Second Online Focus Group Questions – Open Access – Krueger’s Course
October 19, 2011
Day 1
– What are your top three news websites (CNN, NYT, Fox, etc) and the top three websites where you access academic articles? (It could be from an academic journal [such as IRRODL] or from an online system for archiving academic journals [such as JSTOR], an online directory [such as DOAJ ] or an academic journal search engine [Such as Google Scholar]?
– Are the sites you mentioned open to the public? Can they only be accessed with a subscription or membership? Does the site being open play a role as to whether or not you access it? Can you think of one major information website that you currently do not use, that you would use if it was open? With this in mind, to what extent is the ability to access information freely on the internet influencing the type of information you consume? (not at all, some (little), a lot, a great deal)?
Figure 1 – From Cameron Neylon’s Presentation
(http://www.viddler.com/explore/CameronNeylon/videos/3/)
– How often do you use Google Scholar to find articles? Above there is a screen shot of an individual using Google Scholar from his private residence trying to find and download relevant articles. When conducting a query, many of the articles he found were only available with a subscription. What do you think will happen if you conducted a similar query? To what extent is the lack of access to information a problem? (not at all, some (little), a lot, a great deal)?
Day 2
For today, it would be helpful if you could share with us what you understand by a) open access journals, b) open data, c) open content (on the internet), d) open courseware, e) open education resources, and f) open education? If you are not familiar with one of these terms, share with us your lack of familiarity with the term, but give it your best shot and attempt to explain it. What do you think they mean? Please do not read other’s responses or search online for an answer before responding.
Thank you for responding to the previous question. If you are curious about the meaning of those terms please visit the following sites: open access journals, open data, open content (on the internet), open courseware, open education resources, and open education.
Now that you have increased your familiarity with the different definitions, a) what do you think of the open access movement? b) What do you consider to be some of the strengths of open access journals? c) What do you consider to be some of the limitations of open access journals? d) When you think of an open access journal, what quality is the most important?
(Slideshare – Julien Sicot – http://www.slideshare.net/jsicot/open-science-open-access-science20-de-nouvelles-modalits-pour-la-communication-scientifique)
Thank you for your response. Please look at the graphs above. When looking at the differences between the traditional publishing system and the open access publishing system, what surprises you? Does it modify your opinion of the open access movement? Are there any additional strengths and weaknesses that you would like to include to your considerations?
Day 3
(Slideshare – Cameron Neylon – http://www.slideshare.net/CameronNeylon/open-access-open-data-open-research-presentation)
1) – To what extent do you think open access encourages or discourages innovation? Looking at the model copied above, what do you see the limitations and strengths that the Web 2.0 provides for Open Access Journals and Traditional/Toll-Access Journals?
2) – To what extent do you consider Open Access Journals to be sustainable? What do you think needs to happen for them to be sustainable?
3) – To what extent would it be possible to write a good article on your topic using only open access journal articles as sources? Why is it or why is not possible?
4) – To what extent do you feel openness increases the quality of scholarship? (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree)
5) After watching the video below, to what extent do you feel that individuals anywhere in the world should have access to the same articles? As a University of Minnesota student, do you feel you should have greater access than the average person? Should every person have access to the same information? Is there a difference between privately sponsored research and publically sponsored research in terms of access by the public?
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE63BYWdqC4&feature=relmfu (This video is an advert, please watch this video with a critical lens)
Day 4
(Slideshare – Cameron Neylon – http://www.slideshare.net/CameronNeylon/open-access-open-data-open-research-presentation)
1) – You have just written an article and you have three choices to where you are able to submit your article:
a) to an Open Access Journal where the university would cover the writer’s fee (if there is a fee) to submit the article.
b) to an Open Access Journal where the writer or the grant agency that is sponsoring him or her has to pay a processing fee to submit the article.
c) to a traditional, toll-access journal (TAJ) where institutions and individuals must subscribe to access its articles or must pay individually for every article, but the writer submitting the article does not have to pay (since the university libraries pay a subscription to access the TAJ (toll-access journal), the TAJ does not have an article processing fee).
Which one of these three journals would you choose as the site through which to submit your article and what are some of the reasons you would chose this journal (please indicate what would be the most important aspect in making this decision)? How much does the journal’s status as an Open Access Journal or Toll/Traditional Access Journal play a role in making your final decision?
2) In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in subscriptions costs to journals. Some of them cost of $20,000 per yearly institutional subscription. As a result some companies currently earn a profit margin between 15 and 35%. Because of the rising cost of subscriptions, many universities have reduced their number of subscriptions. To what extent should journals benefit from selling a subscription to their journals when, at times, the research used to write the articles had been previously paid for by the government and its tax payers?
3) Projecting yourself two, five and ten years into the future what role do you see open access playing for academia and society? What do you feel are the strongest factors in bringing about change or maintaining the status quo? To what extent do you think there is a generational difference in the support for openness, and open access journals?
Day 5
4) To what extent are you aware of who owns the copyright for an article that you publish and the author’s right to retain copyright? Many individuals are not aware of their copyright options. To what extent are you aware of what the SPARC Author Addendum or Creative Commons licenses can mean for you? What license do you usually use for your creative works?
