from Hacker News

Open-Access JSTOR Database Accessible to the Public

by shliachtx on 3/19/20, 7:02 PM with 17 comments

• by cryptonector on 3/19/20, 8:22 PM

  I'm still angry over the ridiculous overcharging of Swartz and his suicide. I hope Carmen Ortiz never gets another job in law enforcement or politics again, ever, and I shall donate to any primary or general election opponent of hers if she ever runs for any office higher than dog catcher.

• by gardenfelder on 3/19/20, 7:57 PM

  This quote from the piece, and checking at the website to confirm, says nothing about public "“We are working with publishers to make more than 20,000 books available at no charge for JSTOR participating academic institutions and secondary schools that do not participate in our books program”, the statement said. “The number of books available through this effort is growing daily as more publishers opt in.”"

• by interweb on 3/19/20, 7:42 PM

  Makes me think of Aaron Swartz RIP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

• by oefrha on 3/19/20, 8:20 PM

  > Updated title: Open-Access JSTOR Database Accessible to the Public

  > Correction: 19:42, March 19th, 2020

  > A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that JSTOR had made previously unavailable ebooks and journals accessible to the public for the first time. In fact, the materials in question have been available to the public for some time. The headline, subheading and body of this article have been updated to reflect this information.

  What’s accessible here is open access in the first place. I don’t see evidence of anything being opened up additionally as a response to the pandemic. Move on, nothing to see here.

• by sp332 on 3/19/20, 7:59 PM

  This isn't new according to JSTOR https://twitter.com/JSTOR/status/1240349642191245314 Sounds like the author just misread something. (Oh there's a correction at the bottom already.)

• by gradstudent on 3/19/20, 8:26 PM

  > The database is also working to expand on the amount of free content available online to students

  Don't worry JSTOR, Alexandra's got your back. http://sci-hub.tw

  Seriously though, to hell with paywalls and artificial barriers imposed on publicly funded papers by no-value-added rent-seeking publishers such as those whose material is archived by JSTOR.

• by acruns on 3/19/20, 7:46 PM

  WOW!

• by elviejo on 3/19/20, 7:39 PM

  Nice it only took a global pandemic to accomplish the free sharing of information that Aaron Swartz was trying to accomplish:

  "In 2011, Swartz was arrested by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police on state breaking-and-entering charges, after connecting a computer to the MIT network in an unmarked and unlocked closet, and setting it to download academic journal articles systematically from JSTOR...

  Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison. Two days after the prosecution rejected a counter-offer by Swartz, he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment, where he had hanged himself."

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz