[Irtalk] Why open access should be a key issue for university leaders | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional

[Hilton Gibson]

Universities are digital machines these days. But many of the decisions
that have to be made as a result are not technical at all. They are about
the nature of research and its public benefits, about how learning and
teaching takes place, and how we confront difficult ethical issues.
Strategic choices that are made now will have significant implications for
the ways in which knowledge will be created and shared in the future.

We couldn't operate universities without the digital systems that run
payroll, student registrations, finance and the teaching timetable. Our
libraries spend more on electronic publications than paper. We reach large
numbers of students online using increasingly significant digital media.
But while bandwidth is now as basic a need as electricity and parking,
there are critical choices ahead.

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/feb/18/open-access-key-issue-university-leaders?CMP=twt_gu
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