[open-archaeology] AIA and open access

[Sebastian Heath]

In general, that's right: I think there's an understanding that the
"President's letter" was something of an "own goal" (to this time try
my hand at a European sports term).

 The only section that gets opaque is the one about whether or not the
President speaks for the organization. In general, the AIA President
can do so. This is good when, say, s/he is testifying before the US
government on the particulars of our stance against the import of
looted antiquities. "Yes, madam chairwoman, it is the firm position of
the AIA that <fill in comment on particularly interesting wrinkle
here>."

 But it is unusual for the President to put the weight of the AIA on
one side of a new and important issue without consulting members via
votes of the Board or Council (bodies that meet a combined total of 4
times a year).

 All of which is to say that the statement is strong as it stands, but
to the extent that it comments on the deliberative processes at the
AIA, it may delve into murky waters that have never had complete
clarity, even for those of us who have had to explore them in very
practical fashion.

 -S.



On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Leif Isaksen <leifuss at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi Andy
>
> this has sort of arisen from developments at the AIA that happened
> around the time of the skype call. The word (Sebastian can confirm) is
> that there is some internal awareness that the editorial and letter
> may not have been a good move but as yet that hasn't translated into
> any concrete actions to remedy them. As a result, we felt the best
> approach was to be cordial but to make specific requests of the AIA
> that encourage wider OA awareness (or at the very least, don't
> actively militate against it).
>
> Cheers
>
> L.
>
> On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 1:20 PM, Andrew Bevan <a.bevan at ucl.ac.uk> wrote:
>> The draft at the bottom looks fine, but its quite a departure from the content of the earlier one. Perhaps this is a reflection of further skype discussion, but for what it is worth, I wonder whether it might not be useful to keep much more of the point-by-point focus and referencing of the original?
>>
>> Andy
>>
>>
>>
>> On 27 Apr 2012, at 13:51, Leif Isaksen wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all
>>>
>>> there's now a draft letter at the bottom of the ether pad for those
>>> who want to add their names to it. The focus is directly on the AIA's
>>> actions (past and future), rather than on the general issues, and from
>>> the perspective of archaeologists based outside the US. Thoughts on
>>> where to post/publish it are welcome.
>>>
>>> Best
>>>
>>> L.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 8:30 AM, Stefano Costa <stefano.costa at okfn.org> wrote:
>>>> Il 23/04/2012 16:59, Sebastian Heath ha scritto:
>>>>
>>>>> The AIA is sometimes slow moving but "incredibly stuffy" doesn't quite
>>>>> capture the range of people in either the membership or on the board.
>>>>> And there's no reason to think the board actually had a hand in this.
>>>>> There is a lot of anger about the statement over here.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sebastian and Chuck Jones have now published a response at AWBG:
>>>> http://ancientworldbloggers.blogspot.com/2012/04/aia-and-open-access-response.html
>>>>
>>>> The outcome of the Skype call we had on Monday (available at the bottom of
>>>> the etherpad http://archeo.okfnpad.org/responsetoaia ) was that the working
>>>> group should take a public position supporting those AIA members who are not
>>>> comfortable either with the position stated in Bartman's editorial, or with
>>>> the AIA response to the consultation held in November 2011 (the two are,
>>>> roughly speaking, equivalent).
>>>>
>>>> If deemed useful, we could turn our response into a public petition.
>>>>
>>>> Ciao and "buon 25 aprile",
>>>> Stefano
>>>>
>>>>
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>>