The Research Divide: Internet Commons, Scholarly Participation and Pre-print Servers

Abstract

"In this paper, I will examine unequal access to information in terms of research and publication activity by faculty at American universities classified using the Carnegie categories. In order to frame the topic, I will first discuss a general theory of Information Inequality that I have been developing over the last year. I argue that the relative accessibility of information by various groups has direct and measurable implications for their participation in various social activities. However, I part company from some authors who imply that 'information poverty' is a transituational condition, choosing instead to argue that access to information is a relative concept influenced by the importance to the actor of using any given information at any given time. In order to illustrate this theory, I will present findings of a research study to be completed in late 1999 that looks at one concrete example of increasing access to information using the internet as a common resource. In certain scientific research communities, such as high energy physics, the use of pre-print servers has become increasingly common with the advent of the internet."