Filming the Open Access Research series
There’s no doubt that publishing Open Access – that is, making an article, chapter, or monograph freely available from the publisher in a digital edition – is increasingly common. In fact, for many academics it now represents the “norm”. It’s also a fact that publishing Open Access is easier than ever thanks to the number of options available to researchers at no cost to themselves. One of these options is the University’s dedicated Open Access Fund, which to date has supported the Open Access publication of:
- 120 articles
- 21 monographs
- 7 book chapters
- 4 edited collections
Working with the authors of these outputs, the Open Access team wanted to help promote the breadth of Essex research, highlight the range of opportunities Open Access publication brings, and share the experiences of authors who had pursued them. So, why not film these authors discussing their work? We turned to the experts at the Media Centre.
Following an initial discussion and the successful submission of a briefing form, the team was delighted to learn that our proposed video series would be created with the talents of the University of Essex’s videographers.
Once we were allotted our first two days at the Media Centre, we had to schedule our interviewees. Filming starts at 10am and everyone is given an hour slot. Although filming a short segment such as we had planned rarely takes longer than 30 minutes, everyone gets a full hour so that they have plenty of time to ensure there’s less pressure to get it right first time, and to allow breathing space and time for re-takes.
Eight academics, each of whom had recently published an Open Access article, book chapter, or monograph were available on our chosen days and kindly agreed to take part. They each got four unique discussion points in advance to give them time to prepare for the challenge of answering each, including summarising their complex work, in as little as 30 seconds.
Meanwhile videographers Anna and Connor had prepared their approach: interviews would be captured on two cameras, one fixed and alternating between medium and close framing of the subject, the other attached to a harness, worn by Anna, as she moved around the studio filming from a variety of angles.
Being in the studio was quite the experience. It was endlessly fascinating to see the equipment and the skills of the team at work, to witness the care and precision with which they approach every aspect, and the creativity behind it all. And yes, we got to see those familiar studio items that we all recognise and yet which in person became excitingly vivid details: a clapper board; tape on the floor for people to hit their mark; banks of bright lights; and an actual green screen.
Not that any of this phased our interviewees, who eloquently discussed their work and Open Access. Subjects ranged from arbitrary detention to space pollution, inequalities and discrimination in organisations to childhood learning, and much more.
A third day’s filming in late June captured four more accounts of important new Essex research, this time on probability, the precarity of working in the arts, and the power and potential of virtual grazing technology.
These videos represent just a small part of the incredible depth and breadth of Essex research – we hope to record more later in the year – but even so they cover an astonishing range of disciplines and approaches. Yet one theme was constant throughout: the desire for knowledge and research to be available as widely as possible. While a big part of this is reaching readers beyond academia, including the general public, practitioners, and policymakers, in many cases it can also mean making these studies freely available to those already in academia: those scholars, students, and institutions otherwise unable to pay the high cost of print editions, ebook licences, and journal subscriptions.
Open Access means equality of access, something you’ll hear our interviewees reference many times. One very significant group that almost always misses out without Open Access are the subjects of research, whether as in these examples, farmers, families, NGOs, or the practitioners working in the field. While not all will, Open Access gives these people the opportunity to explore works derived from, and relevant to, their experiences.
Enjoy the clips, and don’t forget that if you want to learn more the full articles, chapters, and monographs are all available to read and download free of charge. We have created a playlist for all the clips, or scroll down for the individual links.
No-one can describe a work the way its author can, so we are extremely grateful to all our participants for summarising their complex research, for sharing their motivations to publish Open Access, and for highlighting the resulting benefits and responses. Special thanks to the Videographer team: Anna, Sarah, Jake, and Connor.
If you would like to take part in the Essex Open Access Research series, please email the team at oapublish@essex.ac.uk
The University of Essex Open Access Fund remains in place to help Essex academics publish Open Access editions of articles, monographs, and chapters. If you want to know whether the fund can support your work, please just ask us by completing the relevant form:
A range of other options for Open Access publication are also available to our authors. This includes publishing an article in a journal covered by one of our Read & Publish agreements as well as following a no-cost route to Open Access by publishing with a diamond Open Access publisher, or opting for self-archiving. Find out more about all available routes to open access via our Open Access Publishing Guide, and get in touch via oapublish@essex.ac.uk with any questions.
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