92: Chapter 12: Open Access Movement 92: Chapter 12: Open Access Movement “Yawgmoth Voigt.” After making a phone call, Secretary Hu looked at the information transmitted to her phone and frowned slightly, “This is a troublesome character.”

“Troublesome character…” Xiang Shan was puzzled, “What do you mean by troublesome?”

Secretary Hu nodded, “Well…

considering you might have to be in contact with Mr.

Voigt for a long time, I might as well tell you now—Yawgmoth Voigt is a supporter of the ‘Open Access Movement’…”

“Oh!” Xiang Shan suddenly clapped his hands, “I have some impression.

Professor Yawgmoth…

looks a bit younger than I imagined.”

Secretary Hu was surprised, with a hint of wariness she asked, “You know this person?”

“I’ve seen the name,” Xiang Shan said, “I came across related content in the open access literature database.”

Secretary Hu nodded but was still somewhat puzzled, “This guy is an expert in the field of genetics.

That’s quite unrelated to you, isn’t it?”

“I came across this name when I glanced over it, I had a bit of an impression.

Plus, my mentor is involved with interdisciplinary projects with biology, so I go to the biological literature databases to look for information.” Xiang Shan was embarrassed to admit that he was struck by the name because it was the same as a boss character he had played against in a game.

Secretary Hu nodded, “That makes sense.

This guy is really quite something, he got his PhD and a teaching position in his early twenties, a well-known figure in proteomics.

From a professional standpoint, he is really the most suitable scholar to come here.

The Federation’s tech department recommended him because of it.”

“However, it was only when NSA brought him here that the FBI submitted an urgent report, stating they had long suspected Professor Yawgmoth Voigt to be an extreme supporter of the Open Access Movement…”

Xiang Shan was puzzled, “The Open Access Movement is a good thing, right?”

The Open Access Movement was an initiative that started in the early 90s by the academic community in Europe and America, aiming to free science from the control of copyrights and publishers.

As is well known, to evaluate whether a paper is “good or not” basically depends on the “impact factor”.

To discuss impact factor, one must first mention SCI (Science Citation Index).

SCI is currently a relatively objective, fair, and authoritative method of citation indexing that can be used to evaluate the academic value of papers or journals.

If evaluating an individual paper, one looks at how many times the paper is cited.

For evaluating a journal, one calculates the total number of times the articles published by that journal during the prior two years were cited in the given year (C), and the total number of published articles over the past two years (P), then the impact factor IF=C/P.

The larger the impact factor, the higher the value of the journal.

But the problem is, although these two methods can be described as “objective,” this “objective standard” itself is in favor of the journal’s publisher.

It is essentially a crude advertisement.

Even this “evaluation system” itself is included in a company’s “intellectual property” and “business.”

The academic community has been in search of a more powerful and fairer evaluation system.

In the eyes of scholars like Xiang Shan, this can be said to be a great attempt.

“The problem is not here,” Secretary Hu shook her head, “FBI accuses him of having connections with hacker organizations and suspects him of stealing paid content from university databases without permission and uploading it to the internet—though they have no evidence yet.”

“Wow, hitting the rich and distributing papers, a righteous warrior…

Ah no, a revolutionary,” Xiang Shan nodded appreciatively, “Impressive.”

Secretary Hu was quite cautious, “Comrade Xiang, your words…”

“Don’t worry, I am just praising the deed, I wouldn’t do it myself.” Xiang Shan spread his hands, “I’m not a fool.

Only with peace, there can be development.”

“These extremists claim to be the ‘guerrilla team of the digital age,’ sowing chaos wherever they can,” Secretary Hu said solemnly.

“Speaking of which, why would the Federation still send him over?” Xiang Shan was puzzled, “If he really is an extremist, he might turn around and upload the secrets of this park onto the internet, letting the whole world know.”

“The FBI had only listed him as a suspect before,” Secretary Hu replied, “They hadn’t reported it yet when he was brought over.

In any case, this person is also a leader of campus opinion, said to have ties with environmental organizations, a destabilizing element.”

Xiang Shan nodded, “I was wondering why he was so aggressive; since I was writing and drawing outside, it didn’t look like I was recording inspirations, so he mistook me for a spy or something.

Such a person would surely hate the act of ‘monopolizing information,’ which is why he couldn’t help but throw a couple of jabs.”

With this in mind, the slight annoyance in Xiang Shan’s heart also disappeared.

After all, he hadn’t suffered any actual loss, and it even led the other party to misunderstand his identity, playing a not too large nor too small joke on him.

“Sigh.

We really do have to value the caliber of Professor Voigt.

But we can’t completely agree with his actions,” Secretary Hu said with a hint of regret.

Secretary Hu once again instructed Xiang Shan on a few things about “discipline” before rushing off.

It seemed that government work was indeed plentiful at the moment.

Only scholars seemed to have some leisure.

Xiang Shan turned on the air conditioner in his room for a while and read a book.

Realizing it was time for dinner, he got up and headed to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was also a newly constructed building, the building modules were all shipped directly from overseas and assembled within a single day.

The food provided by the Federation military consisted of roast chicken, steaks, mashed potatoes, bean soup, noodles, fries, jelly, and there was a 24-hour supply of coffee, juice, and bread.

The taste of these items was nothing to write home about, but thanks to the powerful food industry of the Federation, the quality of the ingredients was decent, and the cooking tried to cater to the “popular taste.” Even if it wasn’t to one’s liking, it was hardly repulsive.

Xiang Shan got some mashed potatoes and bread, adding a bit of chicken and beef to his plate.

Since the cafeteria was temporarily set up, there were not many seats available.

Plus, it was peak time now, so Xiang Shan carried his tray around for a while, surprisingly unable to find a seat.

“Xiang, over here!” A familiar voice called out.

Xiang Shan looked up to see Liu waving at him.

He approached and saw that Liu, Professor Zhang, and Professor Jing were all sitting together having their meal.

Liu and Jing Hongtu were sitting side by side, while Professor Zhang sat opposite Liu.

Xiang Shan quickly took a seat opposite Jing Hongtu.

Professor Zhang shook his head with a smile, “I told you not to invite him.

Young people don’t like to have meals with us old men.

They feel constrained sitting here.”

“Come on, I know my student well.

One and all, they have no respect for their elders,” Liu looked at his proud protégé and said, “Right, Xiang?”

Xiang Shan modestly replied, “I love my teacher, but I love truth more.”

“Hahaha,” Liu laughed, “Just like that.

If you give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.

Do you think he’d feel constrained?

As long as you don’t have control over his salary or funding, he won’t give you the time of day.”

After exchanging a few jokes with Professor Zhang, Liu turned to Xiang Shan, “Speaking of which, Xiang, this is your first time in the tropics, right?

How are you adjusting?”

“It’s very hot, constantly feeling like I’m about to suffer a heatstroke,” Xiang Shan shook his head, “The furthest south I’ve been is Jingchu…

Oh, I went to Mountain City with my family when I was young.

But it was never this hot, and I’ve hardly got any appetite.”

Professor Jing nodded, “Yes, when it’s hot, you need strong-flavored dishes to stimulate the appetite.

If it’s not tangy or spicy, it’s hard to get interested in eating.

The cuisine here in Southeast Asia is very rich in spices.

Seems like the Federation chefs didn’t think about that.”

Xiang Shan scooped some mashed potato with his spoon, “The pepper taste in this mashed potato is okay.

I heard that on the Federation warships they provide ice cream…”

“Not right now, maybe in the future.”

Liu and Professor Zhang were not feeling very well due to the unfamiliar climate and didn’t take much food.

By the time Xiang Shan arrived, they had almost finished eating.

The two “prime-age” professors stood up, saying, “Professor Jing, please enjoy your meal.

We’re going to take a walk outside.

Xiang, you too, eat up if you have an appetite, be prepared for a long resistance.”

After the two professors left, Xiang Shan discreetly moved a little to the side.

He had a good relationship with Liu and had met Professor Zhang a few times, but he had only exchanged a few words with the academician Jing Hongtu.

With such an elder nearby, he couldn’t be too casual.

Jing Hongtu, holding a fry, asked, “I heard there was some friction between you and the scholars from the Federation.”

Upon hearing this, Xiang Shan put down his fork and smiled, “You are well-informed, sir.

But I must clarify that it wasn’t me who had the friction but our friend from the Federation who misunderstood my little hobby.”

Xiang Shan couldn’t help but admire Jing Hongtu’s connections and influence.

The conversation between him and Yawgmoth was probably only known to a few people like Officer Hu, yet it had reached Jing Hongtu.

However, Xiang Shan felt it was important to clarify the misunderstanding, because they were all going to be colleagues in the future, and it wouldn’t be good to leave an impression of being a troublemaker.

After hearing Xiang Shan’s explanation, Jing Hongtu nodded slightly, “Oh, writing science fiction…

That’s a good hobby.”

Xiang Shan grinned, “I thought you might think I am shirking my duties.

Although Teacher Liu doesn’t say it, deep down, he doesn’t approve.”

“Haha.” Jing Hongtu swallowed the fry he was holding, “When I was young, I actually wanted to be a science fiction writer myself.

Have you heard of ‘Little Smart Roams the Future’?

It was really popular when I was in elementary school.

I must have been among its first readers.”

‘Little Smart Roams the Future’, a children’s science fiction novel created by the famous novelist, reportage writer, and science educator Ye Yonglie in the Republic in 1978, tells the story of a teenage reporter who accidentally travels to the future.

Xiang Shan’s eyes lit up, “Although I’ve heard of it, I’ve not had the honor of reading it…”

“To your generation, it might not seem very interesting,” Jing Hongtu said, “But to me back in elementary school, it truly opened a door.”

Xiang Shan inquired further, “You said you wanted to write novels; have you ever published any works?”

Jing Hongtu shook his head regretfully, “My family wouldn’t allow it.”