[Forwarded message from <span class="gmail_sendername">William Gunn</span>]<span dir="ltr"></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br>Please see the message from Cameron Neylon, Director of Advocacy at<br>
PLoS, below. Note that anyone around the world can participate by<br>
signing (not just another e-petition, but has guaranteed legislative<br>
effect), and by sharing with others by blogging, tweeting, emailing,<br>
putting a link up on your site or wiki, or otherwise getting the word<br>
out to as many stakeholders as possible. You don't need to be a<br>
resident of the US. The link to use is: <a href="http://wh.gov/6TH" target="_blank">http://wh.gov/6TH</a><br>
<br>
Thanks so much for your help. We need you to do what you can to make<br>
open access to research a reality.<br>
<br>
From: "<a href="http://cameronneylon.net" target="_blank">cameronneylon.net</a>" <<a href="mailto:cn@cameronneylon.net">cn@cameronneylon.net</a>><br>
Date: 19 May 2012 19:59:01 CEST<br>
Subject: Whitehouse Open Access petition kicking off Monday<br>
<br>
Dear All<br>
<br>
I wouldn't normally send out a bulk email but there is a big<br>
opportunity coming up to make real progress on expanding Open Access<br>
to US Federally Funded Research and in turn to use that momentum to<br>
move the agenda forward in the rest of the world.<br>
<br>
There is a real possibility of action in the US but to achieve this we<br>
need to demonstrate wide public support through a petition on the<br>
Whitehouse website. The petition will go live sometime on Sunday but<br>
we are aiming for a big publicity push to draw attention to it on<br>
Monday. The Whitehouse makes a formal response to these "We the<br>
People" petitions if they reach 25k signatures within 30 days. Ideally<br>
we'd like to go way through that number and as fast as possible to<br>
demonstrate the diversity and depth of support.<br>
<br>
Anything you are willing and able to do in terms of blogging,<br>
tweeting, emailing or otherwise activating the networks of people you<br>
are coupled into, particularly in the US, will make a difference. Our<br>
aim is to hit the social media channels mid-late morning in Europe on<br>
Monday and then to build momentum as the sun rises across the US. Feel<br>
free to forward the information on to people interested and advise<br>
people that the aim is to keep the powder dry until Monday morning.<br>
<br>
There is more detail below but any questions feel free to ping me. I<br>
will send the URL for the petition as soon as I have it but the<br>
overall site address is:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions" target="_blank">https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions</a><br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Cameron<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
1. Petition Text (800 character limit)<br>
<br>
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:<br>
<br>
Require free, timely access over the Internet to journal articles<br>
arising from taxpayer-funded research.<br>
<br>
We believe in the power of the Internet to foster innovation,<br>
research, and education. Requiring the published results of<br>
taxpayer-funded research to be posted on the Internet in human and<br>
machine readable form would provide access to patients and caregivers,<br>
students and their teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other<br>
taxpayers who paid for the research. Expanding access would speed the<br>
research process and increase the return on our investment in<br>
scientific research.<br>
<br>
The highly successful Public Access Policy of the National Institutes<br>
of Health proves that this can be done without disrupting the research<br>
process, and we urge President Obama to act now to implement open<br>
access policies for all federal agencies that fund scientific<br>
research.<br>
<br>
2. The Ask to Others<br>
<br>
To sign the petition:<br>
<br>
- Have to be 13 years or older<br>
- Have to create an account on <a href="http://whitehouse.gov" target="_blank">whitehouse.gov</a>,<br>
<a href="https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions" target="_blank">https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions</a><br>
- This first requires giving a name and an email address<br>
and then clicking the validation link sent to that address<br>
- Click to sign the petition<br>
<br>
3. Further Context<br>
<br>
After years of work on promoting policy change to make<br>
federally-funded research available on the Internet, and after winning<br>
the battle to implement a public access policy at NIH, it has become<br>
clear that being on the right side of the issue is necessary but not<br>
sufficient. We've had the meetings, done the hearings, replied to the<br>
requests for information.<br>
<br>
But we're opposed in our work by a small set of publishers who profit<br>
enormously from the existing system, even though there is no evidence<br>
that the NIH policy has had any measurable impact on their business<br>
models. They can - and do - outspend those of us who have chosen to<br>
make a huge part of our daily work the expansion of access to<br>
knowledge. This puts the idea of access at a disadvantage. We know<br>
there is a serious debate about the extension of public access to<br>
taxpayer funded research going on right now in the White House, but we<br>
also know that we need more than our current approaches to get that<br>
extension made into federal policy.<br>
<br>
The best approach that we have yet to try is to make a broad public<br>
appeal for support, straight to the people. The Obama Administration<br>
has created a web platform to petition the White House directly called<br>
We The People. Any petition receiving more than 25,000 digital<br>
signatures is placed on the desk of the President's Chief of Staff and<br>
must be integrated into policy and political discussions. But there's<br>
a catch - a petition only has 30 days to gather the required number of<br>
signatures to qualify.<br>
<br>
We can get 25,000 signatures. And if we not only get 25,000, but an<br>
order of magnitude more, we can change the debate happening right now.<br>
<br>
Next week we will publish our petition and the 30 day cycle begins.<br>
What we're asking you to do is to leverage your personal and<br>
professional networks to get the word out.<br>
<br>
You can do this in any way that makes you feel comfortable. A blog<br>
post, an email to constituencies, a tweet, a facebook share, you name<br>
it - something that tells thousands of people "I support this<br>
petition, I'm signing this petition, and I thought you should know<br>
about it too." Because this isn't just slacktivism with a "like" or a<br>
retweet - people need to go to the White House website, enter their<br>
name and email address, and hit the button.<br>
<br>
Qualified signers must be 13 years old or more, and have a valid email<br>
address. That's all.<br>
<br>
The goal is not just to get 25,000, but to get far more to show the<br>
White House that this issue matters to people, not just a few<br>
publishers.<br>
<br>
We are launching the campaign on Monday May 21. The petition will go<br>
live late Sunday night May 20, so that the waves can start in the EU<br>
and sweep west with the sunrise. We're asking you to turn on your<br>
networks on Monday morning.<br>
<br>
Thanks for considering this. If we can all come together to get the<br>
word out at once, and stay behind it for 30 days, we have a real<br>
chance to get access to taxpayer funded research across the entire<br>
government, and send a signal that the people have a voice in this<br>
debate, not just publishers and activists. <br></div><br>