2012). UK science to be freely available. [online] BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18860276 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Indvik, L. (2013). ‘The Guardian’: We’re Not Planning on a Paywall. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2013/04/17/the-guardian-no-paywall/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Jackson, J. (2014). As Telegraph joins paywall bandwagon, here’s five leading approaches to gated access and user revenues. [online] Themediabriefing.com. Available at: http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/paywall-approaches-gated-access [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
Lim, I. (2014). Paid Vs Free Content. [online] isaaclye. Available at: http://isaaclye.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/paid-vs-free-content/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2014].
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