RE: The House of Cards

[Sandy Thatcher <sgt3@psu.edu>]

Green OA is certainly proliferating, I agree, and there are more 
Gold OA journals joining the pack every day. No question that OA 
is a success, if you mean by success an increase in the number of 
publishing outlets and in the accessibility of journal articles. 
But does anyone really know if this means that the quality of 
knowledge has increased? What this world doesn't need is more 
stuff to wade through to find the good stuff worth spending one's 
time reading. I am reminded of an article in Physics Today back 
in 1988 that observed that at its then current rate of growth the 
Physical Review would soon fill library shelves at a speed faster 
than that of light, but that this didn't contradict the theory of 
relativity because no information was being conveyed!

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State Press


>I cannot resist agreeing strongtly with Stevan Harnad on this
>point. The Green Road and its future is anything but bleak,
>judging from the REALITY of its present and the speed of its
>progress. The gold road is progressing rapidly too as I can
>witness at close range here in Brazil where I am a guest
>professor right now. Just look at SciELO. In short, it is Mr.
>Esposito's sense of reality that is in question, not Stevan
>harnad's or mine...
>
>Jean-Claude Guedon