Comments on: Let’s Make a Humanities Pre-Print Server

By: Amanda French

Amanda French — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 15:05:56 +0000

I once went to the extent of buying the domain name mlapapers.info and setting up an install Open Journal Systems with the idea that I MYSELF ALL BY MY LONESOME would create a place where MLA members could deposit their conference papers. (Sorry about the hubris. And options for this now exist, of course.) Trevor, I think your ideas about using existing platforms are reasonable, but humanities-centrism is I’d say a highly desirable spec for such an arcHive. (H for Humanities, of course). Count me in to talk about this, though.

By: Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Kathleen Fitzpatrick — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 11:23:21 +0000

Hi, Lincoln. We should talk about this — we’ve got a project in the works that might provide the groundwork for what you’re seeking. I’ll try to catch up with you tomorrow morning, if not before.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 01:42:05 +0000

My first thought is why not just get a campaign in place to use ArXiv? They already have the system in place, they have a lot of mirrors and I believe they have a relationship with a research library for long term preservation. Anyone can sign up for an account and start self archiving there. They also mint nice DOI like URLs/URIs for things. I’ve had a desire to put up copies of all my stuff there for a while.

It strikes me that the platform in this case isn’t that hard (could just as well use SSRN or for that mater Academia.edu). IMHO the hard part is a culture shift and getting people to spend the time to put their work up there.