<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span><br></span></div><div><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Friends:<br><br>Please see the Economist debate on academic journals [<br><a href="http://www.economist.com/economist-asks/do-fee-charging-academic-journals-offer-value-added-0?sort=2#sort-comments" target="_blank">http://www.economist.com/economist-asks/do-fee-charging-academic-journals-offer-value-added-0?sort=2#sort-comments</a><br>.<br>It has not attracted many comments from readers - a clear indication that<br>the general public (at least the segment that reads high quality news<br>channels like The Economist) is least interested in, if not indifferent to,<br>what we consider is of paramount importance. All
our advocacy has not<br>reached them. I think, instead of spending our time talking about refining<br>and redefining the most appropriate way to bring about universal open<br>access amongst ourselves (and that too with some amount of rancour) we<br>should devote our attention now to take the message to the citizenry at<br>large. We should promote Students for OA, Alliance of Taxpayers for OA and<br>similar initiatives in a large scale. In the end, public awareness and<br>taxpayer acceptance are the keys to the success of the OA movement.<br><br>Regards.<br><br>Arun<br><br><br> </div> </div> </div></body></html>