#PDFTribute — The First (And Hopefully Last) Open Access “Martyr”

Aaron Swartz (from a photo with Nick Gray): http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickgray/3189695439/

Aaron Swartz, he died last week
Never was there such a geek —
who downloaded, tried to share
just to show he really cared
making Aaron slightly bad
but very wonderful to grads
— cops and lawyers, go your way
students, seekers: let us pray
[e.e. cummings parody]

It has been three days since Aaron Swartz took his own life. Yes, he had struggled with chronic illness and depression during his life, but the story around his death is, to a large extent, centering around his advocacy efforts in support of free access to information and the legal challenges that followed from them.

Aaron was well known in geek communities for his many talents and contributions, from helping to code the original version of RSS feed back when he was 14 to co-founding Reddit, and much more. What really got attention, though, was fairly recent, 2010-2011, when he downloaded massive numbers of articles from a library database behind a paywall with the intent to make them available to the public. “Information wants to be free.”

“Information is power. But like all power, there are some who want to keep it for themselves”-Aaron Swartzpastebin.com/cefxMVAy #pdftribute

— PropagandaDepartment (@HoustonsNewNews) January 13, 2013

The library database (JSTOR) did not seek to prosecute, but it happened without them. It’s a complicated story, and a sad one. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the story itself, because you can easily find that information in many places around the Internet. Here are just a few of the links I found most useful and important.

Inside Higher Ed: Reacting to Aaron Swartz’s Suicide: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/14/academe-reacts-aaron-swartzs-suicide

Aaron Swartz Faced A More Severe Prison Term Than Killers, Slave Dealers And Bank Robbers: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/14/1441211/killers-slavers-and-bank-robbers-all-face-less-severe-prison-terms-than-aaron-swartz-did/

The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime”: http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/

Harsh Reaction After Aaron Swartz’s Death Prompts MIT Investigation: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/01/harsh-reaction-after-aaron-swartzs-death-prompts-mit-investigation/60935/

Remember Aaron Swartz: http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/

What I want to talk about is the outpouring of copyrighted articles being made available free on the Internet in response to Aaron’s death. It started on Reddit, spread to Twitter and Google Plus, and is far beyond now. The hashtag is #PDFtribute although a few are using #PDFprotest. The idea is to honor Aaron by sharing your own articles and research for free. The works shared are being collected at their own website, scraped from social media almost as fast as they are posted.

PDF Tribute: http://pdftribute.net/

Obviously, the actions of researchers and authors sharing in this movement are influencing others to do the same.

@jayrosen_nyu Your post, among others, prompted me to post my book on line in Aaron’s memory bit.ly/X7SkHu #openaccess #pdftribute

— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) January 14, 2013

The movement is making headlines in tech, science, and mainstream news, as well as with independent pieces from journalists.

#PDFtribute: Scholars break down paywalls to honour activist Aaron Swartz ow.ly/gO4Jy #ajstream

— The Stream (@AJStream) January 14, 2013

Al Jazeera covers: “Tribute without copyright” #pdftribute #RIPAaronSwartz stream.aljazeera.com/story/20130114… via @ajstream

— Rami (@Ramisms) January 14, 2013

BBC News: Aaron Swartz, internet freedom activist, dies at 26 bbc.in/VAdyRP -> academics tweeting their paywalled papers #pdftribute

— Trish Groves (@trished) January 13, 2013

Researchers, Academics Remember Aaron Swartz with #PDFTributetrib.al/vJLV7y9#FastFeed

— Fast Company (@FastCompany) January 14, 2013

Researchers begin posting article PDFs to twitter in #pdftribute to Aaron Swartz @neuroconscience gizmodo.com/5975543/academ… #openaccess

— bacigalupe (@bacigalupe) January 14, 2013

This has also resulted in a new petition to the US government about Open Access.

@barackobama could you please respond to the #OAMonday petition now? 52,795 signatures +counting petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/requi… #pdftribute

— Heather Piwowar (@researchremix) January 13, 2013

It’s created a new word – swartzing, to make freely available.

I’m swartzing an article that Arielle Greenberg & I co-wrote on Sylvia Plath and teenage girl poets dropbox.com/s/q92rmxp2yp0l… #pdftribute

— Becca Klaver (@bexklaver) January 14, 2013

And it isn’t just articles being posted. Here is a complete book on how to conduct clinical research.

RIP Aaron Swartz. In your honor I’ve posted entire book, Conducting Clinical Research, on line bit.ly/SvzluD #openaccess #pdftribute

— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) January 14, 2013

And folk are posting tips for HOW to make your own articles available, and asking hard questions.

Ten simple ways to share PDFs of your papers #PDFtribute phylogenomics.blogspot.hu/2013/01/ten-si…

— Berci Meskó, MD, PhD (@Berci) January 14, 2013

Better question: Academics, why weren’t your PDFs already online? #pdftribute

— Dorian Taylor (@doriantaylor) January 14, 2013

Now here’s where the librarians need to listen up. We already know about Open Access. The profession of librarianship has been a strong supporter of the open access movement and Creative Commons. Oh, by the way, Aaron was involved with getting the Creative Commons movement off the ground, when he was a teenager.

If you missed it over the weekend, my attempt to explain why the death of Aaron Swartz disturbed me so much. bit.ly/VELqNu

— Jay Rosen(@jayrosen_nyu) January 14, 2013

Many librarians are taking this moment as an opportunity to promote understanding of Open Access and Creative Commons. To grieve the loss of one of the strongest supporters and advocates, to examine the issues involved, to look at why and how intellectual property rights have gone so desperately wrong, shifting from supporting the connections and relationships between authors and readers to supporting the middle man and corporations. We know, oh, we KNOW our legal duties to support the law in its current form, to adhere to our legal contracts with the publishers. We know, and we try to protect the faculty, students, and all our patrons in all our institutions. We stand squarely in the middle with the weight of both sides on our shoulders. Here is a chance to openly and clearly illustrate what works and what’s broken, as well as the methods, tools, resources around the issues, and to gather community around them. Here are some of the suggestions for libraries and librarians that are right now flowing through Twitter.

HEY ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS. Main chance today. Look for faculty participating in #pdftribute and introduce them to your IR or a suitable DR.

— Ondatra libskoolicus (@LibSkrat) January 13, 2013

+1000000MT @jambina Your librarian can help you free your work. we are on your side, more than you know. Trust me. #pdftribute #openaccess

— Graham Steel (@McDawg) January 13, 2013

Everyone, JSTOR has opened up access under the Register to Read program. It’s a good start, at least: about.jstor.org/news/free-read #pdftribute

— Jessica Richman (@venturejessica) January 13, 2013

IU researchers can use @iulibraries‘ #IU ScholarWorks to make their work available free online. scholarworks.iu.edu #pdftribute

— Indiana University (@IUBloomington) January 14, 2013

Folks participating in #pdftribute can find publisher guidelines at sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/ Maybe more permissive than you think!

— Ondatra libskoolicus (@LibSkrat) January 13, 2013

The tweet that broke my heart.

.@aaronsw You can come back now, the prosecutor officially dismissed your case. wired.com/threatlevel/20…

— Cherri (@Astrogirl) January 14, 2013

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UpdateJan 15, 2013; 1:00pm: Added link to source for parody poem, and to expert witness testimony on Aaron’s legal situation.