Week 2 - Open Access
I was really glad to see that open access was a topic we were addressing so early in the semester! To me it is one of those things that is best introduced early on to students and young scientists, and talked about throughout one’s career. I was introduced to it when I was a freshman in college, by a PI who was very passionate about data access and sharing. I used open source data for one of my first projects, and it became an easy consensus that open access was a positive thing. That being said, I have never published OA, in part due to financial concerns and not having the right opportunity. Transitioning to a more open structure is not as simple as just flipping a switch and making everything free on the web. There are, as we really helpfully discussed in class, many smaller and significant barriers to openness. I really like that the McKiernan (2016) paper was sympathetic to scientists who want to be more open but struggle with some of these barriers, such as financial constraints, quality concerns, and comfort limitations. Outlining some actionable, more manageable steps and alternatives was great to see. I hope that with small steps and growing support, science will continue becoming more transparent and more accessible. It is pretty easy to take access for granted while affiliated with a University, so conversations like these are really useful for gaining perspective and remembering why we care about this in the first place.