On 12 June, the Department of Media and Culture Studies of Utrecht University is organizing a lunch meeting. The aim is to discuss the pitfalls and possibilities of open access publishing in the academic field.

In November 2013, state secretary Sander Dekkers from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science proposed to the parliament that all results of publicly funded research project must be published Open Access ten years from now. Open Access (OA) to research results means that this material is digital, online, free of charge for readers, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.

While hardly anyone is against increased visibility and access to results of scientific research, the question of how to put it into practice is more debated. If publishing fees are transferred from reader (which is traditionally the case) to author (which is the case in the “golden road” as proposed by the state secretary) – who will pay the bill? What does this mean for the future of publishing? Which initiatives and experiences exist in the humanities?

With this lunch session, the organisation wishes to start a discussion at the department on the advantages and pitfalls of (mandatory) OA publishing.

Programme

Jan de Boer, reference librarian at Utrecht University Library for, among other, theater- and media studies and project leader at the Innovation and Development Division of Utrecht University Library will give an introduction to the world-wide discussion on OA and the special position of the humanities therein. He will also give examples of how the University Library facilitates OA publishing (e.g. the IGITUR repository and ‘Knowledge Unlatched’).

Dr Rick Dolphijn is Assistant professor at the Media and Culture Studies Department. He coordinates the Communication and Information Studies program and the MCW Honours program. He has published both in open access and non-open access and will tell about his experience with each: what are the advantages and disadvantages with respect to research and teaching, visibility and valorization? If the OA policy already had been introduced, what difference would that have made in his scholarship?

Prof. Frank Kessler will open the meeting. After the two input statements there will be the possibility for questions and discussion and we will address what MCW scholars should pay attention to when publishing OA. The debate will be chaired by Sarah Dellmann and Alex Gekker, PhD researchers at the department.

Registration

Participation is free. Please register by Friday 6 June by sending an email with the subject “Registration Open Access lunch” to secretariaatMCW.gw@uu.nl .

The meeting will be held in English. Sandwiches, tea and coffee will be provided.

Time: 12:00 until 13:00
Location: Muntstraat 2a
Room: Foyer

Source: http://news.hum.uu.nl/events/lunch-meeting-open-access-at-media-culture-studies/