[GOAL] Re: Finch Report - commentary

[Marcin Wojnarski]

Jan, All,
I've added a few more comments here and there, but I really can't go on 
with this any longer - the more I read this document the more I'm 
laughing at it, which strongly impedes my ability to keep the comments 
serious - despite that subject matter is very serious and there are many 
things to comment on. Most of my comments can be found on pages 24 and 
25, but already in 2nd or 3rd of them I completely lost the sense of 
solemnity (this was publishers' marketing stuff, so please excuse me the 
bits of sarcasm). Hope it will be useful for someone, anyway.

As to Utopia Docs, it's a perfect tool for commenting this type of 
documents and might also prove useful in peer-reviewing - so thanks for 
the link.
One question: how are the comments updated? When I have the PDF open and 
someone else adds comments in the same time, do I see them instantly or 
have to restart the application? I use the older Linux version.

Regards
Marcin


On 06/21/2012 06:44 PM, Jan Velterop wrote:
> Marcin Wojnarski has just added some comments to the PDF of the Finch 
> Report (at 'executive summary' in the full version) via Utopia 
> Documents. He asked me: "Why don't you send info to GOAL list about 
> this possibility? I think many people might be interested, as it's a 
> very convenient way to share comments - and to put all one's comments 
> in a single place."
>
> So here it is: If you open the PDF of the report in Utopia Documents, 
> you can comment on any portion of the text and submit them. There is 
> no need for the comments or for the PDF to be sent around. It's just 
> like magic, though the magic trick in this case is that the comments 
> are being held, with information on what in the PDF is commented on, 
> and separately from the PDF, which is not being held, on the Utopia 
> Documents server and then shown, on the fly, if the PDF is opened with 
> Utopia Documents.
>
> You can add your own comments, of course. Utopia Documents is free and 
> available, for Mac and Windows (an older Linux version is available 
> and a new one is expected this summer) from http://utopiadocs.com
>
> Jan Velterop
>
> On 20 Jun 2012, at 12:43, Marcin Wojnarski wrote:
>
>> Below is my comment posted originally on Cameron Neylon's blog 
>> <http://cameronneylon.net/blog/first-thoughts-on-the-finch-report-good-steps-but-missed-opportunities/#comment-562279021>. 
>> Can be of interest for GOAL.
>>
>> /On publicity front the Finch Report is a good news, as it restates 
>> that Open Access is the way to go.
>> On the more important policy-making front, it's a complete failure 
>> and more of a harm than an aid in establishing universal OA. Being 
>> the govt, I'd throw away this entire report and start again from 
>> scratch, but with _renowned OA expert_ as a leader of the group and 
>> no publishers on the board (let them write a separate report if they 
>> wish). My general feeling is that Dame Janet Finch either didn't 
>> withstand the big pressure of corporate interests; or she completely 
>> misunderstood the aim of the study and her role as a chair. /
>>
>> /The report contains very few quantitative facts - especially when it 
>> comes to drafting conclusions for the policy - but lots of 
>> gobbledygook, doubletalk and publishers' marketing stuff aimed at 
>> obstructing OA. Even worse, it doesn't deliver on its essential and 
>> most important promise: to give _policy guidelines_ for govt on how 
>> to make OA into mainstream. Instead, it provides a long list of "Key 
>> actions" (see Executive Summary) which are a perfect example of 
>> buzzword-compliant non-speak:
>> "Make a clear commitment", "Put in place arrangements", "Keep under 
>> review", "Renew efforts to sustain and enhance", "Establish effective 
>> and flexible mechanisms", "Provide clear information", "continue to 
>> develop", consider, discuss, extend, ensure, rationalise, examine, 
>> find ways, support, ... and do it "carefully" and "in consultation"! 
>> - that's a brief but complete summary of what Dame Finch recommends 
>> to the government. /
>>
>> /I think they should withdraw her remuneration, because she simply 
>> didn't do her job. And then make a new study, hopefully more 
>> insightful than this one./
>>
>> ------------
>> Besides this report being incomplete and sloppy, it also poses a 
>> serious threat to OA policy-making, because up to now it is the most 
>> formalized and authoritative voice of scientific community and thus 
>> the government can't just ignore it. The OA community should make a 
>> very clear and unambiguous statement addressed to the govt saying 
>> that this report is bad, _non-actionable_ in terms of policy making, 
>> and doesn't have acceptance of the community.
>>
>> BTW, note a funny thing: Dame Finch doesn't provide any clear plan of 
>> what has to be done, but she knows (!) that this will cost £50-60M. 
>> How can it be?!
>>
>>
>> Marcin Wojnarski
>>
>>
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