Today's New York Times has a good story on the prospects for an OA database of US government grants and contracts. Right-wing politicians like it because they think public scrutiny will lead to a reduction in government spending. Left-wing politicians like it because they think public scrutiny will increase political protection, if not spending, for valuable programs. The only opponents are politicians trying to defend their pork from public scrutiny, but there seem to be more of them than originally expected. The House version of the bill, passed in June, retreats from the original vision by shining light only on nonprofits receiving grants, not businesses receiving contracts. Democrats complain that his looks like a way to keep Republican pork in the dark.
PS: For another example of selective OA that seems to have a political motivation, see the global warming story I blogged last week.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/03/2006 06:19:00 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.
