[JoPP-Public] Future of Journal of Peer Production (JoPP): the end of the line?

Tue Nov 6 17:03:48 CET 2018

hey all,

maybe this is a crazy idea, so please feel free to discard - but! i did
want to add that the tone of andrew's response really resonated for me in
the sense that, in a way, while the hegemonies of traditional academic
publishing (and its ever-oppressive competitive rating systems) continue to
solidify, this also feels like a special moment to celebrate the successes
of all of those /other/ ways that alternative/open access publishing
efforts have created their own forms of counter-hegemony to subvert the
messages of the mainstream - manifestations that would make the likes of
antonio gramsci proud, i think.

so, i wonder if there could be some way to co-create a special issue which
is also a coming-together of several of our journals/publishing projects at
once - with the theme of not only reflecting on the effects of the myriad
embodiments of labour we have brought into the world (and the means of
production associated with those / the exhaustion we all feel from it all)
but also on celebration - of what we have accomplished separately, and
together?

this mega-gathering (or, perhaps, party) could include, and not be limited
to, the journal of peer production, the fibreculture journal, projects like
meatspace press and their freely-distributed pamphlets
https://meatspacepress.org/about/ , networked gatherings and multimedia
outputs like that of furtherfield https://www.furtherfield.org/ and the
collaboration of any other like-minded crews who too might have an
interest. it could manifest both digitally, across our various converged
channels, and also in print, through a co-published pamphlet or other
creative medium, which could also even include artistic submissions in the
tradition of adbusters etc.

again though, maybe it's too ambitious/crazy an idea. just putting it out
there, in case - maybe it can lead to something else entirely! just seems
like a nice moment to collaborate, and subvert, and perhaps even raise a
bit of hell before taking that break ;)

- kat

On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 2:56 AM Andrew Murphie <andrew.murphie at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks Mathieu,
>
> yes it will be interesting to see where #13 takes us ...
>
> a
>
> On Mon, 5 Nov 2018 at 13:35, Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Andrew, all
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your message. Briefly (I don't want to pre-empt other
>> responses):
>>
>>
>> 1.Someone signaled on the jopp-ed list that they may have an idea for
>> jopp#14. More on this asap.
>>
>>
>> 2.Really appreciate your thoughts on OA journals / political economy of
>> scientific-scholarly publishing. As you know we are planning to have a
>> special section in jopp#13 for OA journals. Could be good opportunity to
>> assess where we're at and articulate some ideas / interventions to move
>> forward re Elsevier / OA labour...?
>>
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Mathieu
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* JoPP-Public <jopp-public-bounces at lists.ourproject.org> on behalf
>> of Andrew Murphie <andrew.murphie at gmail.com>
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 5, 2018 10:51
>> *To:* Journal of Peer Production's general and public list
>> *Subject:* Re: [JoPP-Public] Future of Journal of Peer Production
>> (JoPP): the end of the line?
>>
>> Hi Mathieu,
>>
>> We're facing the same kinds of questions at the Fibreculture Journal.
>> We're keeping on keeping on the for moment but we'll see what happens next
>> year. A while back we were almost thinking of an issue on this very issue
>> .. current state of OA publishing, why it's become difficult, the life
>> cycle of journals that are fully OA etc etc .. why the potential has not
>> yet actualised in anything like the way it could ...
>>
>> Something on the future of Scholarly Comms (a term that perhaps becomes
>> redundant when I think about it ... )
>>
>> Watched Paywall last night. All through my partner and I were talking
>> about something that seemed not to quite come up .. which is the question
>> of labour .... "the modes of peer production" I guess. Although I think
>> JoPP has dealt with this some in #10. I know this has been a huge issue at
>> FCJ. We've all burned out at some stage with the work (and complete lack of
>> credit even in university workloads .. universities love journals but seem
>> to think journal issues just pop out of the ground by themselves like
>> mushrooms).
>>
>> It's also, I have to say, been quite hard to FCJ to make a transition
>> into doing things differently, more in tune with what we see as
>> contemporary events, largely because forces keep pulling us back to
>> traditional forms of credit etc when it comes to the form and process of
>> the work.
>>
>> I know other journals and so forth have faced similar issues.
>>
>> Among these and other questions (very prevalent throughout Paywall, and
>> certainly in my mind as editor of FCJ since at least 2008 ... the first ERA
>> ranking exercise ...and now with UNSW where I work's own "journal rankings"
>> exercise) ... is the whole politics of infrastructure—reactionary we well
>> know—that has developed around publishing now ... at exactly the same time
>> that OA and much more beyond this in terms of "scholarly comms" has
>> thrived, in what I'm calling a "third media revolution" (most of publishing
>> has become even more stubbornly "second media revolution" that is, the
>> reproduction and distribution of representations, e.g. the printing press
>> but also the like of social media) ...
>>
>> So one idea (and I hesitate as I'm beyond time poor) might be a cross
>> many OA venture (as in venture communism) celebration, exploration into the
>> beyond, and also critical evaluation of the contemporary state of
>> whatever-it-is-that-scholarly-comms-is-becoming. This could also be seen as
>> an activist intervention into the state of things, e.g. the politics of
>> scholarly infrastructure, but also, rankings and research organisations
>> especially (think of e.g. Plan S here, although I've recently heard that
>> the "fix is in" on this .. at least in the UK, with Elsevier no less part
>> of the discussions now being undertaken) ... Interventions of commercial
>> consultants, etc. Our entire university is now run via "rankings" etc. Tied
>> of course to the future of the university or
>> whatever-it-it-universities-are-(un)becoming .. then there would be
>> questions about forms of comms and scholarly comms and processes through
>> this; data, media and comms and (to my mind) the almost total lack of
>> understanding of any of these except in the most outmoded and frankly
>> limited way on the part of research organisation and infrastructure high
>> and low , etc etc.
>>
>> None of this means that JoPP should continue, if it has served its
>> purpose. Probably just thinking on my feet. And it could go on without it
>> (which sensibly would leave those who have made JoPP work so well with some
>> time of their hands to do other things. As someone who has spent far too
>> much time on an OA journal, to the detriment of my other work, I can say it
>> is sometimes a good idea to let things go).
>>
>> andrew
>>
>> On Sun, 4 Nov 2018 at 19:59, Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.oneil at anu.edu.au>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all
>>
>>
>> Steve and I have been working on JoPP #13 OPEN to be released in the
>> first half of 2019. After that, it's anybody's guess.
>>
>>
>> JoPP#14 should come out in the first half of 2020 but for that to happen
>> someone(s) has to come up with a concept - and CFP!  Maurizio proposed
>> something around the commons/STS a while back but this has not translated
>> into concrete action (yet).
>>
>>
>> If no-one is willing / able to continue the JoPP journey it may be time
>> to plan for officially entering hiatus mode after JoPP #13.
>>
>>
>> Perhaps the Journal has served its purpose - raised awareness and
>> knowledge of peer production, linked with makers/activists, fostered a
>> community - and something else needs to take its place?
>>
>>
>> Or, someone(s) want(s) to keep the project moving forward. If that is the
>> case, please say so. CFP for JoPP #14 should go out soon.
>>
>>
>> Personally I've co-edited two of the last four issues (#10 and upcoming
>> #13) and have a lot on my plate in the coming year. I might have issues to
>> explore in JoPP in the future, but not now.
>>
>>
>> cheers,
>>
>> Mathieu
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>> JoPP-Public at lists.ourproject.org
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ***
>>
>> "A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, Where am I? What he
>> really wants to know is, Where are the other places" - Alfred North
>> Whitehead
>>
>> "The greatest effort is not concerned with results" - Atīśa (982-1054;
>> Vajrayana Buddhism, Bengal)
>>
>> Andrew Murphie - Associate Professor
>> School of the Arts and Media,
>> University of New South Wales,
>> Sydney, Australia, 2052
>>
>> Editor - The Fibreculture Journal http://fibreculturejournal.org/>
>> web: http://www.andrewmurphie.org/ <http://dynamicmedianetwork.org/>
>>
>> tlf:612 93855548 fax:612 93856812
>> room 311H, Robert Webster Building
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> ***
>
> "A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, Where am I? What he
> really wants to know is, Where are the other places" - Alfred North
> Whitehead
>
> "The greatest effort is not concerned with results" - Atīśa (982-1054;
> Vajrayana Buddhism, Bengal)
>
> Andrew Murphie - Associate Professor
> School of the Arts and Media,
> University of New South Wales,
> Sydney, Australia, 2052
>
> Editor - The Fibreculture Journal http://fibreculturejournal.org/>
> web: http://www.andrewmurphie.org/ <http://dynamicmedianetwork.org/>
>
> tlf:612 93855548 fax:612 93856812
> room 311H, Robert Webster Building
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> JoPP-Public mailing list
> JoPP-Public at lists.ourproject.org
> https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/jopp-public
>
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