Open Publication
After posting a reading response yesterday, and working on my major paper for the course, I’ve been letting a few things filter through my mind. This morning I’m returning to argue with Pratt (2008) about this notion of fitting oval pegs into round holes. I had initially thought this is wrong, to compromise writing the story of your research to accommodate the criteria established by the top tier academic journals. After listening to arguments by my classmates and responses in the discussion forum, I’d shifted my thinking that perhaps it was okay to reposition the story, either numeric or narrative, to suit the intended audience. That’s what we all do when we write – aim to address the message to fulfill the needs of the viewers. The additional caveat was that, by becoming a top tier published scholar, you could then work for change from within. So that’s where I ended my thinking.
Not so fast…. there’s more to this story.
I watched a compelling video where bell hooks speaks about the pop-singer Madonna (2006), who changes the focus of her music and image once she achieves fame and fortune. bell hooks extends the argument to selling out values as a feminist and change agent, and returning to white supremacy and paternalism for profit and fame. It may be easy to say that once a scholar achieves infamy (and how many of those are in existence today), they can then change the publishing system from within. This would be a smoke and mirrors illusion since academic credibility lies in the status achieved from the very hand that feeds them.
My discomfort with the notion of ‘selling out’ to fit in, as expressed by bell hooks and Pratt, connected to my research into open education and open scholarship. As I searched, I came across an organization called SPARC, which is a global organization focused on open data, open access and open education. They highlight a story about Erin McKiernan, whom I saw speak at the Open Education Consortium Annual Conference – OEGlobal in Delft this past spring. Her story is a compelling counter-narrative to the ‘fit in’ or ‘sell out’ value proposition in publishing. She is an open researcher who publishes openly, and has gained global attention for her work as an academic and scholar. She describes openness as a “career asset” – “I’m using openness as a plus, rather than as a negative. It’s an integral part of my work flow. Open Access has been a great tool to get my work out there.” (McKiernan, n.d.). This is a model for the current global push for openness in scholarly publication which includes open access journals, self publication, and open textbooks. By gaining academic credibility in open spaces, McKiernan is well positioned to make change happen in the publication industry and push for revisions to models of academic credentialing within her home country of Mexico.
I return to my initial stance, in rebuttal to Pratt (2008), it’s not about fitting an oval peg in a round hole, it’s about building your own pegboard, with a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and inviting others to come play – in the open.
References
McKiernan, E. (n.d.). Openness as a career asset. Retrieved from https://sparcopen.org/impact-story/erin-mckiernan/. Retrieved on July 12, 2018.
Pratt, M. G. (2008). Fitting oval pegs into round holes: Tensions in evaluating and publishing qualitative research in top-tier North American journals. Organizational Research Methods, 11(3), 481-509.
