Sanford Lakoff, The Disconnect Between Scientists and the Public, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6, 2005 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: 'Many scientists -- including 28 Nobel laureates -- believe that the Bush administration is politicizing science to an unprecedented degree. Rather than just complain, however, they and others who share their concern should rally behind efforts focused on critical social priorities, and in the process promote a better appreciation of the need to take science and scientists seriously....Because the politicization of science is inescapable, scientists have to educate the public to understand technical issues, and the public has to exercise good sense in judging scientists' credentials and coming to grips with their discoveries and inventions....If ordinary voters are to make well-informed decisions about such complex matters as therapeutic cloning, hydrogen-based fuel cells, and genetically modified crops, they need more help than they can get from tabloid journalism and talk shows that deal more in sensationalism than reason....A direct assault on the administration's ideological fixations and on public ignorance risks provoking partisan defensiveness and populist ranting about elitism. Practical efforts to tackle critical social problems may be more effective in focusing public attention on widely shared goals and helping to increase respect for science.'
(PS: If Lakoff is right, then OA has a role to play in the solution. Part of the work can be done by translations or popularizations, which are compatible with TA. But part of work must be done by opening access to the primary literature for public exploration.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/02/2005 04:06:00 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.
