Open Access—the idea that scholarly literature should be free and easily available to read online to anyone with an interest. We distance educators naturally embrace the idea of having readily available content that can be used in courses in a format that is easy to use and access. According to the web location Opensource.com there are two different versions of open access—libre and gratis.
Libre open access is freely available and users have permission to reuse and remix the content. Gratis is making content available for others to see without having to pay for it.
There is a further distinction concerning open access materials—green and gold. Green open access is when authors selfarchive and share content personally. Gold open access means publishing in a location such as a journal that is open access so the journal hosts and distributes the content freely.
One of several impediments to the open access movement is to provide incentives for those who create content—textbooks have royalties paid to authors, and journal subscriptions compensate publishers. Authors and publishers are understandably reluctant to “give away” their creations. So, let us coin a new phrase—Once Used, Mine. For example, when you buy a textbook you own the textbook—it is yours for as long as you want it—even the photocopied versions of books that some publishers are pushing. Those who buy digital textbooks should then own the textbook.
Recently, digital copies of content have become the primary manner in which content is created, stored, and made available, and digital content can be easily shared. This is an advantage to those who use content, and a disadvantage to those who want to own content. Perhaps, a compromise is needed—if a user buys digital content, they should own the digital content and should be able to do with it whatever they wish (Once Used, Mine), similarly to how books are purchased and often shared.
Publishers know that content is king. Publishers want to own content and are reluctant to let others be owners too. As most journal authors find out, they sign away their ownership rights when their manuscript is published in a journal.
Open Access sounds good, but in many respects, the marketplace rejects the idea. While most authors write manuscripts because they want others to read their intellectual property, some publishers read only the accountant’s report.
And finally, we paraphrase Seneca who said, “The best ideas are common property.”
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