Sijbolt Noorda on Open Data Speakers' Corner

Sijbolt Noorda wrote about Open Access for the DANS (Data Archiving and Networked Services) Open Data Speakers' Corner, established for Open Access Week.

"Who writes, wants to be read. By as many readers as possible. Who writes scientific articles, wants to be read, quoted and used.

In this day and age, academic publications mainly appear in digital form. This promotes dissemination, speed and ease of use.

Digital libraries have many more users than conventional libraries have readers. Who is digitally readable and findable has a much greater chance of being read and cited than in the past.

And yet, there is a threshold: Those who do not have access to a well stocked digital library cannot make use of all these new possibilities.
Hence the call for Open Access. So that the results of scientific research are also accessible outside the circle of privileged institutions, and can be used. In fact, the call for Open Access is similar to what the 19th-century movement for public libraries wanted: What is of general use should be generally accessible. It is a remarkable contrast, this contradiction between digital speed and worldwide dissemination and the actual, limited access for the many who work outside the wealthy academic centers[...]"