[GOAL] Re: Google's role in sustaining the public good to research parallel to developments in open access?

[Omega Alpha Open Access]

Les,

Greetings. I wasn't questioning the public good Google has contributed *to date*, and I know they aren't the only game in town. However, they are the dominant player. To the degree that indexing is vital for open access research discoverability on the web, don't you think that it is a potential problem for a commercial entity to serve such a crucial role with nothing more than "market forces" and a promise to be a good corporate citizen to sustain the effort indefinitely? Google Scholar is not yet serving-up ads, but there is really nothing to stop them.

Maybe I'm really asking if there are any alternative non-commercial open access indexing initiatives existing or underway out there that we might consider supporting. And your point about "official part of the web architecture" is very interesting. I am not versed on the technicalities, but you would think that the web is now mature enough where indexing and search should be an integral part of the architecture, and not simply a service provided by a third party (commercial or otherwise).

I'm a learner relatively new to the open access conversation. But I am very interested in hearing what anyone has to say. Thanks!

Gary F. Daught
Omega Alpha | Open Access

> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:35:25 +0000
> From: Les A Carr <lac at ecs.soton.ac.uk>
> Subject: [GOAL] Re: Google's role in sustaining the public good to
> 	research	parallel to developments in open access?
> To: "Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)" <goal at eprints.org>
> Cc: "goal at eprints.org" <goal at eprints.org>,	"sparc-oaforum at arl.org"
> 	<sparc-oaforum at arl.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<EMEW3|21efb819a576780b574a52d2ca1bb28co6CFZY03lac|ecs.soton.ac.uk|B0FBE471-0326-4649-8031-6A3BF4FBAEAF at ecs.soton.ac.uk>
> 	
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> 
> It is easy to forget that they are a commercial company and not an official part of the web architecture. However, they are only a commercial company, and just one of the myriad web indexers that account for about 50% of the visits to any OA repository.
> 
> They have contributed significant public good to research (eg research findability, google scholar), and they would likely contribute vastly more if they weren't hampered by the lack of OA.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On 13 Jul 2012, at 15:25, "Omega Alpha Open Access" <oa.openaccess at gmail.com<mailto:oa.openaccess at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> Greetings. I get the sense that Google Scholar is becoming the default indexer for open access research in STM with slower but also increasing uptake in the SS and humanities. Google is so nearly ubiquitous now it is easy to forget they are also a commercial company. At some point, a conversation surely needs to happen regarding Google?s role in sustaining the public good to research parallel to developments in open access. Is anyone aware of the status of such a conversation? Thanks.
> 
> Gary F. Daught
> Omega Alpha | Open Access
> Advocate for open access academic publishing in religion and theology
> oa.openaccess at gmail.com<mailto:oa.openaccess at gmail.com>
> http://oaopenaccess.wordpress.com