Open access to information has always been a lofty goal and ideal of mine. Only today, however, did I discover how to actually act upon this goal. I’ve added “figure out self-archiving” to my list of next actions. I might not get to it this week or even next week, but it’s there and I’m taking it seriously. Another angle on actually living by this ideal involves prioritizing publishing my work in journals that operate by the principles of open access – like the Public Library of Science journals, which I’ve really enjoyed reading lately – and supporting organizations like this financially.
If I happen to conquer academia in the next 10 years (unlikely) and get bored and need a new profession to keep me busy and stimulated for the remainder of my working days, I think I’ll go back to school for a law degree and work on some of the crazy problems involved with copyright law – a field in desperate need of some very good minds to give it a very serious update. Either that or open a deli.
