ALiGN researcher Scott Mitchell just published an article titled “Open sesame: Analysing Public Library of Science as a site of production and distribution for open access scientific information and knowledge” in Communication and the Public.
Abstract:
This article explores the Public Library of Science as a site that produces and disseminates open access scientific information and knowledge for the public good. Through this case study, issues of property ownership, the nature and political economy of biological information, scientific expertise and accessibility of information and scientific knowledge as a public good are considered. Drawing on a cultural industries perspective, I examine the various intermediaries and institutional arrangements that continue to impact and shape the production and dissemination of this open access knowledge. I suggest that Public Library of Science embodies a new mode for the social production of scholarly knowledge and its dissemination, with important implications for how scientific knowledge and expertise are created, certified and circulated.