Via: OnlineEducation.net
SEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA by Dra. Gladys M. González Martínez
This article by Dra. González (page 103) is excellent. Although she speaks in general terms about food security, she provides a detailed analysis of the situation in Puerto Rico. For years I have heard that we import around 85% of our food from outside the island, but I had never seen an official statement. Dra. González provides it in this paper along with other critically important data about our agriculture and food security.
1. Usually, the Federal government (e.g., NSF, NASA, NIH, etc.) pay for the research.
2. The University pays the salary of the researcher who writes the paper.
3. The researcher submits the paper to the publishing company and the Science Editor (usually a volunteer) finds reviewers (volunteers) to review the paper.
4. The Researcher pays the publishing company to publish his or her paper.
5. The University pays the publishing company for a subscription to access the journal article.
6. The taxpayers that paid for the research cannot access the journal article without paying for an expensive subscription.
Does something appear to be wrong with this picture? Why do we need the publishing company?? Other than the production of hardcopy books, they really are not necessary. And the Direct Publishing/Print on Demand movement has shown that it is possible to publish hard copy documents and make them available to a mass market.
The following links provide detailed information related to the problems with the old publishing model and ideas for moving toward more open access.
This issue is near and dear to my heart. I live in the Llanos Tuna area of Cabo Rojo where we do not get Choice or PRT (Claro) internet. We use HughesNet, a satellite-based internet service, but it does not meet our needs, and is too expensive. We have tried various cell phone-based approaches (Open-Mobile, Claro, Centenial) but we do not get good reception. Not only that, the cell-phone approaches are slow and do not provide unlimited data downloading, as do Choice and PRT. HughesNet allows us only 425 Mbytes per day, which we exceed frequently. Downloading movies is out of the question. If we exceed the amount then we are basically shut down for 24 hours!! We do get some restore tokens each month, but if we use them up we have to pay $7 for additional restore tokens. Every night before I go to bed I pray that someone will bring decent internet to my neighborhood. I will now focus my prayers on the success of the Puerto Rico’s Broadband Strategic Plan. 🙂
Do you think it is a good plan?
Common bean production in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico
El Frente de Rescate Agrícola ha elaborado un Boletín Informativo para continuar la difusión masiva y educación ciudadana en relación a la seguridad alimentaria, la pérdida acelerada de terrenos agrícolas y los efectos adversos de la construcción e instalación del parque industrial de 44 molinos de viento en el municipio de Santa Isabel. Exhortamos a darle [mas]
PRAGWATER 