Thu, 23 Oct 2003 16:09:07 GMT

Australian report endorses open access archives. John Houghton, Colin Steele, and Margaret Henty, Changing Research Practices in the Digital Information and Communication Environment, Department of Education, Science and Training, Commonwealth of Australia, August 2003. Excerpt: “We find that there is a new mode of knowledge production emerging, changing research practices and bringing new information access and dissemination needs. Adjustments will be required to the existing research information and scholarly communication system to accommodate these changes, but new opportunities are emerging for more cost-effective and sustainable information access and dissemination….Open access digital repositories, operating in parallel with existing commercial publishing mechanisms, may provide a major opportunity to develop a sustainable information infrastructure for both traditional and emerging modes of knowledge production. Together, they provide the foundation for more effective and efficient access to, and dissemination of scientific and scholarly information.” (Thanks to Charles Bailey's Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog.) [Open Access News]

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australia is getting into the fray here, that is good. the larger the academic community involved and the more state involvement in the issue, the more likely that this will take positive steps for knowledge distribution.