C.H.L. George, Blogging History Helpful in Research, OhmyNews, November 6, 2005. A useful survey of blogs devoted to historical research. Excerpt:
Blogging has already enabled academics to start reaching out to the wider world beyond the university gates. With so many translation tools available online, language barriers are not likely to be a problem for much longer.
Blogging democratizes the practice of history. Before its invention scholars could not publicize their work without the approval of academic publishing houses and journals.
This was relatively straightforward for university academics but made life difficult for independent scholars with no financial backing and less formalized training.
As Jonathan Dresner points out, blogging is a cheap and quick form of publishing. It enables everyone to promote their research.
The best-case scenario for the future of history blogging is that it will develop into a meritocratic online world, where good research and writing are recognized regardless of the author's qualifications and background.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/08/2005 11:07:00 AM.
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.
