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Topic 5 2016

Topic 5: Reflection

Looking back… This past weeks topic has completely opened my eyes to a new debate. The debate between whether materials online should be freely accessed and re-used by all. It only occurred to me last week when I was sifting through countless research articles online for to my research proposal, how infuriating it was to be presented with a pay wall in between the article and myself. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Reflections

When first approaching this week’s topic exploring the disadvantages and advantages of a content producer making their content freely available online, my first student-orientated thoughts led me to assume that only positives could eventuate from this. Who doesn’t love free stuff? However when reading around this topic further, and considering it from a wider perspective, namely that of a content producer, my opinions started to change. Continue reading →

Reflection on Topic 5

Open access is a topic that I have studied previously during my course, and last week’s blog post caused me to revisit the debate. Previously, my focus had primarily been on open access within academia, but after reading the blog posts of others, I have now realised that the debate can be extended to all online content in some respects. For example, the music industry is one that has been rocked by innovative new methods of distribution, namely streaming. Continue reading →

Topic 5 – Reflection

As a student who analyses work for my degree, reading as many opinions as I can help me ground my knowledge on the topic or area. If I had limited access to these papers, it would hinder my ability to get a range of views and add to the work confidently. Having just completed my dissertation, this topic has really allowed me to acknowledge the impact of open access on my research. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Reflection

In my blog post this week, I came to the conclusion that I am for open access; I was able to reflect on past experiences of being unable to access journal articles, and I can sympathise with those who cannot access these important academic resources. It is very frustrating! However, through collaboration with my fellow students, I was able to see the topic through multiple points of view. Ellie’s comment on my blog made me consider things from the content producer’s financial point of view. Continue reading →

Reflection on “Open Access”

This week’s topic about open access to online content was extremely relatable. I constantly find articles online, which may be extremely useful to my work. However, find that I either have partial access or have to pay a large amount of money to download them. Since this is a daily inconvenience to me, I am fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages of having open access myself. So, it was interesting to look into this in the perspective of the content provider. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Reflection

This has been a very interesting topic to discuss. I think one of the reasons why it was so engaging is because everyone was talking from their own experiences as well as the research they have done. A lot of students and just members of the general public come across pricey content when doing research. But it is not only academic journals that come under the open access debate. Continue reading →

Reflection: Topic 5

Source: Open Access Belgium This week’s topic was particularly interesting as all students have been confronted at least once in their life to the problems that lack of Open Access can cause. However, considering the problem from the writer’s standpoint pushed us to think deeper about the issue. The majority of the blogs  compared the advantages and disadvantages of OA in the academic field, but Rofini and Rebekah have addressed the topic in a different way. Continue reading →

Topic 5 – Reflection

Aston University Library (2016) This week and final topic for the UOSM2008 module was all about Open Access, a revolution trying to encourage academic content to be made available “ free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions” (Suber, 2015). I explored both for and against the topic and also evaluated two models that showed how OA could be executed. Continue reading →

Reflection Post: Topic 5

I decided to discuss the advantages & disadvantages of providing free music available online. I’ve acquired 6 main points attributing to this topic. Source: Rofini Zainal (Created by me on Piktochart) Recognition. This has come a up lot in the discussions. After reading through Stuart’s, Kemi’s and Jodie’s blogs. I have come to a conclusion that for a content producer, they would be able to gain more recognition, locally or globally, for their content. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Reflecting on Open Access

At the beginning of this topic I found it extremely difficult to settle on which type of content I should focus on, initially I was going to keep it quite general and discuss all content on the internet.  However, after I had written a first draft of this I realised that it lacked focus.  I subsequently decided to focus on Open Access, as I am a student I felt it was something I could relate to. Continue reading →

Topic 5 reflection

My post this week gained multiple comments from different people. It was great to interact with others and hear their opinions. Many people on the course decided to discuss the pros and cons of the open access of academia. However Rofini and I both discussed if music should be open sourced or not. As an aspiring artist Rofini gave a great perspective, we both agreed that for artists just starting out the best way to gain a wider audience. Continue reading →

Topic 5 reflection

This week, as for the last topic, we have probably been given one of the most debatable topic out of the total 5: to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Open Access, its benefits for our society and whether it is sustainable for the long-term (especially from the publishers’ point of view)… The topic can be approached from several completely different point of views and it was interesting to see that some of us took the topic into a professional context and talked about its use... Continue reading →

Topic 5 Reflection

This week’s Open Access topic was a definitive learning curve for me. As bad as it may sound I supposed I’d never really considered the drawbacks the author on the other side of the screen may face in order for me to be sat contently reading an article. Continue reading →

Topic 5 – Reflections and Lessons Learnt :)

When I was firstly presented with the topic of (OA) Open-Access, my initial inklings were that when information is made freely accessible by the content creator to the public; it can only be a positive thing! [1] (See Figure 1 below). 1: Open-Access (Benefits) However, Becca’s posting was initially responsible in opening my outlook towards the contrary; in regard to the enormous publication fees these content creators are expected to fork-out to make their material ‘open-access’! [2]. Continue reading →

Topic 5 Reflection

As a second year student studying a maths based degree, the issue of open access is not one that I had known about before this topic but will affect me a lot next year for my dissertation. I’ve found that open access can make a massive impact in many areas mainly including students who are studying for degrees and struggling to find free/open articles to use and the developing world. Continue reading →

Reflecting on Topic 5

This week’s topic focused on the advantages and disadvantages of open access for the content producer which generated some interesting thoughts amongst fellow UOSM2008 students. Haley’s post allowed me to initially recognise that one of the perceived advantages of open access for content producers is that their articles become more influential in promoting development in low income countries. Continue reading →