Too far! Too far! Whatever the merits of Jan Szczepanski's
views of open access and Alma Swan's work, I think comparing
Swan
to Mao goes too far. Here is the sentence that leaped out:
" In the late fifties Mao Zedong introduced that Great
Leap and
now fifty years later we are going to take a giant leap
according
to Dr Swan."
I don't often agree with Swan, but civil discourse is, well,
civil, and Mao was uncivil on an order rarely seen. Isn't
it
enough to say we disagree and say why? Comparing Swan to
Mao,
Mother Theresa, or John Lennon doesn't make her arguments
right
or wrong, though if the comparison with Lennon is apt,
perhaps
she will hum a tune for us.
Swan wrote a fairly detailed critique (and entirely wrong!)
of a
blog post of mine (at http://pubfrontier.com),
but she she did
not lapse into abuse and managed to be entertaining in the
bargain. There is something to be said for that, in my
opinion.
The protocols of civil discourse are as important, and
perhaps
moreso, than the matters we debate: it is what makes a
community
a community.
I did note that someone cited the Communist Manifesto on
this
list a while back (woke me up!), and that contributor was
immediately and roundly criticized for it.
On one point I do agree with Swan, and that is her comment
about
the evolution of "machine brains." That indeed is
where things
are headed: the use of sophisticated IT to automate
portions of
the research process. It's not far-fetched to imagine a
research
community that is 30% smaller than it is today but with
superior
output; machines nibble at biochemists and stevedores alike.
But open access has nothing to do with this, nor does Mao.
Joe Esposito
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jan Szczepanski" <jan.szczepanski ub.gu.se>
To: <liblicense-llists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 2:18 PM
Subject: The giant leap
> In his latest talk with with prominent open access
advocates
> Richard Poynder is talking to Dr Alma Swan. It's a
fascinating
> and scary picture that is presented.
>
> In the late fifties Mao Zedong introduced that Great
Leap and
> now fifty years later we are going to take a giant leap
> according to Dr Swan.
>
> In China backyard steel furnances would do the job; in
Dr Swans
> world it's the mandate and local institutional
repository that
> is going to change the world away from big industry and
the
> capitalist society.
>
> Open Access is inevitable according to Dr Swan, as once
> Socialism was. Mandate is the key to the Open Access
World.
>
> Instead of Five Year Plans we will have Metrics to see
to it
> that the way forward is the Green Way.
>
> The commissars overlooking that the Giant Leap will
happen is
> "Pro-Vice- Chancellors" at the universities,
the real
> reprsentatives of the research communities.
>
> A citatation from Wikipedia:
>
> These reforms (sometimes now referred to as /The Little
Leap
> Forward/) were generally unpopular with the peasants
and
> usually implemented by summoning them to meetings and
making
> them stay there for days and sometimes weeks until they
> "voluntarily" agreed to join the collective.
>
> A citation by Dr Swan:
>
> AS: Mandates are essential for lots of reasons. One
reason is
> that they make researchers aware of Open Access where
they
> weren't before. The level of ignorance is still very
high. And
> if their university suddenly requires them to do
something it
> will focus researchers' minds. More mportantly, of
course, a
> mandate will actually make them do it, because
regardless of
> the Open Access Advantage, they won't put their
research into a
> repository if they don't have to. It's another
bureaucratic
> thing to do. And they still have worries about the
legality of
> it. Being told by their institution to do it gives them
the
> feeling that it is safe and sensible to do it. So to
make them
> do it you need to tell them that they have to!
>
> Richard Poynder's comment:
>
> Dr Swan has a clear eye for what is needed
>
> How will the future be?
>
> AS: Once the content and the infrastructure are in
place we are
> going to see knowledge take a giant leap. The way to
view it is
> that the last 7-8,000 years or so of human
civilisation's
> struggle for knowledge has taken place on one plane,
determined
> and constrained by what our own brains can absorb, put
together
> and make sense of: now we are about to move to another
plane
> altogether, with the help of machine brains.
>
>>From profit makers to machine brains, what a
future!
>
> Jan
>
> Jan Szczepanski
> Forste bibliotekarie
> Goteborgs universitetsbibliotek
> E-mail: Jan.Szczepanskiub.gu.se
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