Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Thursday, June 07, 2007

OpenDemocracy shifts to OA

OpenDemocracy Campaigns to Support Open Content, iCommons blog, June 6, 2007.  Excerpt:

Here at openDemocracy we publish around 20-25 articles a week, and given our high standards of production and editorial, the cost of sustaining that level is well beyond what we make from the standard operations of the site. We had tried subscription models in the past, but now we have moved over to publishing the overwhelming majority of our articles under a CC licence, this is no longer appropriate. Luckily, however, we have a large, enthusiastic and loyal readership who understand that in order for us to continue publishing, they need to support our model, as well as a number of philanthropic individuals and foundations who have supported openDemocracy since its inception.

We’ve shied away from a Kottke-esque micropayments model, mainly as we have yet to see any sustainable implementations of this in similar businesses to ours....Instead, we run regular readership campaigns....

But why do our readers give so much to access content that is ‘free to the world’? They value our independence enormously and respect us for our transparency and honesty in requesting funds and the day to day operations of our organisation and they are realising enough real value from our free content that they want to ensure our business is sustainable....

PS:  I call this the Public TV model of OA:  "It's free but please pay anyway."  It won't work for every OA provider but I'm glad it's working for OpenDemocracy.