Dear friends, I should like your advice and cooperation on how to properly and respectfully approach, not only the AAAS, but all other scientific organizations regarding their policies on charging fees for "downloads." Such downloads cost them nothing once their website is set up and the pdf or other files are entered. I well know that there are costs involved with those things, but those costs should be covered by the original motivation of issuing the publication in the first place. (I hold out no hope that commercial publishers will ease their pressure on "freeloaders." I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that their green eyeshade folks have run their policies through pricing theory models rather that stubbornly sticking to price maximization fantasies, and that they are certain they can make more money by soaking a few rather than stimulating the multitudes.)
The only rationale I can think of is that there are business managers in charge of the dissemination of intellectual work, and their mindset is to "recover" those costs; thus the charges to authors and to "consumers" of intellectual work. I suspect that is a smokescreen to obscure the fact that some bureaucrat's bottom-line will look an itsy bitsy bit better--in theory--if a few desperate, disconnected researchers and the great unwashed merely intellectually curious will pay fees (some "modest." some outrageous) to download a file of a paper that may or may not be relevant to their interest, project, or research. Even modest fees can add up quickly, and many websites of scientific organizations apparently offer only 24-hour access, not a real download. As those of you know who once spent hours, nay, days, weeks, months, years in the library pouring over clay-paper journals and laboriously copying only a few paragraphs out of a few papers that turned out to be relevant to your study despite enticing titles and abstracts. Had there been library charges for each paper examined, much important scholarly work would not have been done, and literature reviews would have been the exclusive domain of connected academics. Is it correct to presume that all academics must be connected with institutions who pay king's ransoms for subscriptions to the journals published by scientific organizations, even when the costs of clay and paper and ink, and retyping and typesetting, ad infinitum are no longer a cost factor? Is it true that academic institutions are really guilds to protect the connected and anointed, or, as is often stated in their charters, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge? If their business actions are contrary to the letter and/or honest spirit of their charter, does such action not invalidate said charters? Do such organizations actually qualify, for example, for "501.C.3" status? Must the unconnected supplicate themselves to their more privileged colleagues to obtain copies of pdf or other files, not to mention the mailing of hard copies in accordance with the honorable hallowed tradition of collegiality among intellectuals of common interest regardless of connections? And what of the precious resource of time required by authors, who once had to respond to request cards who now must only dash off an email to fulfill this collegial duty? Perhaps this honored tradition (most true scholars consider it a privilege to assist colleagues and serious amateurs, but increasingly are simply unable to continue in a world grown so large--not to mention dominated by that Giant Sucking Sound of grant application paperwork) provides much needed feedback and the building of personal networks based on the merit, explicit and implied by such requests? Or would the winnowing process be facilitated for both parties such that email enquiries would be cleansed of the dilettantish enquiries, the nutcases, the quacks, by making intellectual material freely available via the websites of institutions who are dedicated primarily to the advancement of knowledge without having to sweep the floor for a few coins? Oh, I well know that if such open availability were the case that institutional subscriptions might well evaporate. Well, then, perhaps it is time that some rethinking was done by the most noble minds in academia. I suspect that this issue is not going away soon. There are signs that a revolt is building. Why not find a way to adapt to the gift of the Internet and forge a 21st century version of the noblese oblige that once characterized the realm of the mind when things were far more difficult? I hope that you will engage in a true discourse on this subject, not a mere jousting of opinions, but using the great intellectual energy out there to resolve this issue before it explodes or implodes. Should you prefer to coordinate such a discussion off-list, I will be happy to receive responses and contributions and disseminate (without charge) all emails to all contributors via blind copy and keep identities confidential. I will, with the moderator's permission, post occasional assemblages of them to Ecolog, and others may likewise disseminate them to other lists without restriction. Those wishing to respond on-list should by all means do so. Respectfully submitted. WT ----- Original Message ----- From: "VOLTOLINI" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:07 PM Subject: [ECOLOG-L] seedlling survival and fallen leaves Dear friends, One of my students are sampling data about seedling abundance in a rainforest small fragment and we saw a negative correlation with fallen leaves. Probably some of these leaves are shading and damaging the seedlings. I am trying to find articles with the same results. If someone has articles on this subject please... could you send me me? I dont have access to the main journals in my university. Thanks for any help!!! Voltolini Prof. Dr. J. C. VOLTOLINI Universidade de Taubate - Departamento de Biologia Taubate, SP. 12030-010. E-Mail: [email protected] Website do grupo de pesquisa ECOMAM: http://jcvoltol.sites.uol.com.br/ Fotos de Projetos e Cursos: http://jcvoltol.fotoblog.uol.com.br/ Amostra de um Curso de Campo de Ecologia: http://trabiju.blogspot.com/ CurrÃculo Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/8137155809735635 Fotos ArtÃsticas: http://voltolini.fotos.net.br/texturas 'Siamo tutti angeli con un'ala e possiamo volare soltanto se ciabbracciamo' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.90/2200 - Release Date: 06/24/09 12:49:00
