Author Archives: pm286

Miss PRISM has a rat up her pants

Posted on September 4, 2007 by pm286

Alma Swan is one of the most insightful scholar/researcher/facilitator/commentators in the scholarly communication arena and I am delighted to be collaborating with her (on an Open Data project). Her writing is always careful and attractive to read. I’d tried to … Continue reading →

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CrystalEye: a crystallographic knowledge base looking for collaborators

Posted on September 4, 2007 by pm286

Egon Willighagen asks about collaboratin on Nick Day’s CrystalEye knowledgebase.  I reproduce his post – note that CrystalEye should be able to provide many examples to increase the size of data sets – and then discuss some of the advantages … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, data, open issues | Leave a comment

The right to roam and the right to read – should we use civil disobedience

Posted on September 4, 2007 by pm286

I have spent a splendid week in Scotland to celebrate 40 years of the University of Stirling where I was one of the first staff. Before the celebrations we spent 4 days in the mountains in which there is now … Continue reading →

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Blogs are Weapons

Posted on September 4, 2007 by pm286

From BoraZ: Blogs are Weapons Sunlight is the best disinfectant. And many bloggers’ eyes and typing fingers bring a lot of sunlight to whatever anyone is trying hide. This makes bloggers dangerous to many entrenched and powerful interests. Not that … Continue reading →

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OUP wants me to pay for my own Open Access article

Posted on September 3, 2007 by pm286

I have been dismayed (previous post: “Open Access”) at the lack of commitment to OA by mainstream (primarily toll-access (TA)) publishers and have described this as a “systemic failure” of the industry. Here is another unacceptable lack of clarity and … Continue reading →

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"Open Access" reported in Information World Review

Posted on September 3, 2007 by pm286

Tracey Caldwell of Information World Review has reported on the discussion in this blog  about  (hybrid) Open Access as  follows: Scientific data should be freely available for re-use and OA policies need clarity […] Peter Murray-Rust has blasted publishers for … Continue reading →

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PRISM: Open Letter to Oxford University Press

Posted on September 2, 2007 by pm286

Open Letter to Henry Reece, Chief Executive Oxford University Press Dear Henry Reece, I am writing as an individual member of Oxford University (MA, DPhil) and also as an author of Open Access articles in OUP journals. I am heavily … Continue reading →

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PRISM: Open Letter to Cambridge University Press

Posted on September 1, 2007 by pm286

I have sent the following letter to the Chief Executive of Cambridge University Press requesting factual information about the involvement of CUP in PRISM, and have asked that I can publish the reply on this blog Open Letter to Stephen … Continue reading →

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PRISM: should I worry?

Posted on August 31, 2007 by pm286

The last week has seen a spate of immediate reaction to the newly formed PRISM – the (American?) publishers’ lobby to destroy non-commercial open access.  There is so much (germane) comment that there is no need for me to duplicate … Continue reading →

Posted in open issues, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

berlin5 : Open Access to Research Data: surmountable challenges

Posted on August 30, 2007 by pm286

This is the abstract I have submiitted for the Berlin-5 meeting : “Berlin 5 Open Access: From Practice to Impact: Consequences of Knowledge Dissemination” Open Access to Research Data: surmountable challenges Many scientists and organisations have recognised the power and … Continue reading →

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