Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics, Cambridge - OA_Button shows the problem of the #scholarlypoor « petermr's blog

"On Tuesday I went to an OKFN data evening in London (5 min from Kings Cross, so easy). They are occasions to meet new people and new ideas. On Tuesday we heard from David Carroll and Joseph McArthur medical/pharmacology undergraduates who are ANGRY. They are ANGRY because they frequently encounter paywalls that stop them reading the medical literature. Unlike most #openaccess advocates they are reaching outside the academic system. They’ve had a big impact already and some of their activities are detailed on their blog (oabutton.wordpress.com) – and they’ve made a lot of contacts and goodwill including PLOS-Cameron Neylon and SPARC-Alma Swan (who have provide funding). There isn’t a home page yet (I have urged them to do so) so I’ll quote from a recnt mail, and then from Cameron’s article (http://cameronneylon.net/blog/guest-post-the-open-access-button/ ) ,,, So here’s the problem paywall (left, costs 31.5 USD for a day’s read) and the button (right). You report to the world that you’ve hit a paywall. That is now logged as a restriction of the flow of scientific information – effectively only rich universities can read this paper (and they are not yet feeling angry enough to change the system urgently) ... So the button allows you, the potential reader of the article – who might be a patient, or a charity donor, or a politician, or … to record that you are angry. And, positively, to find copies of the paper that you can get immediately and without payment. After all this only has to be done once – the button would also point you to a free source.  Yes, there are free copies of many papers. It’s generally called 'Green OA'. It’s a mess, because universities haven’t created an index, because some copies aren’t in university repositories, and because it’s very patchy. Some authors proactively make GreenOA available, most don’t. Some Universities are proactive, most aren’t. So the OA_Button tells the #scholarly poor where they can find a copy.  In reality most papers won’t be freely available because many publishers don’t promote Green OA and many are actively against it ..."