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AnthroCommons: American Anthropological Association Goes Creative Commons?

AAA News

Professor Rosemary Joyce proposed that the AAA sponsor an online forum whereby session participants could exchange and discuss their organized topics, even if they do not take place in face-to-face meetings at the annunal meeting as originally planned in San Francisco. The AAA Executive Board enthusiastically endorsed the online forum.

All of our efforts to plan and organize the exchange of ideas, and the conduct of Association and Section business, will be available in a central repository for anyone to search and access. This innovative use of digital technology will facilitate professional and scholarly communication both for this and in future years.

The option for contributors to select “open” Creative Commons copyright licenses will further open doors for information sharing in and beyond our community. >> continue

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antropologi.info’s special on Open Access Anthropology (multilingual)

AAA News

Professor Rosemary Joyce proposed that the AAA sponsor an online forum whereby session participants could exchange and discuss their organized topics, even if they do not take place in face-to-face meetings at the annunal meeting as originally planned in…

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Anthropology of Food – one more Open Access Journal!

Obviously, there are more anthropological open access journals than supposed. Anthropology of Food is “a bilingual academic journal in French and English. It aims to publish results of latest research in Sociology and Anthropology of Food. This journal is produced and published by a network of European academic researchers sharing a common intellectual interest in the social science of food.”

There are articles on “The Culture of Milk in Argentina”, ” When We Eat What We Eat : Classifying Crispy Foods in Malaysian Tamil Cuisine”, “The Quest for Identities: Consumption of Wine in France”. Planned are issues on “Food, Religious groups and Conflicts of Norms and “Wine and globalisation” >> continue to the journal Anthropology of Food

Obviously, there are more anthropological open access journals than supposed. Anthropology of Food is "a bilingual academic journal in French and English. It aims to publish results of latest research in Sociology and Anthropology of Food. This journal is produced…

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Open Source Anthropology : Are anthropologists serious about sharing knowledge?

Anthropologist P. Kerim Friedman, Temple University

Concerns over the ethnical dilemmas involved in producing knowledge about the “other” have, in the past few decades, radically changed how anthropologists conduct research and write ethnographies. Unfortunately, they have not changed how we publish.

While it is true that many anthropology journals never recoup their publication costs, the system of barriers which serve to protect their meager revenue comes at the expense of accessibility. These barriers make it all but impossible for those outside of well-endowed academic institutions to access that knowledge, undermining the lofty goals of producing a “shared anthropology.”

Anthropology lags behind other disciplines, especially the medical sciences, in adopting new models of financing and distributing peer-reviewed journals, known as “Open Access” which allow everyone to access journal articles freely online.

If anthropologists are serious about sharing knowledge, it is essential that we begin thinking not just about the nature of the knowledge we produce, but also how we publish and distribute that knowledge. Do we want our intellectual contributions to be hidden in dusty archives, or available to anyone who can Google? >> continue

He also wrote a text on Citations and why anthropologist should use wikis

SEE ALSO EARLIER ENTRIES

Shaping a culture of sustainable access to anthropological information

On Copyright and taboo and the future of anthropological publishing

Marshall Sahlins wants to make the Internet the new medium for pamphleteering: “I truly lament the various forms of copyrights and patents”

UPDATE (31.10.04): Comment by Alex Golub: He proposes – here an excerpt from his blog – “… to make the electronic text cannonical. Rather than produce the book first and then worry about getting it online, make the online article the definitive version of the text and then publish the book form wherever needed.” >> continue

UPDATE: (1.11.04) See my special on Open Access Anthropology (multilingual)

UPDATE (17.8.05): antropologi.info survey: Six anthropologists on Anthropology and Internet

Anthropologist P. Kerim Friedman, Temple University

Concerns over the ethnical dilemmas involved in producing knowledge about the “other” have, in the past few decades, radically changed how anthropologists conduct research and write ethnographies. Unfortunately, they have not changed how we publish.

While…

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On Copyright and taboo and the future of anthropological publishing

Alex Golub, who recently interviewed Marshall Sahlins on the future of academic publishing on the internet for Creative Commons (see here) , discusses alternative licencing on his own blog:

“I’m firmly convinced that alternative licensing and electronic distribution of texts is the future of academic publishing, and I’m truly gratified to see Prickly Paradigm and Creative Commons are working together to move us into a world where academic ideals of the free flow of information are reflected not just in the practice of research and debate, but in the realities of publishing and distribution.”

>> continue

You can even download his essay “Copyright and taboo” and all the other articles in Anthropology Quarterly’s issue on “Culture’s Open Sources”. >> continue

Alex Golub, who recently interviewed Marshall Sahlins on the future of academic publishing on the internet for Creative Commons (see here) , discusses alternative licencing on his own blog:

"I’m firmly convinced that alternative licensing and electronic distribution of texts is…

Read more

Shaping a culture of sustainable access to anthropological information

Myra Appel and Brita Servaes, Anthropology News (AAA)

Recently libraries have begun to assume another role, that of publisher, and to provide new opportunities for scholars to disseminate their research freely, inexpensively and fairly.

In response to the growing crisis of unsustainable access to scholarly content, the California Digital Library (CDL) developed the eScholarship Repository that offers free access and permanent electronic archiving for working papers and peer-reviewed articles alike. Other institutions, such as Cornell University or Indiana University with its Digital Library of the Commons, have developed similar venues.

Anthropologists have the opportunity to take part in shaping a new culture of sustainable access to scholarly information. In fact, anthropologists with their cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary interests are especially well-poised to take a significant role in charting the directions for change in the systems of scholarly communication. >> continue

SEE ALSO:

The Campaign Create Change: Supporting faculty and librarian action in scholarly communication

Marshall Sahlins wants to make the Internet the new medium for pamphleteering: “I truly lament the various forms of copyrights and patents”

Myra Appel and Brita Servaes, Anthropology News (AAA)

Recently libraries have begun to assume another role, that of publisher, and to provide new opportunities for scholars to disseminate their research freely, inexpensively and fairly.

In response to the growing crisis of unsustainable…

Read more