We have never done it that way before : an interview with Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Abstract

We are entrenched in systems that no longer serve our needs,” Kathleen Fitzpatrick writes in Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy (New York University Press, 2011). In her study, Fitzpatrick scrutinizes specific points in the network of research production, evaluation, preservation, and circulation – from notions of authorship and the traditional peer review process to the role of the university press and library. Acknowledging the “wholly unsustainable economic model” under which scholarly publishing operates, she sets her focus on “the technological changes that many believe are necessary to allow academic publishing to flourish into the future,” while addressing in each scenario “the social, intellectual, and institutional changes that are necessary to pave the way for such flourishing.” In the following dialogue, Kathleen and I discuss institutional obsolescence, the publics and the production of her more recent work, and the future of scholarly communications.This exchange was conducted via email between New York and Montreal.