Kent Anderson defends the domain of publishers by arguing that access alone is not enough. I want to send him to my (free) article on necessary and sufficient conditions. The argument that access is not sufficient does not refute the proposition that access is necessary. Anderson, though, touts a whole range of 'services' provided by publishers: "It's about finding content or an artist (writer, singer, photographer) that a constituency cares about or finds interesting, pitching their works correctly for a target audience, cultivating awareness and interest in the work, making the work shine, packaging it for optimal consumption, and sustaining its relevance for as long as possible. Publishing is competitive, so publishers have to create the best venue for the best work." Well, that's exactly what I do here in OLDaily, but I am not a publisher. I am doing what the community now does for itself, without the need for publishers. (Note that Anderson uses the term 'accessibility' instead of 'access', perhaps unaware that 'accessibility' generally refers to providing special assistance disabled users, while the wider community uses 'access' to talk about removing financial barriers).
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