said by Just Bob:Once upon a time long ago and far away, universities published the scientific journals. We outgrew that system and the system didn't really work all that well anyhow as the number of journals exploded. What we have now is a continuing privatization, commercialization and monetization of knowledge and the universities themselves.
Simply because the public doesn't want to pay for it, so Universities increasing turn to corporations for funding. Research has been this way pretty much forever. You might have a brilliant idea but who is going to fund your research into that idea? How do you get 'public' money to do your research or is that even possible? Things like »
www.kickstarter.com/ are certainly interesting as its a way to fund/build a product/project/etc and have the public fund it and somehow reward those who helped make it possible, but even then its limited as to how much funding can be raised and most kickstarted projects end up not making it.
said by Just Bob:Those who are connected to universities or have access to major libraries that subscribe to JSTOR have free and easy access. Others can only gain access at great expense. The number of public libraries subscribing to JSTOR has decreased as the cost has increased.
Again I would ask why do researchers subscribe to it at the price they charge, because it provides value for the money. Why do they submit papers to it, because that is where their peers look for qualified papers. Simply it works for their industry, so it continues to be the system of choice.
said by Just Bob:Part of the problems is that one size doesn't fit all. What may work for MPAA and the RIAA doesn't work for all intellectual property. It almost seems as if big money is trying to corner the market on knowledge.
I'm not sure big money is trying to corner the market, or they are the only ones who can or are willing to invest in research and having multiple processes only tend to make things more expensive and confusing as how do you decide who uses what process and when and how do you make it fair and fair in who's eyes. For example private schools, some feel they are unfair others feel they are fair, but they are a solution to the one size doesn't fit all.
said by Just Bob:You may see thing differently. That's okay. It's good to have choices.
Choices are good.
Now I used to be a researcher and created ideas that lead to products and companies etc but found out that I hated it, as a researcher my interest was in the product and how it worked for people, however investors/shareholders/etc only cared about how much money they were going to make and so that is what ultimately ends up driving and unless there are people who are willing to pay researchers without expectation of return, that is the system which will remain in place. Certainly people like Bill Gates and his foundation have had some impact, but not enough to change things much.
Now I sit in my office and build little projects that I'm willing to fund myself and I might publish a paper or a blog entry, but likely not as its the idea creation process I love and so I do what makes me happy, but of course that means I don't make money off of these ideas, but making money came at a price I didn't really enjoy.
Blake
