<html><head><base href="x-msg://142/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Paul,<div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Scientific information is a very special kind of public good. In general, the value of public goods does not decrease as the goods are used. With scientific information, the value <i>increases</i> with use, so there is a very strong positive feedback that makes open distribution of scientific information one of the best things a society can do for itself.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Best regards,</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Steve<br><div><div>On Feb 10, 2012, at 5:52 PM, Uhlir, Paul wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div ocsi="x"><div style="font-family: Tahoma; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: x-small; "><div>Not bad, except in economic terms, food is a private good (it is rivalrous and can be excluded, and can only be consumed only once), whereas publicly-funded research results (articles, data) on digital networks are public goods (they are non-rival and difficult or inefficient to exclude, since the value increases with use). So the situation is actually much worse than the analogy leads one to conclude.</div><div><font face="tahoma"></font> </div><div><font face="tahoma">Paul</font></div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma"></font> </div><div id="divRpF400871" style="direction: ltr; "><hr tabindex="-1"><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:goal-bounces@eprints.org">goal-bounces@eprints.org</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>[goal-bounces@eprints.org] On Behalf Of CHARLES OPPENHEIM [c.oppenheim@btinternet.com]<br><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Friday, February 10, 2012 6:53 AM<br><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>GlobalOpen Access List ( Successor of Am Sci)<br><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>[GOAL] Nice blog post on OA<br></font><br></div><div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; "><div><span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/feb/10/parable-farmers-teleporting-duplicator?CMP=twt_gu">http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/feb/10/parable-farmers-teleporting-duplicator?CMP=twt_gu</a></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Very nice analogy!</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Charles</span></div><div> </div><div>Professor Charles Oppenheim</div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>GOAL mailing list<br><a href="mailto:GOAL@eprints.org">GOAL@eprints.org</a><br><a href="http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal">http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal</a><br></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>