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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

October 17, 2013

Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Kevlahan (McMaster University, Department of Mathematics)

Title: The Cost of Knowledge Boycott and the Future of Academic Publishing

Abstract: On January 21, 2012 the mathematician Tim Gowers declared publicly on his blog that he would "refuse to have anything to do with Elsevier journals" as a protest against their business practices. This led to the Cost of Knowledge boycott, which eventually attracted over 12,000 supporters. Although the number of supporters is relatively modest, the boycott has already forced changes in the policies of Elsevier (and Springer) with respect to mathematics publishing and intellectual property. More importantly, it has catalyzed a radical change in the attitudes of funding agencies in Europe to how the research they fund is published. In this talk I will review the boycott and its effects and why the interests of academics are not well served by the business model of commercial publishers. I will end by outlining new digital models for academic communication that are currently being explored.