From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 18:33:19 -0700

Laura, thank you for this very interesting and important message.  I can
well understand the frustration and indeed injustice that you have
experienced and I'm sorry to rub it in, so to speak.

And yet in an odd way, you confirm my original posting.  Just the fact that
we're having this back and forth confirms that "we academics" now live in a
space where this whole constellation of external influences and pulls --
some entirely legitimate and honorable, some questionable, some downright
dishonest -- are in play.  And it's not that this is brand new:  it's been
building since at least World War II.  We're probably not in the best
position to tell whether this last few years will look like a tipping point
100 years from now, but for example, Google Ngram first detects the phrase
"corporatization of the university" in 1993, tripling in frequency from
1995 to 1996, and tripling again from 1996 to 2000 -- and at that point
Google Ngram data stop.  The curve hasn't turned down, I'm sure.

So with apologies for rubbing a sore spot, I'll stay with my first
observation, that the issues that usually rile this list have as one
distinctive feature that they're not distinctive to libraries or publishers
but are part of a larger set of social changes.  Seeking to mitigate their
effects in one domain is worthy and important, but better to know that what
we're dealing with is not just affecting that one domain.

With best wishes,
Jim O'Donnell
ASU


On Wed, Jul 26, 2017 at 5:28 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Laura Quilter <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:18:47 -0400
>
> You should know that this dataset is deeply flawed, and that many of us
> who were cited in the database did not actually receive Google funding in
> any way. A number of us have submitted requests for retraction or
> correction, and to my knowledge they have not yet done so.
>
> Here's an article in the *Chronicle of Higher Education* that discusses
> just a few of the issues that were presented. http://www.chronicl
> e.com/article/Scholars-Cry-Foul-at-Their/240635
>
> Among other things, the entity that did this report won't reveal its own
> funding, but we do know that Oracle (one of Google's competitors in various
> litigations) is one of their bankrollers, and presumably the commissioner
> of this particular report.
>
> I'd be happy to talk about my own inclusion in the database if anyone
> wants to discuss it (short answer: I have never received Google funding)
> but their methodology was deeply flawed in multiple ways. I very much would
> like some corporate accountability research, but unfortunately this effort
> is (from what it appears to me) more of a rival-funded industry hit piece
> than a scholarly or activist look at this issue.
>
> Laura
>
> ----------------------------------
> Laura Quilter / [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 1:03 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 18:04:21 -0700
>>
>> This is about two weeks old, but I'm just catching up and thought it
>> relevant to liblicense:
>>
>> http://fortune.com/2017/07/11/google-paying-professors-policy-papers/
>>
>> What seems interesting and relevant here is that a variety of powerful
>> influences now surround the academic eco-system, all seeking to shape (I
>> almost said distort) either the work or the public perception of the work
>> of academics to the advantage of the commercial provider.
>>
>> Now, I suppose we should be grateful that academic work thus shows its
>> value to the world -- we're worth manipulating.  (I once heard the CEO of a
>> famous brand of wardrobe accessories describe the firm's comeback from the
>> dead.  He was glad when knockoffs started showing up at street markets
>> because it meant the brand was worth knocking off again.)  But that's
>> hardly consoling.
>>
>> My point is just that the 'predatory publishers' argument, among others,
>> makes sense not as a weird anomalous thing that happens in the world of OA
>> but is part of a larger struggle over the meaning and value of what we do.
>>
>> Jim O'Donnell
>> Arizona State University
>>
>