Open Access Button Update: May 19

• 2 min read

The Open Access Button has mapped over 7500 paywalls!

Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 9.12.33 PM

Button 2.0

Crowdfunding
On April 22, we launched an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund Button 2.0! We’re seeking to raise £20,000 to support the development of Button 2.0. Button 2.0 has been reimagined from the ground up to make it a true game changer. We’ve focused on creating ways to connect people with the research they need and use research in completely different ways. We’ve worked with the most innovative people and organisations, like Wikipedia and others from around the world. Of course, every line of code will be open source and available for others to improve on.

If you’re not able to donate, you can still help! Share the campaign on social media, tell your friends and colleagues, or blog about the Button.

New Features
The current Button was launched as the beta version and we always intended to build upon it and create Button 2.0. We’ve received many questions about what we will be

  • Rebuilding the Button as a browser plug-in. This will allow us to radically increase what can be done and provide a scalable platform for the future. If we raise enough money there are also plans for a phone app.
  • A system where users can request access to a paper from a paper’s correspondence address and in response the author can submit the link to an openly available version to us. We’ll then send all other requests to that link. We’re also exploring allowing repositories to submit information on the papers they contain into a database, which we can use to link research published in journals behind paywalls to repositories. This has been a big area for us, so we’re exploring still many options for how to do it.
  • We’re expanding our use of social media to display altmetrics and make using Button 2.0 the easiest way to share research you care about.
  • We’re looking to build great API’s (how computers speak to other computers) to allow anyone to use our data, and features of the project they find useful. A notable project in this area is the plans to signal if a reference is open access on wikipedia.

Learn more in our Indiegogo features update blog post.

Jisc Summer of Student Innovation

Bringing Button 2.0 Mobile
In consultation for Button 2.0, our community requested a mobile version of the tool. Mobile app development will run as a separate project in parallel with Button 2.0, incorporating the key functionalities of the Open Access Button. Integral to the application will be a one-stop shop for the established or potential Open Access Advocate to push for Open Access to scholarly research in their community, including data from the Button to fuel data driven advocacy.

We’re participating in the JISC Summer of Student Innovation and your vote can help bring Button 2.0 to mobile devices! You can vote once per idea and the voting period closes on the 30 of May. Jisc and partners will evaluate every idea that reaches 250 votes from at least 10 different eligible organisations and select those that will receive £5,000 funding.

Get your personalised Open Access Button at openaccessbutton.org
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