http://vitayard.in
Open Science and Research Project
OKFN, India
Time has shown us how zero control by a handful of individuals over the
society and complete control of the community, as a whole, over itself brings about positive
changes. Less the control by individuals or groups and more the control of the complete set of
individuals, more is the positive change. The history of the printing press is a case in point. While
history made a mockery of the control-freaks, it proved right the few individuals, who believed in
Intellectual Nazism should be a thing of the
the intellectual capacity of the masses.
past and we should move away from such self-defeating practices.
As more and more researchers embrace Open practices, irrespective of the influence of any kind
of authority and affiliations, a new free world of debate and discussions will truly open up.
In the words of Erasmus, a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer, ‘To what corner of the world
do they not fly, these swarms of new books? It may be that one here and one there contributes
something worth knowing, but the very multitude of them is
hurtful to
scholarship, because it creates a glut, and even in good things, satiety is most harmful…
(printers) fill the world with books, not just trifling things (such as I write, perhaps), but stupid,
ignorant, slanderous, scandalous, raving, irreligious and seditious books, and the number of
them is such that even the valuable publications lose their value.’
Erasmus’s fear pretty much sums up the apprehensions of
today’s ‘intellectual elites’ and ‘printing powerhouses’. In
todays world too, the Internet has brought about a
transformation of the society. This is a tool that can be used for free
dissemination of knowledge and of research. However, a few people even today tend to believe
that free dissemination of research (that results in free and fair debates and discussions of the
works) would bring about a ‘end of the world’ situation for science. They are of the opinion that
they ought to have as much control as possible over the dissemination of research works in order
These handful of people have the
audacity to believe that they must be the ‘chosen ones’ to
boss over the whole of the scientific community. These are the
people who oppose Open Science and Open Knowledge
movements.
to keep the flag of science flying.
- See more at: http://in.okfn.org/open-science-project/
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