Comments on: AAA Open Access FUD

By: Stoma

Stoma — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:40:42 +0000

Does anyone know who at the AAA is in charge of media outreach?

I don’t know who it is, but it isn’t an anthropologist.

My experience has been that they do very selective media outreach designed to reinforce popular notions of what anthropologists do, and whoever is in charge of AAA media outreach wants to downplay critical anthropological views. In this light, Anthrodiva’s comments make sense.

By: Rex

Rex — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:11:37 +0000

Fuji —
I’d be inclined to see your experiences as an example of the lack of capacity of the staff, not the size of the bureaucracy, which is actually quite small given the difficulty you had getting in touch with them. Also, please note that it’s nor difficult to get a DC mailing address — all you need a post office box. The AAA headquarters are located in Arlington, not DC. Although we used to have some property in DC my understanding (which could very well be wrong) is that it was sold to prop up the AAA’s sagging bottom line.

It is in the AAA’s best interests as both a business and an organization that as many journals be included in AnthroSource, and your inability to get your journal included is disappointing. I’m glad to hear that you’re using open source software and I look forward to reading your journal!

By: Erkan's field diary

Erkan's field diary — Thu, 31 May 2007 23:11:19 +0000

“The dangerous militarisation of anthropology…

Anthropologi.Info says: On 15 December 2006 the US Army released a new counterinsurgency manual, FM 3-24. At least one anthropologist played a role in preparing the 282-page document: Montgomery McFate. Anthropological knowledge is even considered as m…

By: Fuji Lozada

Fuji Lozada — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:14:14 +0000

Every college/university with an anthropology department or program should have an anthrosource subscription – it is an invaluable tool for both teaching and research. That said, the bureaucracy surrounding it (mostly the publications side, not the anthrosource steering committee itself) is difficult to work with. I am a new editor of a small society peer-reviewed journal, and wanted to find out about how to get included in Anthrosource. After a number of emails, I finally got the word from Jasper Simons (director of publications) that they essentially don’t have the money/time to support a non-AAA journal — I wasn’t asking for support, just inclusion in the search (well, that would take somebody some time to set up). Producing journals do cost a lot — and the way to get around such costs is to use cheap and available technology. We can have limited print runs (for libraries, etc.); individuals can readily access journals electronically (and print them out if they don’t like reading on the screen). People up for tenure (since deans don’t seem to trust electronic media) can print out a camera-ready copy of electronic journals. I regularly toss the print editions of journals out in public spaces of the college, where students may casually pick it up to read. BTW, I would like to thank the SM crowd for helping me to find the Open Journal software that we will be using.

Also, remember subscription rates to Anthrosource is graduated – institutions pay more than individuals, people/organizations from less developed countries pay less than Western ones, etc. I think our relatively high dues are being used to keep a Washington DC address (recently rennovated, correct?); let’s move AAA headquarters to Topeka, KS or Indianapolis, IN (the crossroads of America) where we can save on administrative costs!

By: Rex

Rex — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:55:01 +0000

I’d gladly pay the increased dues if it meant that AnthroSource was free and open.

By: John R.

John R. — Wed, 30 May 2007 17:15:16 +0000

$227 is a lot when compared to other groups, but probably not a big deal for someone with a steady job. I pay $89 (the dues are sliding scale) to belong to the American Historical Association, and the articles in the association's journal (American Historical Review) have been OA since last June.

By: Anthrodiva

Anthrodiva — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:55:47 +0000

They SO don’t do media outreach – when I emailed them about a rash of articles with public figures carelessly claiming to be a fill-in-the-blank anthropologist (Marion Nestle, Paco Underhill, Clothard Lewhathisname) they told me to go write an oped. I was like, “isn’t that what I pay YOU for?”

Thank god I’m dropping out. Like Cindy Sheehan, my futile protests are over….

By: Strong

Strong — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:59:32 +0000

Ditto. On the question of dues however, is $227 really a bankrupting amount? It doesn’t really seem *that* bad to me. Do we know how it compares to equivalent professional organizations?

By: Stoma

Stoma — Wed, 30 May 2007 03:36:11 +0000

Bill Davis runs the AAA. He’s done it for years and he’ll continue to do so for another decade or so. It’s his association and he’ll bloody well do whatever he pleases.

When in 2004 the membership voted to either cancel the AAA annual meetings, or to hold them in San Jose, Bill Davis personally made sure that neither voted-approved option occured, and the meetings were wisked away to Georgia (a right to work state) where no one attended. Now Bill is going to tell us what we can and can’t do with the AAA’s publications because he *is* the AAA.

By: Rex

Rex — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:46:01 +0000

I am glad to see that after a year of pressure we are finally getting some public information from AA staff. I think the fact that they finally are beginning to feel accountable to membership and the scholarly community more generally, although frankly I’d very much like someone to take a close look at those suspiciously balanced numbers and how they are generated.

Peter Suber has already pointed out several of the problems with Davis’s argument so I won’t go over them here. There is, however, one thing that I found incredible: never once did Davis consider that possibility that the AAA’s budget impasse might be eased by lowering publication costs.

Davis and I agree on one thing — open access is never going to be a realistic option if the AAA publication program keeps costs at this level. The proper solution to this problem is not to fret over revenue, but to run a tighter ship.

How do we decrease costs? The AAA could adopt solutions from the open access and open source movement. Leadership could actually hold staff accountable and become actively involved in the decision making process of the AAA rather handing it off to people like Davis. And finally, the AAA could make gestures of good faith — like STOPPING THEIR OPPOSITION TO FRPAA — that would create an atmosphere which would attract innovators who will work on projects they love (always the easiest way to cut costs in high tech firms).

Cutting costs, actual leadership, and courting strong human resources would all be key to creating a great publications program. But instead we have an institution where staff pronouncements go unquestioned by leadership and sections suffer. As I’ve said before and I’ll say again: with a business model like this, who needs enemies?

By: Alexandre

Alexandre — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:18:31 +0000

Let’s hope the AAA membership reads this. Or, better yet, let’s hope anthropologist everywhere start discussing OA.
After all, as we study human diversity, the output of our work should be widely available.

By: AAA Open Access FUD « Open Access Anthropology

AAA Open Access FUD « Open Access Anthropology — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:16:24 +0000

[…] May 28th, 2007 · 3 Comments (Cross posted at Savage Minds.) […]