Open Access Sustainability: A modest proposal. Was [Web4lib] Wikipedia problems?

[gagnew at rci.rutgers.edu]

D-Lib is also having significant cashflow problems, and I believe Creative
Commons also has sustainability issues.  There is a lot of discussion
about open access, but the fact is that the more successful an open access
service becomes, the more expensive it is to maintain, particularly if it
is to be authoritative enough to be useful.  Open access is a really hot
topic, but  economic sustainability is a serious issue, amounting to
crisis,  for open access.

I think it would be really great to see a micro-charity implementation for
open access , where people could collectively discover all the major open
access services and resources with sustainability issues, not just
resources like Wikipedia, but services to enable open access, like
Creative Commons.  This clearing house would provide information about
services, their specific sustainability needs, the role they play in the
open access supply and distribution chain and enable visitors to make
contributions to their service or resource of choice.  I think there are
many worthy initiatives that demonstrate the breadth of open access, but
not a centralized way to discover or contribute to them.  Most users take
open access for granted and don't realize that the resources that might
really matter to them are seriously struggling.    To provide both
discovery understanding of open access and enable contributions would be a
great thing.  Micro charity seems to be doing very well.  One issue I
have, when I am appealed to either individually or collectively to support
an open access resource, is where might my charitable dollars be best
spent to enable open access, and a centralized service could identify the
ones most critically in need of funding in the open access food chain.  My
personal bias would be to contribute to the resources with the fewer
contributors, where the need is greatest, while others might select the
resource they use most heavily or that appeals to their particular open
access interest.  The beauty of a centralized service is all these facets
impacting giving could be indexed, allowing contributors to match their
particular interest with an open access service or resource's particular
need.

This approach is proving popular in other contexts, such as the enormous
popularity of carbon trading in the UK.  Why not a global directory,
information resource and micro-charity application for open access?

Grace Agnew
Rutgers University Libraries

>   Interesting talk floating around in the blogosphere about possible
> Wikipedia cash problems.
>
>   One blogger (Paul McNamara) says: "Florence Devouard, chairwoman of the
> Wikimedia Foundation, has touched off a tempest with her suggestion in a
> talk at the Lift07 conference that Wikipedia has funding for only
> another quarter and 'might disappear' if donations don't pick up."
>
>   A Wikipedia spokesperson has since said that the statement was taken out
> of context and that Devouard "was attempting to showcase how, because of
> our global reach, Wikipedia needs to be much more creative in its
> fundraising efforts."
>
>   The interesting point we should take from all of this is that while we
> tend to take Wikipedia for granted as a volunteer-based operation, it
> does require about $5 million a year to keep the infrastructure going
> (e.g., they have 350 servers). As a non-profit organization Wikipedia
> has to be in a fund-raising mode constantly.
>
>   Here's what Paul McNamara has to say on the NetworkWorld blog:
>
>   http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/11376
>
>   Bernie Sloan
>
>
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