I love it, although I suspect that 1B wouldn't be enough. The industry of for-profit academic publishing is probably worth much more than that, and it won't give up easily.
Not that I don't support the general idea, but the resistance will be hard. -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com “We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore 2017-05-17 21:02 GMT+03:00 Andrea Zanni <[email protected]>: > With that amount of money, > we could probably put an end on closed science in less than a decade, and > make open access and open science the new standard. > There's already a lot of efforts going on, but incumbent publishers are > much more rich and resourceful. > Lobbying, advocacy, outreach could do a lot, from our part. > We are probably better equipped to coordinate bottom-up efforts > (hackathons, tools and whatnot), and we would be better suited for the > whole diplomatic/political/top-down side of it. > > Making open science the new standard would be a goal to itself and leverage > for other results. > We'd end up with a lot more free content for Wikimedia projects, probably > better advocacy and outreach for us in Universities and research centers. > We would spread and promote the Mertonian norms of science¹, which are > already our values. > Also, there's a fair chance for this new open science standard to sustain > itself, as in the current system scientists and researchers *already* do > research, publish and review for free.² > A new paradigm for science and research could also be very important for > developing countries, in which > scientists are often required to adequate to mainstream science (eg. they > are not able to research areas which would benefit their local community, > like local diseases). > > Aubrey > > > ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertonian_norms > ² of course they are paid by their institutions, but the "act of > publishing" and the whole scholarship workflow is "embedded" and already > paid for. > > On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 7:38 PM, Amir E. Aharoni < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Heh, I remember Mr Wales asking what could the movement do with a million > > dollars some time around 2006. Is anything on the horizon? > > > > What could we do? Many things; one of them would be to get our act > together > > and become a true leader in software and content localization. Currently > we > > are proud about maintaining MediaWiki, a piece of software that is > probably > > translated to more languages than any other, and that is great, but: > > > > 1. Our software localization tooling, excellent as it is, didn't become > the > > industry standard, even though it could with better packaging. Why is it > > important? Because a Wikipedia in a given language doesn't exist in > > isolation—it exists in an environment of other programs, sites, > platforms, > > and media. There was a (relatively) thriving software localization > > community in the Catalan language already in the 1990s (!), so it's not > > surprising that Catalan Wikipedia was the first to start after English, > and > > is among the most successful Wikimedia projects now. Making software > > localization better for everybody will bring computer usage to the whole > > world, and we can be the leaders in it, rather than leaving it to the > > corporations. > > 2. We have the theoretical ability to write articles in any language of > the > > world, but not everybody actually does it. Some language communities need > > stronger nudges than others to get going: Training about translation and > > scientific writing, developing terminology, developing spelling > > dictionaries, developing keyboards that allow convenient typing, literacy > > programs, etc. In a lot of languages the Bible is the only published > book; > > this happened thanks to donations from people who want to spread their > > religion around the world. If it can be done with the Bible, it can be > done > > with an encyclopedia. > > 3. We are influencing public policy in the area of copyright law, but we > > should be influencing public policy around the whole world to make > > localized computing and content more accessible. Lobbying needs > resources. > > See > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Strategy/Wikimedia_ > > movement/2017/Cycle_2/A_Truly_Global_Movement#Governments_ > > and_computer_vendors:_Accessibility_to_localization_technology > > > > > > -- > > Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי > > http://aharoni.wordpress.com > > “We're living in pieces, > > I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore > > > > 2017-05-17 20:08 GMT+03:00 David Cuenca Tudela <[email protected]>: > > > > > Are there any activities that could have a meaningful impact if we ask > > > donors for such amount of seed money? Are there reasons to do so? > > > > > > Do we have the guts to do so? > > > > > > Do we have the organizational capital to handle it? Or can we get there > > > soon? > > > > > > Do we have the moral right to take a lead in the world and ask for as > > much > > > resources as needed? > > > > > > Is our leader and our members willing to take big undertakings? > > > > > > Are most of us ready to live in fear while the values that we cherry > most > > > would crumble under our own eyes? > > > > > > Would it matter much if we as a movement would disappear? Or is it a > > > struggle always a positive answer against the shadows in the world? > > > > > > Can we offer anything else in this world than truth, free knowledge, > and > > an > > > open inclusive environment? > > > > > > Would you take best wishes from a stranger like me? > > > > > > > > > Micru > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > > wiki/Wikimedia-l > > > New messages to: [email protected] > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: [email protected] > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
