[okfn-discuss] Open Alternatives to JSTOR and Gated Academic Journals

Mon Jan 28 18:03:23 UTC 2013

Kyra

Thanks for your interesting posts on this topic.   I read the Berkeley blog post with special interest – since I live in Northern California and my step son is a student there.

One resource I haven’t seen referenced is the Social Science Research Network (http://www.ssrn.com).   This site has a very large number of economics working papers and journal articles available to the public for free.  I was wondering if you have any concerns about SSRN.  If not, it would seem to me to be the best platform to eventually replace JSTOR, EBSCO and other gated repositories.

Regards,

Marc Joffe

Public Sector Credit Solutions

http://www.publicsectorcredit.org

From: okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org [mailto:okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of K?ra
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 8:59 AM
To: Open Knowledge Foundation discussion list
Subject: Re: [okfn-discuss] How to honor Aaron Swartz

It's definitely within the scope of the project. I've stumbled upon a couple of summaries recently, but a lot of expansion should happen to organize and make this a better effort. 

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Reading_log_McRuer,_Tatum,_Hj%C3%B6rne_%26_S%C3%A4lj%C3%B6
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/McCall,_Leslie_%282005%29:_The_complexity_of_intersectionality._Signs:_Journal_of_Women_in_Culture_and_Society._Volume_3_%283%29_s._1771-1800

On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 10:53 AM, Finn Årup Nielsen <fn at imm.dtu.dk> wrote:

"AcaWiki and Wikiversity for collaborative summaries of and notes
on books and academic papers"

Are Wikiversity used for summaries? I have never seen Wikimedia Foundation projects used for summaries and that was the reason I started my own wiki - Brede Wiki <http://neuro.imm.dtu.dk/wiki/>.

I think it would be a good idea if there was a WMF CC BY-SA site for summaries and research data, especially now since we are getting Wikidata that could store structured research data.

Finn Årup Nielsen

On 01/28/2013 03:05 PM, Kẏra wrote:

I wonder if there's a way we could promote libre knowledge (which is
freely licensed and in free formats) over individuals just posting links
to their work.

"Posting our PDFs is all fine and good, but the real way to honor Aaron
Swartz is to combat this pervasive institutional fecklessness and do
everything in our power to make sure no papers ever end up behind pay
walls again."

—
http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/01/25/how-academia-betrayed-and-continues-to-betray-aaron-swartz/

How can we promote

  * Public Library of Science <https://www.plos.org/>, BioMed Central
<https://www.biomedcentral.com/>, and other freely licensed academic
journals
  * AcaWiki <http://acawiki.org/> and Wikiversity
<https://en.wikiversity.org/> for collaborative summaries of and notes

on books and academic papers

  * Connexions <http://cnx.org/> and Wikibooks
<https://en.wikibooks.org/> as collaborative course materials and textbooks

On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 7:15 PM, Students for Free Culture
<webleader+rss-bot at freeculture.org <mailto:webleader%2Brss-bot at freeculture.org> 

<mailto:webleader+rss-bot at freeculture.org <mailto:webleader%2Brss-bot at freeculture.org> >> wrote:

    _Rarely does the name of one person, lacking political office or seat of
    power, echo across the internet so thoroughly as it did in the wake of
    [Aaron Swartz's death][1]. How was the work of one person revered by so
    many, from the front page of every major paper in the US, to radical
    communities working against various axis of oppression?_

    **Aaron Swartz recognized something. In his own words, "Information is
    power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for
    themselves." —[Guerilla Open Access Manifesto][2]**

    [![Aaron Swartz][3]][3]

    Based on an image by [Jacob Applebaum][4] via [Wikimedia][5]. [CC-BY-SA
    3.0][6]

    Many of us have spent time grieving together on message boards, email
    lists, and with friends. While we mourned the loss of a brilliant hero
    to a [broken and backwards criminal justice system][7], an outpouring of
    support for his work roared to life. Almost overnight, recognition of
    the importance of his mission spread across every corner of the web.
    What now?

    Aaron understood that the way we experience and interact with the world
    is [inseparable from the media and technology around us][8]. He knew
    that only when they are [free from private ownership][9] can we hope to
    harness their liberatory potential and gain control over our own lives.
    He has been an invaluable force in the free software and free culture
    movements, working against the privatization of information, culture,
    and knowledge.

    Aaron fought to tear down the walls that hide big secrets and lock up
    human knowledge for the profit of the gatekeepers. The pressures which
    drove him to suicide — up to 50 years in prison and $4 million in fines
    — were brought against him for a victimless crime. These egregiously
    harsh punishments for [releasing public domain papers][10] locked up on
    JSTOR may have been due to Aaron's support of [ Private Breanna
    Manning][11] and [ties to Wikileaks][12]. Either way, Aaron should have
    been rewarded.

    There is already far too much fear in resisting the powers that Aaron
    stood up against. **We can only carry on his fight by turning this fear
    into indignation, and indignation into action, just as he did.**

    In efforts to carry on his work, [global hackathons][13] have been
    planned in his memory; a graduate student made [a commitment to free
    knowledge][14] by boycotting locked-down journals; the [Memorial JSTOR
    Liberator][15] continues the task of releasing public domain documents
    by crowdsourcing; [#PDFTribute][16] was started [for authors of academic
    papers to share their works][17]; and Anonymous defaced the United
    States Sentencing Commission website with [a video][18] threatening a
    massive exposure of government secrets  in the style of WikiLeaks'
    [insurance][19] [files][20].

    While individual efforts are admirable, Aaron's work involved much [more
    than opting out][21] of the systems he recognized as broken. He targeted
    them. He aimed to uproot them. **Everything Aaron wrote, whether
    vernacular or code, was free, but what he died doing was freeing the
    work of others.**

    There are already plenty of places to publish and share [free cultural
    works][22], but this is only half of the battle. The remaining question
    is how to usurp proprietary knowledge sources. The answer, then, is to
    eliminate their value by taking the knowledge they amass and release it
    into the world. **Our own rejection of locking up knowledge should be
    taken for granted.** **To continue Aaron's work, we must create an
    organized movement to take down the gatekeepers which keep hoards of
    information secret and lock our cultural productions behind their
    walls.**

        [1]: http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/statements/family.html

        [2]:
    http://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly20
    08_djvu.txt

    <http://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008_djvu.txt>

        [3]: http://freeculture.org/files/2013/01/Aaron_Swartz.jpg

        [4]: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/44289662@N00/335161549

        [5]:
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aaron_Swartz_23c3_day_0.jpg

        [6]: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

        [7]: http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/memories/the-inspiring-heroism-
    of-Aaron-Swartz.html

    <http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/memories/the-inspiring-heroism-of-Aaron-Swartz.html>

        [8]: http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2011/09/13/digital-
    dualism-and-the-fallacy-of-web-objectivity/
    <http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2011/09/13/digital-dualism-and-the-fallacy-of-web-objectivity/>

        [9]: http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/09/07/who-fights-
    for-the-users/
    <http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/09/07/who-fights-for-the-users/>

        [10]: https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6554331

        [11]: http://feministing.com/2011/12/22/why-does-the-media-and-her-
    supposed-supporters-continue-to-misgender-breanna-manning/

    <http://feministing.com/2011/12/22/why-does-the-media-and-her-supposed-supporters-continue-to-misgender-breanna-manning/>

        [12]: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130122/18260621757
    /concerns-raised-about-aaron-swartzs-prosecution-wikileaks-
    connection.shtml

        [13]: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130121/14473121743/global-
    hackathons-prepared-to-carry-forward-work-aaron-swartz.shtml

    <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130121/14473121743/global-hackathons-prepared-to-carry-forward-work-aaron-swartz.shtml>

        [14]: http://alexleavitt.com/oa/

        [15]: http://aaronsw.archiveteam.org/

        [16]: http://pdftribute.net/

        [17]: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414241,00.asp

        [18]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaPni5O2YyI

        [19]: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/wikileaks-insurance-
    file/

    <http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/wikileaks-insurance-file/>

        [20]: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/23/1067565/-WikiLeaks-
    new-65-GB-Insurance-file-following-Spy-Files-release
    <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/23/1067565/-WikiLeaks-new-65-GB-Insurance-file-following-Spy-Files-release>

        [21]:
    http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/01/25/how-academia-betrayed-and-
    continues-to-betray-aaron-swartz/
    <http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/01/25/how-academia-betrayed-and-continues-to-betray-aaron-swartz/>

        [22]: http://freedomdefined.org/

    URL: http://freeculture.org/blog/2013/01/27/how-to-honor-aaron-swartz/
    _______________________________________________
    Discuss mailing list

    Discuss at freeculture.org <mailto:Discuss at freeculture.org>

    http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
    FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss

--
Board of Directors, Students for Free Culture: www.freeculture.org

<http://www.freeculture.org>

Blog: http://thesilentnumber.me  -  StatusNet Microblog:
http://identi.ca/kxra

Email: kxra at freeculture.org <mailto:kxra at freeculture.org>  -  SMS:
+1.617.340.3661 <tel:%2B1.617.340.3661>  <http://1.617.340.3661>
Jabber/XMPP: kxra at riseup.net <mailto:kxra at riseup.net>  -  IRC: kxra
@freenode @oftc @indymedia

_______________________________________________
okfn-discuss mailing list
okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss

_______________________________________________
okfn-discuss mailing list
okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss

-- 
Board of Directors, Students for Free Culture: www.freeculture.org

Blog: http://thesilentnumber.me  -  StatusNet Microblog: http://identi.ca/kxra
Email: kxra at freeculture.org  -  SMS: +1.617.340.3661
Jabber/XMPP: kxra at riseup.net  -  IRC: kxra @freenode @oftc @indymedia

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/attachments/20130128/f06e0b6a/attachment.html>