[Open-access] Introducing: Who Needs Access? You Need Access!

Fri Feb 17 01:42:09 UTC 2012

Folks, I mentioned on the EtherPad the other day that I have been
working on a site to highlight the problem of what Peter Has called
"The Scholarly Poor".  I think we need something bold and clear that
doesn't go into too much technical detail, and that provides a lot of
personal stories that people can relate to.

I'm now ready to unveil PRIVATELY (i.e. only to this group) the
embryonic site, which is at
        http://youneedaccess.wordpress.com/

Please take a look around -- there is not much content yet, but I
think probably just enough to show how it will work.  Each new
interview/profile will be posted as part of the "Latest News" stream,
and also be linked from the category list on the right and on the home
page.  Aside from these main articles, I don't envisage much more on
the site: just the home page, the About page and probably a FAQ.  I
think we should probably avoid using it as a forum for writing about
related issues ourselves and keep it tightly focussed.

I am looking a few things:

1. Comments, criticism, suggestions.  You can leave these as comments
on the pages of the site, or email me (or this group) if you prefer.
2. A sense of whether this is more or less what we all intended, and
so whether the site can be part of @ccess.
3. Other people to join me in maintaining the site: we should really
have three or more editors to give the sense of a group.
4. Ideas of who to interview.  [At the moment, the two "interviews" on
the site are faked up from comments made in email and on blogs, and
found on websites.  They will need to be redone or replaced before we
go public.]

Enjoy!
        -- Mike.