[Wikimedia-l] More opportunities for you to access free research databases!

[Etienne Beaule]

Mike has a good point.  I expect Access2Research (see archives of
wikimedia-l) to be creating more open research though.


On 2012-08-11 6:56 PM, "Michael Peel" <michael.peel at wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out whether these partnerships are a good or bad
> thing for Wikimedia.
> 
> Yes, it's good/great that Wikimedia volunteers are able to access these
> resources so that they can develop Wikipedia articles, and hence increasing
> the amount of knowledge that we can freely provide to the world.
> 
> But on the flip side, what about our readers - as a result of these sort of
> partnerships, we're increasing the number of times that we'll be pointing them
> towards paywall-protected services to be able to verify the information we
> provide, and hence the amount of money they'll be forced to pay to these
> organisations. And perhaps, as editors, we're supporting paywalls by accepting
> these offers (and hence making paywalls more prevalent), rather than refusing
> them until they make the content that they provide freely available.
> 
> So this is a balancing act - but I'm not currently sure which side outweighs
> the other, or whether the two sides are currently balancing each other outŠ
> What does everyone think? And is there an on-wiki page where we can discuss
> these offers in general?
> 
> Thanks,
> Mike
> P.S. I've deliberately biased the view of this email a little towards the
> negative, to try to offset the positive expectation set out in the previous
> email a little. I think that I'm currently completely neutral on this issue,
> though...
> 
> On 9 Aug 2012, at 19:16, Ocaasi Ocaasi <wikiocaasi at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> The quest for get Wikipedia editors the sources they need is gaining
>> momentum.  Here's what's happening and what you can sign up for ''right
>> now'':
>> 
>> 
>> * '''[[WP:Credo|Credo Reference]]''' provides full-text online versions of
>> nearly 1200 published reference works from more than 70 publishers in every
>> major subject, including general and subject dictionaries and encyclopedias.
>> There are '''125''' full Credo 350 accounts available, with access even to
>> 100 more references works than in Credo's original donation.  All you need is
>> a 1-year old account with 1000 edits.  Sign up [[Wikipedia:Credo#Sign-up
>> sheet|here]].
>> * '''[[WP:HighBeam|HighBeam Research]]''' has access to over 80 million
>> articles from 6,500 publications including newspapers, magazines, academic
>> journals, newswires, trade magazines and encyclopedias.  Thousands of new
>> articles are added daily, and archives date back over 25 years covering a
>> wide range of subjects and industries.  There are '''250''' full access
>> 1-year accounts available.  All you need is a 1-year old account with 1000
>> edits.  Sign up [[Wikipedia:HighBeam/Applications|here]].
>> * '''[[WP:Questia|Questia]]'''  is an online research library for books and
>> journal articles focusing on the humanities and social sciences. Questia has
>> curated titles from over 300 trusted publishers including 77,000 full-text
>> books and 4 million journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, as well as
>> encyclopedia entries.  There will soon be '''1000''' full access 1-year
>> accounts available.  All you need is a 1-year old account with 1000 edits.
>> Sign up [[Wikipedia:Questia#Apply here: Round 1|here]].
>> 
>> In addition to these great partnerships, you might be interested in the
>> next-generation idea to create a central '''Wikipedia Library''' where
>> approved editors would have access to ''all'' participating resource donors.
>> It's still in the preliminary stages, but if you like the idea, add your
>> feedback to the 
>> [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships/Project_Ideas/The_Wikip
>> edia_Library Community Fellowship proposal] to start developing the project.
>> Drop by my talk page if you have any questions.  Now, go sign up!
>> 
>> --[[User:Ocaasi|Ocaasi]]
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> 
> 
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