Publication Philosophy
My philosophy regarding document publishing is very different from the conventional copyright model.
I write because I believe I have something worthwhile to say. And I write so that others can read my writing. To this end, I wish to allow free access to my work by anyone, anywhere. I also wish to enable free propagation of my work, by allowing verbatim copying and redistribution.
Copyright vs. copyleft
Copying restrictions, apart from those that maintain the verbatim completeness of the original work, act directly against these purposes.
The current conventions of restrictive copyright are in fundamental conflict with the inherent nature and purpose of writing. They are also in conflict with other poly-existential constructs such as software and music. Such constructs have the inherent potential for unlimited replicability and dissemination, and in the age of the Internet this potential is now fully realized.
The goal of widespread accessibility is vastly better achieved by online web publishing, than by the printing and distribution of a finite number of physical copies. And the goal of propagation is far better achieved by means of copyleft — form of copyright permitting verbatim redistribution — than by the conventional copying prohibitions of copyright. Copyleft web publishing allows instantaneous global access, and unrestricted organic propagation of the author’s original work.
The traditional publishing model, where an author gives up copyright in exchange for dissemination of the work in physical printed form, is now essentially obsolete.
The appearance of work in print form continues to carry a perception of prestige. But as the drawbacks and fundamental irrelevance of this model become increasingly evident, this perception will also become obsolete.
The significant monetary costs of physical publishing and distribution, as opposed to the near-zero cost of copyleft web publishing, will further act to hasten its demise.
By* publication
Virtually all my writing over the past 20 years has been published under copyleft, and is available here on my website for immediate access by anyone. Most of my works carry this explicit notice:
Permission is granted to make and distribute complete (not partial) verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Where absent this is an oversight on my part; my intention is that all my published material is available under these non-restrictive copyleft terms.
All published documents for which I am the principal author are listed in the Primary Author Index.
The totality of my published documents, whether as the principal author or a secondary author, are listed in the Full Index. This index also includes all documents by other authors that I have republished here on my own site.
These two indexes are generated automatically by the Libre Self-Publication facility of this website. The Self-Publication facility is a feature for uniform document management and publishing. Any document placed under Self-Publication management automatically becomes part of the various indexes and bibliographies maintained by this feature.
The Libre Self-Publication facility is a standard feature of the By* services, available to all By* account holders. If you have something worthwhile to say, and wish to have it be widely read, I encourage you to use this feature for your own publishing needs.
