[OKFN-IN] access2research - just over 5000 signatures to go

Wed May 30 04:23:43 UTC 2012

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jenny Molloy <jenny.molloy at okfn.org>
Date: 30 May 2012 02:33
Subject: [Open-access] access2research - just over 5000 signatures to go
To: open-science at lists.okfn.org, open-access at lists.okfn.org, Open
Knowledge Foundation discussion list <okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org>

Dear All

Many of you will have already heard of the http://access2research.org
petition to encourage the White House to consider further opening up
of access to scientific publications.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/require-free-access-over-internet-scientific-journal-articles-arising-taxpayer-funded-research/wDX82FLQ

This is endorsed by the OKFN
http://blog.okfn.org/2012/05/21/petition-the-white-house-to-open-up-publicly-funded-research/
and it would be fantastic to see as many of our supporters as possible
signing and encouraging others to do the same - they are edging
towards the 20,000 mark and require just over 5,000 more signatures by
June 19 to guarantee a response from the administration.

You do not need to be American, just over the age of 13 with an easily
created whitehouse.gov account.

Many more details below for those willing to spread the word around
their social networks and thanks very much to those who already have!

Jenny

--------------------------------------------------------------

On *Monday, May 21*, we lodge a petition on the White House’s “We the
People” page asking the Obama administration to require that all
federally funded research be posted on the Web – extending the
principle of the NIH policy to all federal agencies.

1. What We’re Asking

· Publicity/ Call for Participation.  Please help line up publicity
for the petition before Monday.  Specifically, can you help get it on
the front pages of Reddit, Tumblr, Wikipedia, Boing Boing, and send
out an all-hands-on-deck request through your own blogs/twitter feeds,
etc?

· 25,000 signatures in 30 days gets an official Administration
response.  We want to hit that number fast to escalate this issue
inside the White House.  We believe the policy has support but is
stuck.  This could well be the event that gets it through.

· Please sign the petition on Monday.

2. Social Media links/handles

The official campaign website is at http://access2research.org and
there are already Facebook pages (http://facebook.com/access2research)
and Twitter handles (@access2research) in place.

3. Petition Text (800 character limit)

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: [This doesn't count toward
the character count]

Require free access over the Internet to journal articles arising from
taxpayer-funded research.

We believe in the power of the Internet to foster innovation,
research, and education. Requiring the published results of
taxpayer-funded research to be posted on the Internet would give
access to entrepreneurs, researchers, patients, caregivers, and
students, who currently are blocked by high costs. We know this works
without disturbing the process of scientific publishing because the
National Institutes of Health is already doing it through its highly
successful Public Access Policy. All other federal agencies that fund
research should have similar policies.

President Obama, please act now to make federally-funded research
freely available to taxpayers on the Internet.

4. The Ask to Others

To sign the petition:

-   Have to be 13 years or older
-   Have to create an account on whitehouse.gov, which requires giving
a name and an email address and then clicking the validation link sent
to that address
-   Click to sign

5. Further Context

After years of work on promoting policy change to make
federally-funded research available on the Internet, and after winning
the battle to implement a public access policy at NIH, it has become
clear that being on the right side of the issue is necessary but not
sufficient. We've had the meetings, done the hearings, replied to the
requests for information.

But we're opposed in our work by a small set of publishers who profit
enormously from the existing system, even though there is no evidence
that the NIH policy has had any measurable impact on their business
models. They can - and do - outspend those of us who have chosen to
make a huge part of our daily work the expansion of access to
knowledge. This puts the idea of access at a disadvantage. We know
there is a serious debate about the extension of public access to
taxpayer funded research going on right now in the White House, but we
also know that we need more than our current  approaches to get that
extension made into federal policy.

The best approach that we have yet to try is to make a broad public
appeal for support, straight to the people. The Obama Administration
has created a web platform to petition the White House directly called
We The People. Any petition receiving more than 25,000 digital
signatures is placed on the desk of the President's Chief of Staff and
must be integrated into policy and political discussions. But there's
a catch - a petition only has 30 days to gather the required number of
signatures to qualify.

We can get 25,000 signatures. And if we not only get 25,000, but an
order of magnitude more, we can change the debate happening right now.

Next week we will publish our petition and the 30 day cycle begins.
What we're asking you to do is to leverage your personal and
professional networks to get the word out.

You can do this in any way that makes you feel comfortable. A blog
post, an email to constituencies, a tweet, a facebook share, you name
it - something that tells thousands of people "I support this
petition, I'm signing this petition, and I thought you should know
about it too." Because this isn't just slacktivism with a "like" or a
retweet - people need to go to the White House website, enter their
name and email address, and hit the button.

Qualified signers must be 13 years old or more, and have a valid email
address. That's all.

The goal is not just to get 25,000, but to get far more to show the
White House that this issue matters to people, not just a few
publishers.

We are launching the campaign on Monday May 21. The petition will go
live late Sunday night May 20, so that the waves can start in the EU
and sweep west with the sunrise. We're asking you to turn on your
networks on Monday morning.

Thanks for considering this. If we can all come together to get the
word out at once, and stay behind it for 30 days, we have a real
chance to get access to taxpayer funded research across the entire
government, and send a signal that the people have a voice in this
debate, not just publishers and activists.