Topic 5 – Reflection – Nikhil Anand's Blog

There are several advantage and disadvantages to academic content producers and many people took a different approach which interested me this week. Firstly, I must say that since writing this post I came across a barrier to pay for academic content whilst researching for my dissertation. This restriction was frustrating, however, I understood after having researched this topic why there were such cost barriers.

I must say what alarms me are the figures used including by Nicole on the price of books. These figures seem rather extortionate. However, as I mentioned in my comment it brings the notion of Supply and Demand, and in the free market, there is nothing stopping firms. Therefore, this market may be seen as highly inefficient and in some cases require government intervention.

I did not realise to the extent pirating was having an impact on the film industry until pointed out by Joseph. This is also concerning as actors and actresses put hours and effort into their roles to produce a movie and the same way academics focus hours on research. The reward for the content produced should be valued and accredited allowing the individuals to reap the rewards. It is an opportunity cost whether the individual should want to buy the movie or whether they do not.

This is what I have learnt that the idea of open access in both fields is similar but having open access for films and music is not a necessity and it is an opportunity cost the individual has to make for their individual benefit. Whereas academic content is seen as building on knowledge that betters society and the argument is slightly different.

This link found through Kevin’s profile explains Open Access if you are still interested or curious.