2. Today
• GOAL: you come back next week :)
• Message: Knowledge is different!
• Scientific publishing & Open Access
• Lecture overview
• «How to get credits & make friends»
3. • »If you have an apple and
I have an apple and we
exchange them, you and I
will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have an
idea and we exchange these ideas,
then each of us will have two ideas.«
• George Bernard Shaw
4. What did we learn?
• Physical stuff • Information stuff
• One original, • All copies ident.,
no copies „original“?
• Only one can • Can be shared
eat the whole easily
• Prevent others • Prevent others
from access is from access is
easy <...>?
5. Economists: Two Characteristics of Goods
• How excludable is access?
• Easy/Diffult to prevent people from
access?
• How rival is consumption?
• Does one person‘s use of the good
diminish another person‘s enjoyment of
it? (Verbrauch vs. Gebrauch)
6. Characteristics of Knowledge
Consumption
rivalrous nonrivalrous Consumption
Private Goods Natural Monopolies Does one
excludible
person‘s use
Car, Book Fire protection diminish another
(most stuff...) Cable TV person‘s
Access
enjoyment of it?
nonexcludible
Common Resources Access
Public Goods
Can people be
Fish in the ocean Peace/Nat’l Defense prevented from
The environment Knowledge/Culture using the good?
N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Economics, Dryden 1998.
Knowledge »as such« is nonrivalrous and hardtoexclude.
7. But markets‘ need rivalry...
• Pricing needs
scarcity
• Scarcity needs
rivalry
• What if there is
no rivalry?
• Create it!
8. How to make knowledge rivalrous
• »Intellectual property rights«
• Exclude others from access/use
• By creating legal monopolies
• Copyrights, patents, trademarks, ...
• Underlying assumption: No new
knowledge created if
• No incentives Do you
agree?
• No rewards
9. <ethical position>
• »For if a thing is not diminished
by being shared with others,
it is not rightly owned if it is
only owned and not shared.«
• Saint Augustinus (397 AD)
10. What happens when information goes digital?
• Analog world • »digital effects«
• costly production • … of PCs on
& distribution production
need investments • … of the Internet
• Risky investments on distribution
need incentives
11. Many »things« are knowledge artifacts
• Science • Software
• Traditions • MP3 Audio
• Literature • Video
• Human genome • JPEG image
• Design plans • Blog/Wiki entry
• ... • ...
12. Example: Scientific publishing
• Scholars publish articles (in journals)
• Use references to:
• Learn
• Build on previous work
• Measure performance
• Important system for
• Knowledge exchange
• Reputation building
14. The »all alone« theory
• How did Edison invent the light bulb?
• By working hard for a long time? By
being an individual genius?
ALL ALONE
15. The »just a bit« theory
• How did Einstein build the Theory of
Relativity?
• All by his own? By building on previous
work?
• Was he »just« the last missing
piece in a long chain?
PREVIOUS
WORK
16. How does science evolve?
• »If I have seen further it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants.«
Isaac Newton, 1676
• »Genius is one per cent inspiration,
ninetynine per cent perspiration.«
Thomas Alva Edison, 18471931
• »Creativity and innovation always
builds on the past.«
Lawrence Lessig, 2001
18. Example: STM publishing industry
• Scientific, technical and
medical journals (STM)
• 8 largest = 2/3 of the
market
• Market size: $7.3 billion
(NAM, EU)
• Where are the
“Developing Countries”?
Source: UK House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee,
10th Report, Scientific Publications: Free for all?, 20. July 2004
19. STM publishing market
publishing industry
Edit & proof
Publish
read
¥€$!
Review &
Write
select
scientific community
20. Publishers like the status quo
• Get content
• Highquality (peerreviewed)
• Gratis
• Plus: Copyright transfer
• Costs get lower
• Digital technology
• Income
• Loyal readers
21. The market is a pyramid
• Motto »Reach the top«
• No product substitution
• Demand is independent of supply
• Does market play?
23. • «All researchers, regardless of the
nature of their institution, should be
granted access to the scientific
journals they need to carry out their
work effectively.»
• 10th Report of Science and Technology
Committee (UK House of Commons)
»Open Access Publishing«
24. Open access publishing process
(industry is skipped)
Edit & proof
Publish
read
Review &
Write
select
scientific community
26. Open access initiatives
• Public Library of Science
• www.plos.org
• Directory of Open Access Journals
• www.doaj.org
• Wikipedia encyclopedia
• www.wikipedia.org
27. There is much more...
• ‚Journals‘ are one example in the big
DEBATE
• about the use of digital resources in
our society. Important aspects:
• stakeholder groups
• costs & benefits
• levels of power
28. Goal #1 of this class – Understand the big picture!
Traditional models Sustainable approaches
Use of digital resources
Digital Technology
Production & Distribution of
Knowledge & Culture
Stakeholders Cost/Benefit Power
Law Economics Politics
29. Goal #2 of this class – Reflect on selected issues
• Groups of 3 students produce
• report (5000 words)
• presentation in class (10'+5')
• Can get 2 credits
• Space limit: max.15 groups
• Solution: »Apply« online for a topic
30. ReaderPackage
• Jeanette Hofmann (Hrsg.), Wissen
und Eigentum, bpb 2006.
• Volker Grassmuck, Freie Software,
bpb 2004.
• Konrad Becker, Die Politik der
Infosphäre, bpb 2003.
• All available as online PDFs.
31.
32. Next week
• Discussing Key Terms
• HOWTO groupwork
• Write the report
• Run a presentation