Category Archives: Uncategorized

What is the cost of knowledge?

I ought to be university work. Instead, I am blogging, but it’s related so it’s okay, right?

This article came across my feed a few days ago.

Angry Librarians is not just the name of a game from the AppStore. It is a reality of the changing face of value and it is growing. Academics, students, librarians and experts in their fields are all starting the join the cause that is seeing academic publication companies on the receiving end of the flak.

They are protesting the cost of access to academic journals. These subscriptions, which can cost some univeristy libraries up to US$10M per year, give students and academics alike access to articles which some say should be available for cheaper online, or free. In the past there have been “…good intentions and utopian schemes…” says Robert Darton (Director of the Library at Harvard University) but now it seems we are back int he grasp of a profiteering racket driven by publication houses. The protestors are saying that now we have the means, why do we not use the technology to make knowledge accessible to all of humanity?

This is not just an isolated protest either. We are not looking at just one field of study, or just the major universities and academic safehouses. We are looking at a world wide protest. It seems to this blogger, at least, that people are fed up all over the place, with how we have become so complacent as to how “value” is perceived.

When research libraries have reached the point where they can’t afford their yearly subscriptions and feel they have no choice but to dig in their heels and protest, then we know something is wrong. When the research library spearheading this campaign happens to be a university with the reputation of being the wealthiest in the world, then we know something is really wrong.

The thing is, these publications have a decent amount of something called “prestige” behind them. Now, I’m not an expert on what prestige actually is, but I gather it is rather like your Klout score or the number of followers you have on Twitter. Sure, it may mean something to someone somewhere, but it is an arbitrary valuation of your reach in the world. Prestige supposedly means that if you are published in these journals, you are cooler than people in your field who are not. It’s essentially a popularity contest and a means of ranking academics by knowledge quotient. I’m not saying that I completely dismiss the idea. I mean, it’s definitely cooler to be published in The Amazing Journal of Coolness Studies That Only Really Really Really Cool People Can Be Published In, than in Women’s Weekly, but if people have to pay stupid amounts to read your article, then how is your knowledge going to help the world?

So, this has been something of a deviation from my usual blog style, but I think it’s a very important issue that bears more looking into. If you want to know more, you can read about it here, the online petition and boycott site.

Being a Parent Does Not Give Us Carte Blanche.

It’s strange, but it’s true. Just because we aided in the creation on another person (because, let’s face it, complex carbon chemistry had a lot to do with it too), does not mean we always get to take part in actions which will taint the potential of that person in the future.

We do it all the time. That is part of parenting. By teaching our children good table manners, we are ensuring they will not be embarrassed with a multiple course table setting, and will not be shunned for eating with their mouth open. By making sure they say “please” and “thank you”, we are ensuring a positive reaction to their general manners in the future. We do everything we can, or should be doing so, to ensure they have the best possible chance at making good impressions in their adult lives.

Why then, do some of us seem so intent on ruining all that good work by plastering baby pictures all across the internet and web? Potentially embarrassing photos, pictures that may not paint them in a positive pictures, photographs that will stay around in digital format online forever.

Forever.

That’s a very long time indeed. We seem to forget that once published online, the images and words we think are transitory reflections of moments in our lives have far reaching ramifications into the echoes of the future. They may not get picked up by search engine bots some time down the line, but they can always be found. Always.

I happened to read this article this morning, while attempting to wake up. I will grant, it took me a couple of goes. It is written from the perspective of a parent writing to the future version of their child regarding the ways they have reduced their potentially damaging digital identity production through online gloating. Not publishing photographs online of your children is not “just” a safety step against potential abuse, but it is also a conscious decision to allow your child to grow into the person they want to be, allowing them to become who they think they are.

As parents, we work on building their self-esteem, making sure they don’t bow down to peer-pressure, don’t feel they have to be the same as every one else, and try to combat the lack of desire (sometimes) to outshine their contemporaries. Why then, do so many of us feel that documenting our children’s lives online for all and sundry to see it alright? Surely it is counter-productive, and counter-intuitive? What might be the fall-out of a prospective employer seeing your teenaged child in something entirely unfashionable, if they are applying for a job in fashion in their twenties? It’s a somewhat shallow and superficial example, but if that is what your child is aiming for, who are you to ruin that opportunity?

Your facebook photo album is not a digital version of the photo album you pull out when your child’s dates come over for the first time. It is not a personal account of your child’s formative years. It is a very public domain which, even with the closest of “security” settings, can be viewed by pretty much anyone.

I have taken steps to ensure I do not damage my child(ren)’s potential digital identity. Despite her now being in double digits, and me leading a very “connected” lifestyle, I can count the pictures I have published of her online on my fingers. I ask that people ask me before they put up pictures of her on facebook or the like. I do not call her by name, and ask that others do the same. This was never to “save” her from potential child molesters. It was, first and foremost, because I was very aware of my actions potentially impinging on the future identity, on and off line, of others. You will find that any partners I may have rarely get referred to by name. This is a further step to not have my actions reflect on their built identity.

I think it boils down to the single directive by which I think all should conduct themselves:

You do not have the right to have any of your actions damage anyone else.

Simple as that.