Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Discovery Should Be Delivery: User-Centric Principles for Discovery as a Service

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I have a fierce dislike for discovery services that lead me to resources I can't access. That's why on OLDaily I am careful to ensure that if you click on the link, you are taken straight to the resource - no subscription paywalls, no registration or signin, no whitelist-me content blocker. It's something that publishers do particularly poorly, and has a direct impact on my work at NRC. We actually pay for subscriptions to expensive journals, but I have no straightforward way to access the articles at my desktop. And as for people without corporate access, well, they are not served at all. Sopcial network services as well block access to people who are not signed in. That's why you never see Facebook content here. Discovery should be access. If it shows up on Google, in a mailing list, on your enterprise desktop, whatever, then the click of the button should take you to the resource. Any other outcome is the result of greed.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 22, 2024 03:14 a.m.

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