[Foundation-l] Access to academic journals (was Re: Remarks on Wikimedia's fundraiser)

[Fred Bauder]

In connection with the Credo subscriptions Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation created the mailing list

Wikimediareference-l list run by erik at wikimedia.org

https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediareference-l

It has a little bit of discussion from March to July, 2010.

Let's all subscribe and bury this conversation away from public view so
we won't have to think about it any more.

I see they have a job description for a communications staff person to
coordinate discussions. This is a good example of what some way of
coordinating discussions is needed.

One thought though, there should be some mechanism for the donor to get
feedback on the use and usefulness of their donation by active and
successful Wikipedia editors if they are going to be satisfied that their
donation was useful and appreciated.

Fred


> On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 06:32, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Could someone from the Foundation please respond to the idea of
>> contacting
>> universities and content database providers and inviting them to
>> support
>> Wikipedia by making a certain number of log-in IDs available, with the
>> benefit -- to them -- that increased citation of high-quality
>> publications
>> would potentially make these publications visible to a larger audience?
>>
>> Is this something the Foundation would consider pursuing?
>
> Credo offered 100 accounts last year as a charitable donation.
> Unfortunately they were given out on a first-come, first-served basis,
> which meant editors who don't contribute content signed up for them,
> as did those who already have access at home through their local
> libraries -- though in fairness several withdrew their names once they
> realized that. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CREDO
>
> It would be wonderful if the Foundation could seek more of the same
> kind of donation, particularly from databases giving access to
> academic journals (e.g. JSTOR), but being careful to make sure the
> accounts went to editors who would use them the most, but who don't
> currently have access. This kind of thing would really improve article
> quality, and would make established editors feel their needs were
> being looked after.
>
> Sarah
>
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