To Be Free, or Not To Be Free?

Ch. 18 # 1

The claims made by authors of sites and articles advocating free information (or "open access") often argue that the free access of information will produce massive benefits for society at large. Most of them present the benefits it will have for education and research- particularily in the context of scientific findings and articles. They also appeal to pathos, arguing that open access benefits scientists in third world countries, where they can't afford to buy expensive journals, and are therefore, out of the loop on new advancements in the scientific field. They also appeal to pathos by arguing that, because of open access, the public will be able to see the results of the research their tax-dollars paid for. The sites also appeal to ethos, having been created by proffesors from acredited institutions. The articles also create ethos by being featured on the official websites for several accredited institutions. I found their arguments very persuasive. Their arguements were all very logical, and they showed the problems people had when articles weren't published via open-access. They also stated many of the counter-arguements against open access, and then provided logical reasons for why the counter-arguements were invalid. Because of the logic of their reasoning, I have come to the conclusion that open-access, at least for scientific research, should be used.