Figure 1. Tianjin Binhai Library, Tianjin, China In June 2018, punctum and 4 other open-access book publishers in Europe (Mattering Press, meson press, Open Book Publishers, and Open Humanities Press) formed the ScholarLed collective: The aim of the collective is to explore the potential of working together. This includes developing systems and practices that allow presses[…]
In recent days, much has been written about the Ronell–Reitman case. Part of the commentary has focused on the supposed “demise” of the #MeToo movement, and whether the fact that a female, queer scholar has committed sexual harassment in an asymmetric relation of power (professor–student) would delegitimate the struggle of those who are abused (typically[…]
by Eileen A. Joy and Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei …it’s dark in here…can someone turn on the lights…is it still the Dark Ages? “I can no longer participate in nor support the International Congress on Medieval Studies, [at] Kalamazoo. While performing a seemingly virtuous commitment to academic freedom, the actions of this organization’s leadership[…]
by Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei NOTE: The text of this blog post was originally presented as a lecture at University of California, Santa Barbara Library on May 8, 2018, under the title “Nubian Studies: A Case Study in Scholar-Led Open Access Publishing.” Follow more of Vincent’s work on Old Nubian via Twitter @ontakragoueke. I[…]
by EILEEN A. FRADENBURG JOY Caring for [ourselves] is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare. ~ Audre Lorde But we can’t (and we won’t!) continue to be administered by a ruthless regime of technocrats that wants to turn everyone and everything into bodiless data, into sermons sent over[…]
by Eileen Joy In the spirit of Open Access also (ideally) meaning transparency of the data of open-access publishing, here are some figures from punctum books, followed by a plea. Ever since launching our Graduated Open Access platform at the beginning of this year (whereby PDFs of each of our titles are available for $5.00[…]
photo by Quinn Norton, taken on Feb. 9, 2008 There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture. ~Aaron Swartz (1986–2013) … open-access publishing is a brilliant way around the failure[…]
by Eileen Joy Responses to the website of prominent Anglo-Saxonist Allen Frantzen (Loyola University, Emeritus) have generated a wide conversation, centering especially on the need for what we might call ‘truth and reconciliation’ in the field of academic medieval studies, conducted in person, by phone, and on social media (which was also partly sparked by[…]