Jake, well written and nicely put. Is this online somewhere, where we can share it further?
Best, Shani. ----------------------------------------------- *Shani Evenstein Sigalov* * Lecturer, Tel Aviv University. * EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. * PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University. * Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow. * OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495> on Technology, Internationalization and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495>. * Member of the Board of Trustees <https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>, Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>. * Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society <http://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580428621>. * Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda <http://benyehuda.org>. +972-525640648 On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:27 PM Pete Forsyth <petefors...@gmail.com> wrote: > Jake, > > How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this? > > -Pete > -- > Pete Forsyth > User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc. > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta <trulyt...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Hello, > > Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for sharing. > > Regards. > > User:Titodutta > > > > > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz <jorlow...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy > regarding > > a > > > proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded > research... > > > > > > --- > > > > > > Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world. Each > > month > > > 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public > > > information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are > loaded > > > by people around the globe 7,000 times per second. > > > > > > Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA > licensing > > > as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet > > > Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access > scholarly > > > research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds of > > > millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper research. > > > > > > Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader > > landscape > > > of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to > > verify > > > the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through citations > > > readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the books, > > > scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article. > > > > > > A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in > > Wikipedia > > > found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly > > > publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely available > > on > > > the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of > public > > > education and digital literacy. > > > > > > Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus. By > > April > > > 2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views. > > > Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000 articles and > 1 > > > billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been ranked > as > > > one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on the > > entire > > > internet. > > > > > > References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia. Indeed, > > > Wikipedia's medical content is supported by 757,855 references in > English > > > and 1,596,528 in other languages, for a total of 2,354,383 across all > > > languages. In English 168,985 have a PMID while 261,850 do in other > > > languages. This means at least 430,835 references are journal articles. > > > > > > What happens when those journal articles lie behind a paywall? The > public > > > suffers from a dearth of good information to make decisions about their > > > lives as independent citizens and members of a global community. > > > > > > As founder of The Wikipedia Library, I arranged partnerships with > dozens > > of > > > leading scholarly journals, to give Wikipedia editors free access to > > their > > > reliable content and so they would be able to do effective and rigorous > > > research. This time-intensive process took 6 years to amass access to > > only > > > 1/5th of the most highly regarded academic publications. Frankly, > > Wikipedia > > > editors--volunteers who selflessly give of their intelligence and > passion > > > to educate--should not have to beg and borrow to access publicly-funded > > > research. Readers should not hit paywalls when they are seeking > > > citizen-supported knowledge. > > > > > > I implore you to make the bold but entirely reasonable decision and > > ensure > > > that taxpayers have access to the vital scientific and scholarly > studies > > > that they themselves fund. This is not only sensible, it is essential > to > > > civic health, societal progress, and human flourishing. > > > > > > > > > Sincerely, > > > Jake Orlowitz > > > Founder of The Wikipedia Library > > > > > > > > > --- > > > > > > "Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code > > > Resulting From Federally Funded Research" > > > > > > > > > > > > https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for-information-public-access-to-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications-data-and-code > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
