Topic 5 2016, Page 3

Topic 5: Do we still really have a right for education?

Or has it become a luxury? Nowadays, content accessing academic content online can cost you around £100 and it might start to seem a bit unfair. Continue reading →

Releasing free music: Good or Bad?

As someone who wishes to focus on a music career after I finish my degree, I have always planned on releasing my own songs online, for free. Now if you click on the youtube or soundcloud links above, you’ll notice that I only have covers and I have a perfect reason for it. I am just not ready. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Open Access Content

Nature, The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine. These journals are big names in the field of medical research; in 2014 Nature had an impact factor of 42.3, the highest of any medical journal. However, the price of access to journals such as these is growing; prices have increased greater than inflation by 250% over the past 30 years. Access to medical research by different individuals is vital to prompt different hypotheses and further research. Continue reading →

Open Access in Science and Medicine

Photo credits. Late night essays were made worse by the chance that my institution wouldn’t have access to an important reference. “Check Access”. For 4 years, this blue button has irritated me beyond belief. Writing a patient case report or research essay at 4am was never fun, and to make it worse, I was constantly at war with all the journals that would not give me or the University access to their cutting-edge research articles. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Open Access to Online Content

Open access literature is “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions” (Suber, 2015). But what exactly does this mean? For a student, this means immediate and free online access to a plethora of research articles (Hatzipanagos and Gregson, 2015). I have summarised four key pieces of information about open access literature in the Haiku Deck below. Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that’s simple, beautiful and fun. Continue reading →

Topic 5. Making content freely available online

In this post, ‘content’ is understood as original work, whether scientific, artistic creation or other digital informational goods. There are a few different types of free online content and their advantages and disadvantages for a content producer are discussed below. OER and edutainment Open education resources (OER) are also called ‘open content’. Continue reading →

Open Access

Source: Stephen Morris/iStockphoto As a final year student, evaluating whether the information available online should be made free really concerns me. I believe every student can relate to the frustrating situation in which you believe you have found the perfect source for your research but when clicking on it you realize that you cannot access it. Continue reading →

Topic 5 – An insight into Open Access.. :)

1: Open Access [Definition]Envisage you have just finished your pioneering research after years of hard work, which was funded by the University of Southampton. On the one hand, you want to share it with the world but the hugely-inflated distribution expenses are preventing you from doing so. Continue reading →

ERROR: Access Denied

The first rule of using the web as a tool in education and business is that you can’t use everything that you find due to copyright infringement and licensing issues. Open access is one model that solves some of these issues, so what is it…   This article has referenced a study suggesting that paid content is becoming more common, and three years ago they projected that right now, May 2016, 90% of all content online would be paid for. Is this the case? I would say no. Continue reading →

Drowning in a TIDALwave

The open access of music has becoming an increasingly popular topic in the media. Artists now have the option to stream their music on multiple platforms some which are completely free and others that charge the consumer per song or per month. “It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is. I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art. Continue reading →

Open Access to Online Content

Open access is becoming more prevalent as our society becomes increasingly digitized. It seeks to return academic publishing to its original purpose of spreading knowledge and allow that knowledge to be built upon. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Advantages and Disadvantages of Creative Commons

This video explains what Creative Commons is and the main points for how it works:   Fundamentally, it allows content producers of images, videos, music, text, source code etc. to make their work freely available in a way that is clear to other users and whether they themselves can use the content they find online. The main points explained in the video are what Creative Commons is in comparison to traditional copyright systems. What the different components are and what the symbols mean. Continue reading →

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Encircled around the edge of the £2 coin is the phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants” or in simpler terms: “building upon what others have already done”. Photo Credit This is a phrase most applicable to research where for century’s scientists, researchers and innovators have used each other’s work to enhance their own, come up with new ideas and challenge traditional views. Continue reading →

TOPIC 5: The Open Access debate – why do we have to pay for certain knowledge?

We can all relate to how frustrating it is to find the ‘perfect’ article that you’re sure has everything you need in it for an assignment, only to realise it’s access is restricted. It makes you think, why are some things free to access and others not? Until I really researched this topic, that’s what I thought it was all about. Being at university I automatically thought about access to journals  for academia and that my trouble with it would be over as soon as I finish. Continue reading →

Open Access or Nopen Access?

Open access entails online research outputs that are free of all restrictions on access (e.g., access tolls) and free of many restrictions on use (e.g. certain copyright and license restrictions). It seems as though many people are in favour of open access, as can be seen just by all the twitter accounts regarding the matter. Continue reading →

Advantages and Disadvantages for Content Producers Making their Materials Freely Available Online

When knowledge is shared freely and without most licensing restrictions, it constitutes as open access and is commonly associated with academic articles. Continue reading →

Open Access

For many years, getting access to exclusive scientific research was an expensive and difficult thing to do. Not only was it expensive, but once you paid that outrageous price, whether it was relevant or not was also an issue. With the the ever-improving and developing technology, open access has become a popular way to easily publish your work. Open access is scientific and technological information that is available to all. Continue reading →

The advantages and disadvantages to a content producer of making their materials freely available online.

    Once again, a very relevant and current subject matter. Particularly for people who fall under the category of education and research. Although this topic can be argued either way, I personally believe that content producers should make their materials freely available online. However, I will also discuss the disadvantages of this. Continue reading →

Open Access to Online Content

Please read these notes and check out the links below, before preparing and posting your answer to the set question. This document should be regarded as just the start of the discussion, which is then developed over the next two weeks through the conversations themselves and sharing of further relevant links. Continue reading →

Topic 5 begins on 2^nd May