Open Access - Brian Murphy

About ten years ago, I published my first peer-reviewed article, “Bomb-proofing the Digital Images,” in Media-N, the open-source journal of the New Media Caucus. Last year, I co-edited a special issue of that journal, with the theme “Afterlives of Data,” which brought together contributors–both scholars and artists–from across North America, and it was a wonderful full-circle moment.

One of the great things about publishing in an open-source format was that the work of these amazing contributors was immediately accessible to anyone with an internet connection, which was especially important in this case, because the work addressed very current topics in a landscape that is constantly shifting: blockchain and NFTs, resistance to state surveillance under racial capitalism, speculation and investment in off-world mining at the expense of climate action on earth, and the creative/destructive possibilities of the metaverse. The articles could easily travel far and wide, intersecting with and contributing to ongoing scholarly and artistic conversations that move with the blazing pace of social media, without the lag of paywalls and permissions.

Brian Murphy
Associate Professor of American Studies

For more information about Brian’s work, visit: https://american-studies.williams.edu/profile/bm25/

This story is published in celebration of International Open Access Week 2024. If you want to chat about OA and the library, reach out to your librarian liaison.

To read the complete set of the Open Access 2024 series, visit: https://library.williams.edu/category/openaccess/