Looking beyond gold: open access to research itself

Open access to research papers is like having access to the shortened, condensed versions of a million different novels. While this is enormously beneficial and appears to be a time-saver on the surface, important details and assumptions are often left out of the story, leaving readers to wonder and struggle to reproduce or even understand the premises or conclusions. What if we were able to share the entire journey of the researcher? What if we were able to share the research itself—every question, connection, dead end, data point, and analytical thought—in context, as it happened? What would be the motivations to do this? How would this affect our perception of what research is? Potential benefits as well as current obstacles to sharing more of the story of the research will be explored. [NOTE: The slides have been improved since the presentation took place based on feedback received.]