Misers or Sharers? by Louise Szente

Misers or Sharers?
by Louise Szente

Oh the woes of the student. Where to get information? How much must we pay for information? Do we actually study? Can we afford to study? What is this thing called Intellectual Property? Do we have to pay that much for information? Do these people not realise that they are going to die one day and that the world actually belongs to the youth?

Oh I do understand that fiction authors surely must earn a large part of their wages from the product of their imagination, so let them be paid for it!! For goodness sake surely it is more difficult to produce a work to the magnitude of Judith Krantz's I'll take Manhattan or the volumes of Stephen King and Wilbur Smith. These people actually earn their daily bread from their imagination. On the other hand, what academic actually earns their living from the textbooks they write?

Understandably the publisher also has to make a living, not just a living but show a profit as well. I do not begrudge them that profit. But listen to this, the biggest producer/publishers of academic textbooks come from the USA. All countries import vast numbers of books from the USA. They have offices all over the world. All intellectual property fees collected leaves the country and is exported to the USA. Here you must take in consideration the rates of exchange. Is not enough fiction generated to carry the costs of academic books? Why is it that an academic textbook is so much more expensive than a work of fiction? Not to talk about the price of magazines!!! They are becoming so expensive, nobody can buy it anymore and have I not been seeing articles lately where scientists refuse to publish their articles in journals that do not allow free copying. At least the scientist is prepared to share their knowledge even if it is just for the benefit of eliciting a discussion by their peers or testing the reaction of their peers.

All the authors are actually working as academics with a credo to educate. It is their job to pass along information. Their various institutions actually pay them, to pass along their knowledge to their students. Is it then fair for them to exploit those students that are not resident in the institutions where they work? Is it more important for them to earn money from their intellect than to educate the uninformed?

Oh, I would have been the first person to say, "Pay these authors, it is the only way that we can gain knowledge!!!" if I did not know that they are actually earning a good salary educating. However, they are so miserly that they would rather see somebody remain uneducated, unprepared to take over when they are no longer there, rather than allow them free access to information. I am not asking for access to privileged information, I am not asking for access to trade secrets. I am not asking for access to the personal information of people. I have no intention of copying a Picasso and claiming it as an original. I do not want to know what the formula is of the Coke syrup. I am asking for information that will assist me in obtaining my qualification without placing an additional burden on my pocket, my countries finances my parents.

Is money so important to these misers that they would rather forsake their reputation to earn it? Do they not realise that by allowing people free access to the information contained in their books they build up a reputation as an expert in their field? Any person in their right minds would see an opportunity to make money in this. Why, if people realise that you are an expert they would contract you for seminars. Just think of the money to be made there!!! Other institutions might realise the authors worth and offer him a better position paying better of course than what they are earning. Surely this should be a consideration? Why then, in the light of the aforementioned, not allow free access to information or is it the publishers that are exploiting the thirst to knowledge?

In a country where so many people remained behind, not getting a decent education, semi-illiterate it is such a sin to have to pay for information, which by right should form part of the curriculum. Is it a strategy by academics to keep Africa uninformed, to maintain the label "Darkest Africa"? Could that not be one of the reasons why the Africans are so antagonistic towards first world countries? Oh, we do enjoy a good fiction story, we pay for it. We pay for the movies we watch. We pay for the music we listen to. We do not begrudge the artist the money they earn. We actually pay a lot of money to enter an institution of learning. Why then do we still have to pay for the privilege of getting information? The people that write the textbooks were students as well. They transgressed the laws of their countries countless times by copying illegally. Now that they are in the driving seat they seem to take their own illegal experiences as an example and then insist that nobody will do to them what they did to others.

The drive now to limit access to information on the Internet is a further example of the way the experts are trying to limit the number of people that would be qualified enough to sit in seats of power eventually. The Internet created a global village. Big deal, a global village based on your economic situation with the people sorted into good and not good enough. Not good enough will be dependant on the size of your purse, not your ability to become an asset to mankind.

Give us information, enlighten us, and educate us for we are the future leaders of this world. Accept the fact that we are not fools, that we understand that one has to pay your way in life and that we do and in future will pay for our leisure however, allow us the same privileges that you had. Allow us to study and become the kind of citizen of the world that they would be proud of.

Woe is the life of the modern day student living in "Darkest Africa" for obviously we are still being kept in the slave quarters of the world. Harsh words? My friends try and live in a society where such Acts as the Intellectual Property Acts of the world impedes your advancement in life.