IP: social movement to end access control on scientific literature

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 00:34:38 -0700
>From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
>
>Hi Andrew!  Hi Dave!  I thought you'd both be very interested in this.
>I hope you're doing well...
>
>         John
>
>Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 08:25:50 -0400
>From: Dan Geer <geer@world.std.com>
>
>This appears to be a nascent social movement to end access
>control on scientific literature.  The letter is in wide
>circulation, but its effects are difficult to gauge.  This
>form, from Phil Agre, is one of several I've gotten.
>
>
>From: Phil Agre <pagre@alpha.oac.ucla.edu>
>To: "Red Rock Eater News Service" <rre@lists.gseis.ucla.edu>
>Subject: [RRE]Public Library of Science Initiative
>
>[This comes from an RRE subscriber whose name I've deleted.  More
>at <http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999552>.]
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE).
>You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use
>the "redirect" option.  For information about RRE, including instructions
>for (un)subscribing, see http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/rre.html
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 07:58:32 -0700
>From: Public Library of Science Initiative 
><feedback@publiclibraryofscience.org>
>Subject: Please tell your colleagues about Public Library of Science
>Cc: <sign@publiclibraryofscience.org>
>
>Dear [xxx],
>
>Thank you for signing the open letter in support of unrestricted
>access to scientific publications.
>
>As of the end of March, more than twelve thousand scientists from 120
>countries have joined you in signing the open letter in support of the
>Public Library of Science initiative.  As a result of this initiative,
>several scientific publishers have already decided to adopt the
>policy advocated in the open letter, and almost every publisher and
>scientific society is discussing it.  Yet, most life scientists are
>still unaware of this initiative, and many of those who do know of
>its existence have a distorted view of the proposal and its purpose.
>
>The breadth and depth of support for this initiative from the
>scientific community will determine its success.  We believe that
>with your help in informing your colleagues about this effort, and
>encouraging them to support it, the open letter can be published in
>May with the signatures of 50,000 scientists.
>
>To achieve this goal, we each need to reach out to at least ten of our
>colleagues.  We would therefore like to ask you to consider two steps:
>
>1. Send an email message to all the scientific colleagues in your
>address book (using the text attached at the bottom of this message,
>or a modified version of it, or use your own language).
>
>2. Spend an hour or two of your time in the next week talking to
>colleagues at your own and other institutions, explaining to them
>the reasons that you chose to support the initiative, and encouraging
>them to join you in signing the letter.  (Let them know that they can
>sign the letter online at: http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org).
>
>Please also make a special effort to talk directly with the editors
>and publishers of journals that are important to you, informing them
>of your support of this initiative, and encouraging them to adopt the
>policy that the letter advocates.  We would greatly appreciate hearing
>about any such efforts you are able to make.
>
>Your time and effort can make the crucial difference in the success of
>this initiative.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Michael Ashburner, University of Cambridge
>Patrick O. Brown, Stanford University
>Mary Case, Association of Research Libraries
>Michael B. Eisen, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and UC Berkeley
>Lee Hartwell, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
>Marc Kirschner, Harvard University
>Chaitan Khosla, Stanford University
>Roel Nusse, Stanford University
>Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs
>Matthew Scott, Stanford University
>Harold Varmus, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
>Barbara Wold, Caltech
>
>========= Model email message to send to colleagues =========
>
>Dear Colleague,
>
>We write to ask for your support of an initiative to provide
>unrestricted access to the published record of scientific research.
>An open letter in support of this initiative has been signed by more
>than 4,500 scientists from 91 countries.  We hope you will take a
>minute to read the letter and consider signing it.
>
>The open letter, a list of the scientists who have already signed it,
>and some answers to frequently asked questions are posted at:
>http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org.  This site also provides a way
>for colleagues to sign the open letter online.
>
>You may also wish to read an editorial written by Richard J. Roberts,
>recently published in PNAS, which explains why he supports the
>initiative (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/041601398v1).
>
>This is a grassroots initiative, and the breadth and depth of support
>it receives from the scientific community will determine its success.
>If you decide to support this effort, please consider spending an hour
>or two of your time in the next week talking to colleagues at your own
>and other institutions, explaining to them the reasons that you chose
>to support it, and encouraging them to join you in signing the letter.
>Your effort can really make a difference.
>
>======== OPEN LETTER ========
>
>We support the establishment of an online public library that would
>provide the full contents of the published record of research and
>scholarly discourse in medicine and the life sciences in a freely
>accessible, fully searchable, interlinked form.  Establishment of this
>public library would vastly increase the accessibility and utility
>of the scientific literature, enhance scientific productivity, and
>catalyze integration of the disparate communities of knowledge and
>ideas in biomedical sciences.
>
>We recognize that the publishers of our scientific journals have
>a legitimate right to a fair financial return for their role in
>scientific communication.  We believe, however, that the permanent,
>archival record of scientific research and ideas should neither be
>owned nor controlled by publishers, but should belong to the public,
>and should be freely available through an international online public
>library.
>
>To encourage the publishers of our journals to support this endeavor,
>we pledge that, beginning in September, 2001, we will publish in,
>edit or review for, and personally subscribe to, only those scholarly
>and scientific journals that have agreed to grant unrestricted free
>distribution rights to any and all original research reports that
>they have published, through PubMed Central and similar online public
>resources, within 6 months of their initial publication date.
>
>  ------- end -------



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/