[GOAL] Re: First use of the phrase "open access"?

[Omega Alpha | Open Access]

Stevan,

I would have guessed BOAI as the first OFFICIAL use. I'm trying to ferret-out the PRE-HISTORY of the term--even its informal, coincidental or unconscious use--LEADING UP to the conscious decision of those involved in BOAI (including yourself, Stevan) to call this thing that we're all now talking about "open access".

Thanks.

Gary F. Daught
Omega Alpha | Open Access
http://oaopenaccess.wordpress.com 
Advocate for open access academic publishing in religion and theology
oa.openaccess@ gmail.com | @OAopenaccess

On Aug 7, 2012, at 12:25 AM, goal-request at eprints.org wrote:

> 
> Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 00:00:01 -0400
> From: Stevan Harnad <harnad at ecs.soton.ac.uk>
> Subject: [GOAL] Re: First use of the phrase "open access"?
> To: "Global Open Access List \(Successor of AmSci\)"
> 	<goal at eprints.org>
> Message-ID: <C0192983-2881-49BF-B9C7-A2BA62F424D0 at ecs.soton.ac.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> 
> The term became official with Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI)
> http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read
> 
> On 2012-08-06, at 6:29 PM, Omega Alpha | Open Access wrote:
> 
>> Greetings. Does anyone know who/when first used the phrase "open access" to refer to toll free publication and/or access to scholarly literature, though not necessarily yet as a technical term?
>> 
>> Could this be a candidate? I'm reading the transcript of Stevan Harnad's presentation: "Implementing Peer review on the Net: Scientific Quality Control in Scholarly Electronic Journals" in the Proceedings of the 1993 International Conference on Refereed Electronic Journals, 1-2 October1993. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 1994, 8.1-8.14, and come across the following excerpt:
>> 
>> "Enter anonymous ftp ('file transfer protocol'--a means of retrieving electronic files interactively). The paper chase proceeds at its usual tempo while an alternative means of distributing first preprints and then reprints is implemented electronically. An electronic draft is stored in a 'public' electronic archive at the author's institution from which anyone in the world can retrieve at any time?.The reader can now retrieve the paper for himself, instantly, and without ever needing to bother the author, from anywhere in the world where the Internet stretches--which is to say, in principle, from any institution of research or higher learning where a fellow-scholar is likely to be.
>> 
>> "Splendid, n'est-ce pas? The author-scholar's yearning is fulfilled: open access to his work for the world peer community. The reader-scholar's needs and hopes are well served: free access to the world scholarly literature (or as free as a login on the Internet is to an institutionally affiliated academic or researcher)?." (8.4-8.5)
>> 
>> The use here is clearly not yet technical, and yet it has all the earmarks of future application. The words "access," "open, "and "free" are used repeatedly in the Proceedings, but I was unable to find any the phrase "open access" was used elsewhere.
>> 
>> I suppose the next question would be: At what point did this informal and (perhaps) coincidental use become formalized into a technical signifier?
>> 
>> Curious and interested.
>> 
>> Gary F. Daught
>> Omega Alpha | Open Access
>> http://oaopenaccess.wordpress.com 
>> Advocate for open access academic publishing in religion and theology
>> oa.openaccess@ gmail.com | @OAopenaccess