Abstract: I will talk about the "open access" movement in scientific publishing that is working to make the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. Anyone who has tried to look for scientific or medical information on the Internet will find all sorts of information - some credible and some quackish. But, unless you are logged on from a major research university, you will find that the most reliable and comprehensive source of scientific and medical knowledge is locked behind subscription-controlled barriers of scientific publishers. I will talk about why things work this way, why it's ridiculous, and how the system can and is being changed by organizations like Public Library of Science (which I helped to found). I will also talk about how scientists and scientific journals are starting to head down a wikipedia like path, and why this is a challenge for scientists and our institutions. -- http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proceedings:ME1
