Publisher's Pushback
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| ColonelPanik Jan 28, 2009 2:29 PM EDT |
Except for a few, a very few, well endowed universities, the two headed
school killer has been our BFF m$ and their partner in crime the publishers
of academic books and journals. Lack of innovation for profit is the m$ mantra. "Does Not Play Well With Others" is the theme song of the publishers. This lock down on knowledge seems like the road to hell. Sander, this is all about FOSS, same folks fighting FOSS are fighting for the rights of the publishers to make obscene profits. Anyone else getting tired of the nay-sayers? |
| penguinist Jan 28, 2009 3:28 PM EDT |
Yes, in so many ways the fight for "information freedom" is parallel to the fight for "software freedom". Several years ago I began to experience cardiac health issues. As an engineer, my first step was to learn everything there was to know about my condition. That took me to the local medical school library, and to the online journals. That is when I found out just how restricted and protected our medical knowledge is. The library permitted me to browse the stacks, read as much as I wanted in the building, but in order to check out a book it was required to have an MD certificate or registration as a medical student. (By the way, all other libraries at this university permit public access.) Mind you, this was a tax supported library. Online is worse. Yes, you can search the journals, and can even read a few hundred words of abstract, but most of the medical knowledge published is buried under costly journal subscriptions, many of which are only open again to those with an MD certificate. Does anyone else feel the same outrage? Most of the knowledge that has been accumulated by the human species over its history is open and available to anyone for study, except when that knowledge relates to our own medical health. In that case, the knowledge is locked away so that only the "elite" can access it. Outrage... |
| theboomboomcars Jan 28, 2009 5:37 PM EDT |
Penguinist that seems especially silly in the medical field, because you have to be a licensed doctor in order to practice, so just reading the material wont benefit the average person any more than just acquiring knowledge. I can almost see the dim outline of reason for fields where you are not required to be licensed to practice but since you are going to have to go through the very expensive and length training/certification in order to make any money from the research, which was probably paid for by tax dollars anyway, the info should be available to everyone who pays for it. Which you did through your tax supported library who paid for it. Our* education system is broken and will remain so until we don't guard our knowledge with lock and key and start sharing it. *I will be bold enough to say that the education system of the modern world falls under this statement and not just the US, when the gage of whether or not a student is successful is a multiple choice test you are not getting any representation of knowledge or understanding. I am saying this coming from the perspective of someone who is finishing his degree to become a Teacher and will begin teaching in the fall. |
| ColonelPanik Jan 28, 2009 6:35 PM EDT |
No access to knowledge = No education. |
| gus3 Jan 28, 2009 7:15 PM EDT |
Quoting:Penguinist that seems especially silly in the medical field, because you have to be a licensed doctor in order to practice, so just reading the material wont benefit the average person any more than just acquiring knowledge.This isn't medical practice, this is attempting to learn about his medical condition, without the intervening condescension of an "I'm the genius here, so you have to listen to me" physician. If there were something wrong with you, and the physician refused to tell you anything beyond the clinical term for it, how outraged would you be? Or, worse, if there were something wrong with you, and the physician only wanted to make a snap diagnosis and write out a prescription, collect the payment, and send you on your way; and you knew that the diagnosis was wrong, but you needed to be able to prove it, in order to begin pursuing the correct diagnosis... I know someone who is totally fed up with the medical establishment because the only doctor who will see her just wants to call it "fibromyalgia", write a scrip, and get the payment from Medicaid. Never mind that her symptoms do not match the fibromyalgia matrix, a fact that she could know only by having that kind of medical literature available to her. |
| montezuma Jan 28, 2009 8:37 PM EDT |
Here's the future: http://www.bentham.org/open/index.htm |
| theboomboomcars Jan 29, 2009 12:58 AM EDT |
gus3- That is what I was trying to say, you just did it better. |
| Sander_Marechal Jan 29, 2009 3:22 AM EDT |
montezuma: Great link. Bookmarked! |
| ColonelPanik Jan 29, 2009 3:25 PM EDT |
montezuma, Great link! I have already sent it to several people in Education. Thanks, keep em comming. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!