Publishing - A Reflection
Open Source Platforms
Publishing, n
” The action or business of preparing and issuing books, newspapers, etc., for public sale or distribution; an instance of this.”
Transitioning Online
The increased use and access to online platforms over the last few decades has brought a large amount of scholarship online. And while the internet have the potential to make academic work more accessible, this is only true if everyone has the same access to the internet in the first place. The online platform allows editors, authors, and publishers new ways of gaining access pertaining to their audience’s reception of the text, while also allowing these participants new means of engaging with each other and discussing what they have read.
In terms of drafting work online, presenting work that is not quite ready as a final draft allows authors to gain access to a large team of engaged readers willing to provide input on what has been done. This can be dangerous as well though, especially for individuals in minority groups or those writing about sensitive topics. The internet is not the utopian place we would like it to be.
Yet, traditional scholarly publishing has a number of issues as well. With many journals asking researchers to pay for their work to appear in the journal they have submitted to, the importance of merit required for publication is diminished in favour of those who have the most funding - which often means researchers in the humanites have fewer publications overall.
Open Textbooks
The costs of education in many countries, Canada included, are rapt with egregious fees - including high tuition rates and expsensive textbooks. As a result, access to education is limited for individuals coming from lower income households who often cannot afford to go to school. While not resolving all the issues surrounding the commodification of education, open source textbooks take a step in thr right direction, toward a world of free and available knowledge.
For instance, the B.C. Open Textbook project was started in 2012 with the goal of lowering student fees through access to openly licensed textbooks made available through a Creative Commons License. These texts are available to students as free e-books or they can be ordered as a print copy at a reduced cost.
In order to create a good textbook, the BC authoring guide suggests:
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Use a visible and easy to understand framework.
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Use meaningful names that are easy to understand.
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Use manageable numbers that readers can digest.
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Use a hierarchy that allows information to build out from previous information.
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Repeat important concepts.
In allowing information to be more accessible, I believe that we can have a more democratic society. Allowing text books and journals to be open access provides the beginning of a framework of free education - something I am hoping will be eventually adopted worldwide.
Further Reading:
Eve, Martin. 2012. ‘Starting and open access journal, a step by step guide, part 1’
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. 2009 Planned Obsolescence
Rohrbach, Augusta. ‘Authorship’ Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities
Some Publishers:
Open Library of the Humanities
Platforms you may wish to explore:
Read my annotationshere.