Stevan Harnad wrote:
> So here is my list, again:
>
> (1) UBIQUITOUS DIRECT ONLINE ACCESS MAKES DERIVATIVE ACCESS SUPERFLUOUS:
> Once the full-text is immediately, permanently, and ubiquitously
> (i.e., webwide) accessible toll-free, so any user anywhere, any time,
> can read the full-text on-screen, download it, store it, print it off,
> search/grep it, computationally process it, etc. -- which any user can
> do if the author self-archives it -- the further rights and uses that
> distinguish "free" from "open" become either moot or supererogatory:
Perhaps I'm missing some other definition here, but how do we
determine if an article is "permanently" accessible? If an article is
published in, say, D-Lib Magazine, does that mean it is permanently
accessible? How does this happen? How can we know that what is there
today will be there twenty or fifty years from now? The entire web is
younger than that.
I know but one way to guarantee permanent access, and that is to allow
free copying and republishing. How can this derivative kind of access
suddenly become superfluous? What other ways are there?
Of course I think that the people behind D-Lib Magazine are very
careful with their backups and long-term commitment, but the same
might not be the case with every self-archiving institution out there.
Nations can fall and institutions can be forced to change their
policies.
--
Lars Aronsson (lars_at_aronsson.se)
Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se/
Received on Sat Jan 03 2004 - 02:47:35 GMT