...there should be a massive exodus from the copyright-locked journals to more open publishers, but for some reason the business models for open journals haven't caught on the right mix yet.
The problem, which lies at the heart of this racket, is not that researchers can't publish in "open journals," on websites, or wherever they like. Some do. But colleges only recognize publications in certain, designated journals as counting towards tenure.
I understand that peer review is vital, but it's not a sufficient excuse for the status quo.
I think that's a tradegy of a person who lives " out of the system". Though on the first sight it looks, that it's easier to be different now, but it's doubtful. It's easier to be different in the frames that goverment defines- for those whose behavior is dangerous from the "system's point of view"- the punishment is too severe.The Matrix has no mercy.
@mhhfive - not sure that any healthcare system can make depression disappear. Drugs can take the edge off, but they don't eradicate depression. If you take the right antibiotics, you can clear up an infection. Not so with depression.
If someone is looking at decades in a federal pen, enormous fines and legal fees, I don't think there are any medical treatments that could make them feel good about their future.
Aaron Swartz will be accuately missed on the internet. Hopefully, our healthcare system will be able to better address the needs of depression and avert more cases where people can be pushed over the edge.
The academic journal publishing industry is really crazy -- what other industry has its main product subsidized by the government and then also protected by copyright? Disney would LOVE to be able to sit on these knowledge archives that are largely paid-for by NIH/DOE/etc research grants and academic insitutions.
It's a wonder that PLOS journals aren't more popular with academics... there should be a massive exodus from the copyright-locked journals to more open publishers, but for some reason the business models for open journals haven't caught on the right mix yet.
Not to digress too far from the subject of Swartz's loss, but this academic publishing racket really is scandalous.
I was reminded of an article I found a few months ago on JSTOR. It was published in 1965. The author, who almost certainly made no money from it in the first place (academic journal), is dead. The journal in which it appeared has ceased publication. JSTOR would like to charge me $10 to download it.
Innovation requires a free exchange of ideas. Systems like academic publishing and JSTOR that attempt to firewall that information stifle innovation and progress.
There are many things to be sad and disappointed about in this case. The saddest is obviously the loss of Aaron Swartz, a brilliant mind who could have contributed so much to society. I forgot where I saw the headline, but apparently, hackers are getting sentences that are harsher than what rapists are slapped with. That's already alarming as it is; and if you look at the situation and the system of scientific publications that Kim outlined, you'd agree that they were way too hard (and unnecessarily so) on Aaron.
I'd like to add a little bit about academic journals, which I've criticized here before as an absurdly anachronistic bastion of the publishing industry. I called it a "racket."
Academic researchers do not publish papers for commercial gain (for research funding, sure, but that's not the same thing). They do so to increase the store of human knowledge. Many -- perhaps most -- researchers would be happy to share results freely, especially now that the Internet provides such a convenient forum.
However, in order to secure or maintain tenure, academics are expected to publish regularly in designated journals. Nobody buys these journals except the libraries of the colleges granting tenure. The journals are hugely expensive. Since libraries started running out of room to store this landfill, JSTOR has become the go-to repository.
In order to maintain the revenue for publishes, JSTOR--itself a non-profit--charges for access to these journals.
It's tragic that anyone should be persecuted for undermining this ridiculous system.
70 years ago, Richard Feynman habitually picked locks at Los Alamos while part of the nuclear research program there. Like Swartz, he was trying to point out institutional failures; unlike Swartz, Feyman was tolerated and later went on to become one of the most brlliant scientists of the 20th Century. I fear we're losing that spirit of innovation and our humanity too.
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Businesses often struggle to decide which domain to use. When it comes to purchasing a domain name, you have plenty of extensions to choose from, ranging from .com and .net, to .me, and even .mobi. But which one should you pick?
I've been writing about how the next evolution of the Internet might just be an advertising revolution, and how corporate IT can stay involved as the enablers and providers of the technologies that make this possible.
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
The smartphone market reached a significant milestone, a breakthrough that may cause vendors to celebrate but could strain the capabilities of IT service desks.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
