... [W]e're at a cross-roads, both with regard to this field [human-computer interaction] and with regard to academia and "impact." We are living in a technologically-mediated society where information is flowing in radically new ways, where specific journals or conferences may not necessarily be the best venue to reach the relevant audience. While it's easy to argue that publishing at the top journal or conference is the best way to keep an academic job, can we honestly say that publishing in these venues is the best way to have impact? Especially when these articles are locked down and made hard to access? ...
I am proud of the work that I have published in academic journals and conferences, but that is only a fraction of my output and, arguably, the least impactful of it all. I have been blogging since 1997. I write essays online and in mainstream venues. I speak regularly in front of broad audiences. I make available the cribs of my talks. I share all of my academic work and have stopped publishing in venues where I can't make my articles available online. I embrace new forms of social media as a tool for getting my research out there. These are just a few of the ways in which I try to get my work out there. ...
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 4/15/2009 05:38:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
