I hadn’t taken much thought into open access, except from receiving a few “you do not have access to read this article” pop-ups. After researching further into the subject, I realised that the impact that open access could offer is tremendous. Bridging the gap between students from low income families is something that I think is extremely important and should be a focus within education. My post on the digital divide showed the effect of not having internet access on a child’s grades. This is exactly the same principle for not having access to certain expensive research.
I commented on Xiaolu’s post this week as she also mentioned the importance of education. Xiaolu’s post focused on the tax payer and the government, both of which i agree have a certain input. However, I question whether in terms of education, that the institute itself should bear some responsbility of providing open access for students. For example, our university pays a subscription fee to certain reputable journals, meaning that all students have access to the articles included in this journal with their login details.
This week, I also commented on Nicoles post, which factually showed the financial impact that open access can have. I was shocked to see the average yearly price of textbooks that students are expected to buy. This only reinforced my opinion that not having open access widens the divide between those that can afford textbooks and those that can’t. Nicole mentioned however that there is still a need for printed textbooks as people trust them. I question whether there is a way to build a good reputation system for open access. Is there a way that we could ensure their reliability? If this is possible, I think that everything should have open access to ensure better research that reaches wider audiences.
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UOSM2033 Living and Working on the Web 