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26/05/2013

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Home » Is Open Access good for all?

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Susan Greenfield

Is Open Access good for all?

State: 
Declined
Contact Details
I am the event manager: 
I am the event manager
Event Manager Info
2. Event Manager First Name: 
Phillip
3. Event Manager Surname: 
Lord
8. Event Manager Telephone number: 
0191 222 7827
9. Event Manager Email address: 
phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk
Your event
10. Which of the following areas of science does you event best fit into?: 
General
Event type and format
11. Do you have a preferred day for your event to take place on?: 
Monday 9 September 2013
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Thursday 12 September 2013
17. Length: 
1 hour
18. What will the format of your event be?: 
Panel discussion/debate - exploring a subject with more than one speaker with lots of audience interaction
19. Please give any details about the format of your event you feel are relevant.: 
We will use the panel to stimulate discussion and debate, with as many questions from the audience as possible. As well as providing an open mic for the audience, we will also provide hand out slips for people who want to ask anonymously. The basic format is, however, rather prosaic. We will, therefore, fully Web 2.0 enable the panel; panelists will be asked for initial statements a week before the panel, which will be published on a discussion forum; a live twitter stream will be back projected, behind the panelists; we will accept questions and general feedback from there as well as in the room. We will also investigate VOIP contributions through Skype or equivalent. Finally, we will engage the audience through a local voting system. This format will provide further hooks for discussions around how the internet has changed the way researchers and wider communities are able to share information/influence debates etc
20. Location/venue: 
Venue and location to be allocated by the Festival team
21. Venue requirements: 
We would prefer a campus location, as this will make our Web 2.0 arrangements much more straight-forward; University venues are likely to have all the resources we require, and we are familiar with the local set up.
22. Audience Level: 
Adults with some knowledge of the topic
Event details
12. Event title: 
Is Open Access good for all?
13. Description of the core message of your event and key topics to be covered (c.100 words): 
Researchers and scholarly publications are increasingly adopting Open Access practice – (i.e. the online publication of peer-reviewed articles for free), facilitating unrestricted access to the published outputs of research. While Open Access may be good for those reading the papers, some authors are worried that they will be excluded from publication. Will OA make the already difficult academic career path harder? And will it split the scientific, humanities and arts communities. We will discuss this with a panel of researchers.
14. Does the event have particular local relevance?: 
Yes
15. If so, please indicate what this is: 
The organisers and one panel member are local Newcastle researchers.
16. How does your event relate to this year's theme of 'Making waves'?: 
Publication is still the main way academics release their knowledge to the world. How this happens, and who controls the results are key to the impact and uptake to science. Open Access is a very current topic, but most discussions have been at government or a policy level. This panel will help to explore how it will affect researchers and particularly younger researchers who are the future of science.
Press interest
23. Do you consider that the event will attract press interest?: 
Yes
24. If yes, please summarise up to 4 key points you think will be of press interest: 
The Move to Open Access Young Researchers vs Established Researchers Who owns research? Science vs Humanities
25. Do you have any other comments you would like to make or information you would like to include?: 
Although this is the British Science Festival, we wanted to explore our topic with all forms of academics: science, humanities and arts. We have asked a potential panel: we have sought out researchers, and have deliberately avoiding the publication industry which has vested interests in one direction or the other. Our panel will be: Emma Short <emma.short@newcastle.ac.uk> Meera Sabaratnam <ms2128@cam.ac.uk> Mark MacGillivray <mark@cottagelabs.com> Sophie Kershaw <sophie.kershaw@keble.oxon.org> All have expressed an interest in Open Access. We have split the panel approximately between the Sciences and Humanities. Mark MacGillivray and Sophie Kershaw are current members of the Open Knowledge Foundation. Meera Sabaratnam is a founding member of "The Disorder of Things" -- a blog of critical inquiry of Global Politics. Emma Short was lead author of a letter concerning the potentially damaging impact of Gold OA proposals on postgraduates, early career researchers and independent scholars which was recently published in the Oxford Magazine with over 80 signatures The panel will be chaired by Phillip Lord, from Newcastle University. He has been investigating new technology for the academic publication process; in particular, how to use standard blogging platforms for light-weight and rapid publication, while still retaining the mechanisms for citation and digital preservation. The Web 2.0 aspects of the format will be run by Lindsay Marshall, also from Newcastle; a leading exponent of innovative technology for pedagogical purposes. Live content generation will be from Allyson Lister -- an active researcher, who is recognised for her conference live-blogging and tweeting.

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