Location
Room 213
Start Date
23-10-2017 3:15 PM
End Date
23-10-2017 3:45 PM
Description
Open access is generally touted as a beneficial good. It enables communities, especially those with the least resources, to access literature that they often would otherwise not be able to afford. It brings publicly funded studies and ensuing publications out from behind a paywall for the public good. Open data sets allow for the aggregation of studies, leading to higher statistical power and generalizability. Open data sets can also be utilized to address replication concerns.
Despite these tremendous benefits, there are existing and valid concerns about open access in a networked world. As increased quantities of materials are digitized, especially when the contents mention and refer to individuals still alive, open access and institutional repository professionals will need to address privacy concerns and interrogate their moral and ethical values.
San Jose State University (SJSU) Library recently uploaded over 80 years of the Spartan Daily, the student campus newspaper, to its campus institutional repository (IR). Former SJSU students have contacted the IR managers to request that whole issues be taken down or redacted because of unflattering news reports on their activities as SJSU undergraduates.
These concerns of privacy and managing one’s online identity are generally not seen favorably by the IR managers; their perspective is that the Spartan Daily is an official University publication. To modify the content is tantamount to censorship.
This session will grapple with privacy and ethical concerns that intersect with open access.
Open Access, Privacy, and Ethics
Room 213
Open access is generally touted as a beneficial good. It enables communities, especially those with the least resources, to access literature that they often would otherwise not be able to afford. It brings publicly funded studies and ensuing publications out from behind a paywall for the public good. Open data sets allow for the aggregation of studies, leading to higher statistical power and generalizability. Open data sets can also be utilized to address replication concerns.
Despite these tremendous benefits, there are existing and valid concerns about open access in a networked world. As increased quantities of materials are digitized, especially when the contents mention and refer to individuals still alive, open access and institutional repository professionals will need to address privacy concerns and interrogate their moral and ethical values.
San Jose State University (SJSU) Library recently uploaded over 80 years of the Spartan Daily, the student campus newspaper, to its campus institutional repository (IR). Former SJSU students have contacted the IR managers to request that whole issues be taken down or redacted because of unflattering news reports on their activities as SJSU undergraduates.
These concerns of privacy and managing one’s online identity are generally not seen favorably by the IR managers; their perspective is that the Spartan Daily is an official University publication. To modify the content is tantamount to censorship.
This session will grapple with privacy and ethical concerns that intersect with open access.
