COLUMN: Bernie Callaghan - Proposals to open access to research - Comment - News - nebusiness.co.uk

“OPEN, free access to academic research is being planned by the Government. The implications of these proposals are huge. Universities spend around £200m a year accessing research published in journals and databases... I believe opening up academic research to be read freely by anyone is a positive move that will boost progress, strengthen links between higher education and businesses, and help even the smallest spin-out companies access research which can help them grow... It will, of course, affect the publishing industry, which currently charges for access to research papers in journals... The subject is highly emotive – it led to a campaign from researchers, nicknamed the ‘academic spring’, which saw them boycotting research publications which did not allow information to be freely shared... Crowdsourcing takes the concept of worldwide access to knowledge a step further. In most crowdsourcing projects an organisation posts a problem on a crowdsourcing platform and invites solutions. The crowd – that’s anyone who has access to the platform – votes on the ideas, and the best one is rewarded by the organisation which owns all the responses to its posted problem.  A rapidly growing number of companies, universities and governments worldwide are adopting crowdsourcing methods to unlock access to information, find new ideas, and manage the results.  People are creating their own crowds and when social networks and crowdsourcing overlap, a powerful new way of finding information and knowledge results. Information is available instantly and is the collective view of thousands of individuals. It gives a whole new dimension to brainstorming.”