From: Subbiah Arunachalam <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:46:55 -0700

Friends:

Please see the Economist debate on academic journals

http://www.economist.com/economist-asks/do-fee-charging-academic-journals-offer-value-added-0?sort=2#sort-comments.

It has not attracted many comments from readers - a clear indication
that the general public (at least the segment that reads high quality
news channels like The Economist) is least interested in, if not
indifferent to, what we consider is of paramount importance. All our
advocacy has not reached them. I think, instead of spending our time
talking about refining and redefining the most appropriate way to
bring about universal open access amongst ourselves (and that too with
some amount of rancour) we should devote our attention now to take the
message to the citizenry at large. We should promote Students for OA,
Alliance of Taxpayers for OA and similar initiatives in a large scale.
In the end, public awareness and taxpayer acceptance are the keys to
the success of the OA movement.

Regards.

Arun