[Open-access] More potential "Who Needs Access?" interviewees

Tue Feb 28 19:50:40 UTC 2012

I've just found a rich seam of potential interviewees for Who Needs
Access? if we still need more...?

I've added them as a comment to the Contribute page:
http://whoneedsaccess.org/contribute

I'll, work on finding more. Here are some of them, and relevant direct
quotes - if we can't contact these people, perhaps we can still lift
their quotes (with proper attribution & permalinks) for our website?

1.) Ally Fogg - Journalist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12192218
contact: ally at allyfogg.co.uk

"...In my occasional forays into writing for CiF and elsewhere, I've
often wanted to refer to academic articles. If I were to pay for just
two or three of them, I would literally be working at a loss. Because
I'm not attached to a university, I can't even get free access to most
of them in person..."

2.) 'WillyG': http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12192332

"...As a non-academic with a wide range of interests, it regularly
frustrates me that I can't get access to articles which would enable
me to more intelligently participate in public policy debates without
severely depleting my meagre income..."

3.) David Pavett - Retired Teacher
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12192460

"...I have often found when following up references that I hit a
financial wall when it comes to reading academic articles. This can't
be right - as GM says, we have paid for this work through our taxes.
The means exist to make all this material available to everyone
electronically. It is an outrage that private interests have control
of the work blocking the rest of us from accessing it..."

4.) 'Ellis': http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12193330

"...I recently paid $30 (read only, available for 24 hours) to get
access to a tedious, useless piece of tat published in a "learned
journal" in the sixties. In any scholarly work of history there are
hundreds of references to journal articles, most of them literally
inaccessible except through University libraries.

Everything should be put online..." [Open Access]

5.) 'Silverwhistle' - Independent Researcher
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12193372

"...I'm attempting to continue my research and writing despite being
in low-paid temp work, sometimes alternating with unemployment. I have
a mediæval history article due out next year..."

6.) 'Makropulos' - Independent Researcher
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12193928

"...it's also become prohibitively expensive for any researcher
working outside the university sector to access this [JSTOR]
material."

7.) 'hisbigal' - Graduate Student (?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12194371

"... it would be a lot easier if such to academic journals weren't so
restricted, because the fees for downloading and prinitng are nothing
short of extortionate..."

8.) Mike Brisco - Senior Researcher, Flinders University, Australia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12194540
contact: mike.brisco at flinders.edu.au

"...The shift to electronic form, has restricted access, narrowed it,
made it harder. Quite the opposite of what we predicted..."

9.) RichardRemlap - ????

"...I recently sought on-line for a copy of a scientific article, only
to find that I could download it for around $41 from Elsevier.
Fortunately I was able to buy a copy from the library of my
professional body for around £10. While good for me, not everyone has
this option..."

10.) Ron White - Retired, Independent Researcher
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12195272

"...It is quite impossible for me to afford the extortionate charges
for access to journal articles..."

11.) Elliott Bignell - elliott at bignell.demon.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12196899

"...This has been bugging me for a while, as well. Apart from the
sheer cost of accessing original sources, which as a result I rarely
get to do, it conflicts with the principle of openness to independent
review and replication..."

12.) 'windswept' -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/12197383

"...I pay £475 a year for membership of the London Library, and this
is mostly so I can use their online electronic library, which includes
specialist publications such as George writes about. Accessing
articles as a private individual would be unaffordable..."

13.) Andrew N Holding - Research Scientist, Cambridge

"...I recall in my PhD the stress of when I couldn't get an article
because my University didn't subscribe to it. Only to pay for a copy
from the British Library and find the whole article worthless as it
was a misleading reference..."

Best,

Ross