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2017, Page 4

Open Access publishing: The pros and cons

Open access (OA) refers to publications which are free to read, download, copy, distribute, print or search (Openaccess.nl, 2017). This relates to any paywall free publication from academic journals to entertainment (e.g. music and film streaming). Like many digital innovations, OA has its advantages and disadvantages which will be discussed in this post with particular attention on the impacts for content producers.   The Advantages Click to view slideshow. 1. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Open Access or Not?

Open access is the ‘free, immediate online availability of research articles with full re-use rights.’ (Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics), 2012) Before the mid-1990s, most scientific research journals were only available on paper, however over the years, many have moved their content online. Yet, in 2013, it was estimated that 90% of online content was expected to be behind a paywall over the ensuing three years. Continue reading →

Read me, Its free!

Our world as we know it is becoming more digitalised, where access to any information we may need is available almost everywhere online. As a result, much of the online content we come across is of open access which Suber (2015) describes as ‘digital, online, free of charge and free from almost all copyright and licensing restrictions’. What are content producers? Content producers typically oversee the making of content for websites and other online properties. Continue reading →

Availability to all – Open access

I would like to start off this week’s blog by defining open access and comparing its advantages and disadvantages. http://www.powtoon.com/embed/ekieo8m537I/ As a student, I am obviously biased towards the idea of open access. This is because I don’t want to pay for information and it would benefit myself and my peers. However, there are two sides to every story of which I am going to weigh up in this blog post. Continue reading →

Explain the advantages and disadvantages to a content producer of making their materials freely available online…

The internet is a great way of sharing your work with the world and getting the exposure you desire. However, it does of course have its downsides. Putting your own content online means that millions of people can have access to it meaning they can also use your content without permission, or even worse, claim it as their own work. However there are ways of preventing things like this from happening such as open access, creative commons, and IP. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Sharing Knowledge Openly Online

Nowadays, most people understand that the internet is revolutionary as it decreases the need for space, facilitating the death of geography (although disputed) Nowhere is this more apparent than with knowledge. But, is sharing knowledge as content openly and freely online beneficial or harmful to the sharer? Open access involves the following: ^(Photo sourced from here) Education is all about sharing your knowledge with others so they can develop theirs. Continue reading →

Open Access in 21st Century

Open access has been the traditional method for retrieving information for quite some time until digitisation rapidly increased meaning we access data differently and the price of research has risen astoundingly. Now, we do not necessarily have ‘open access’ on a lot of online content in today’s society because journal companies are charging an unexplainable amount of money for the information (PHDComics, 2012). Continue reading →

Hit a brick wall

While it can be argued that one of the main purposes of the internet is to share, and receive information with ease, it has been noted that the current scientific model, dating back to the 1600s, makes this process somewhat challenging (Tracz and Lawrence, 2016). According to Mayyasia (2013) scientist follow a ‘consistent pattern’ that has almost become institutionalised. Continue reading →

Online Content – Should it be free?

 The internet has opened up many different potential channels through which to distribute content. One of the channels which grew widely is that of freely available content; with websites such as Youtube, Tumblr and WordPress making it possible for opinion, news and academic content to become widely available at no cost to the content creator or to the recipient of the content. Continue reading →

Online Content – Should it be free?

 The internet has opened up many different potential channels through which to distribute content. One of the channels which grew widely is that of freely available content; with websites such as Youtube, Tumblr and WordPress making it possible for opinion, news and academic content to become widely available at no cost to the content creator or to the recipient of the content. Continue reading →

Pros and Cons of Open Access

Figure 1: Self-Produced using Canva.com The increasing use of the Internet has led to an influx of digital information. In the academic world of Medicine alone, over two brand new papers are published every minute (Hall, 2014). This, in combination with the decline of print media (Schlesinger and Doyle, 2015) has led to the prediction that 90% of online content would be behind paywalls as of 2016 (Lepitak, 2013). Continue reading →

Topic 5: Open Access – Is There A Dark Side?

What is Open Access? Figure 1. Introduction to Open Access (self-produced via Haiku Deck, with information from Jisc) Within higher education, we all know the frustration that comes with finding a great journal article, only to find that it’s access is restricted. This has become a particular issue for me, a content consumer, over the course of writing my dissertation. However, what does restricted access and open access mean from the point of view of a content producer? Figure 2. Continue reading →

Access denied or granted?

    There is an ongoing dialogue about whether or not work published online could and should be more freely available, expressly to those in education and those wishing to contribute to current research. Open access describes a situation where anyone anywhere in the world can access, read and build upon research content found online (Shockey and Eisen, 2012). Open, adj. generous, sharing, giving (Wiley, 2010). Continue reading →

The advantages and Disadvantages of Open access

What is meant by open access? Open access is free immediate access to articles free to all people all over the world, to make research literature more available. Here is a short video to explain more. An example of open access are Open educational resources, or OER’s. OER’s are textbooks, research articles, videos, assessments and simulations that are licensed under an open copyright licence, or public domain. Continue reading →

Topic 5- Open access- The Advantages and Disadvantages for content producers

Open access refers to the ability to freely use and redistribute content that has been created by another person, without having any concerns over copyright restrictions. The digitisation of research materials has led to an improved ability to retrieve content efficiently (Wilinsky, 2006). Despite this renewed convenience, many published works are behind pay walls with expensive subscription prices. Continue reading →

Topic 5: Open Access

WHAT IS OPEN ACCESS?  Open access is defined as the free accessibility to literature online, allowing it to be used with minimal restrictions, including material being royalty-free (Bailey, 2008). With specific reference to academic and educational material, resources with open access can be used by students in education from all ages for several purposes, such as for homework or textbook material (Wiley et al, 2012). Continue reading →

Topic 5: What are the advantages and disadvantages to a content producer of making their materials freely available online?

As more of us than ever are using the internet globally, it makes sense that more content is being made available online to us too. Accessing content online means that we can look at it on the go and use more than one source at a time. The majority of articles that are accessed for my modules are through university paid subscriptions, which had I had to pay for myself, I’m not sure that I would have used them at all. Continue reading →