Open Book Benefits for Authors and Readers
Sponsored by MIT Press
Recorded on 03/12/2025
Posted in The Authority File
Episode 417
In the second episode of this four-part series, David Gunkel, Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University, and Amy Harris, Senior Manager of Library Relations and Sales at MIT Press, continue their discussion on the benefits of open monographs. First, David proposes open books as an antidote to the awkwardness around an author assigning their own book to a class or asking fellow researchers to buy their book to learn about their work. Further, David shares how open books help English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers by allowing them to copy and paste text from an open PDF into online translators; this helps the scholarship reach a wider audience and increases the potential for global partnerships. In addition, Amy chats about the advantages of open objects and digs into the challenges of copyright mandates and contract management when making backlist titles open—or, as MIT Press affectionately calls it, a “backflip.”
Read the latest impact report from MIT Press’s Direct to Open (D2O).
About the guests:
David Gunkel
Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor
Northern Illinois University
David J. Gunkel (PhD Philosophy) is an award-winning educator, researcher, and author, specializing in the philosophy of technology with a focus on the moral and legal challenges of artificial intelligence and robots. He is the author of over 115 scholarly articles and has published eighteen books, including Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology (Purdue University Press 2007), The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics (MIT Press 2012), Of Remixology: Ethics and Aesthetics After Remix (MIT Press 2016), Robot Rights (MIT Press 2018), Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond (MIT Press 2023), and Handbook on the Ethics of AI (Edward Elgar 2024). He currently holds the position of Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University (USA) and professor of applied ethics at Łazarski University in Warsaw, Poland.
Janaki Srinivasan
Associate Professor, Digital South Asian Studies
University of Oxford
Janaki Srinivasan is Associate Professor in Digital South Asian Studies at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and the Oxford Internet Institute. Till recently, she was on the faculty at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore and also convenor of the institute’s Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy. Janaki’s research examines the political economy of information technology-based development initiatives. She uses ethnographic research to examine how gender, caste and class shape the use of such technologies. Her work has explored these interests in the context of Indian digital inclusion initiatives focussed on community computer centres, mobile phones, identity systems and open information systems. Some of this work appeared in her recent monograph, The Political Lives of Information, published by MIT Press. Janaki’s work on the politics of informational and digital exclusion is currently focussed on privacy and the algorithmic control of labour. For the past several years, as co-investigator on the Fairwork India team, she has been involved in researching and advocating for change in the precarious working conditions of gig workers in India.
Amy Harris
Senior Manager, Library Relations and Sales
MIT Press
Amy Harris has held various positions at the University Press of Florida, the University Press of Kentucky, and The MIT Press. Her nineteen-year career in scholarly publishing has had a particular focus on helping academic work find its widest possible audience and achieve its greatest impact, often in partnership with libraries.
Enjoy the conversation? Listen to the rest of the series:
- D2O Refresher and Open Access Publishing for Authors
- Citation and Global Impacts of the Open Access Book Model
- Unanticipated Benefits of OA and the Future of D2O
Check out our previous series with MIT Press:
– Direct to Open Post-Launch
– MIT Press’s Direct to Open
– Finding a Place for Open Access Monographs
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