With All Thy Getting [Acquired Wisdom Essay]

Abstract

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. 

—Proverbs, iv, 7

This litany of moments represents some part of my getting, in which, like seeing a child figure out how to put a tricky bit of Lego together, it is tempting to imagine that experience’s acquired debts might pass as wisdom.

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To show you how doggedness might count as experience’s acquired debt in the getting of wisdom, let me conclude by asking you a few questions about your work. My goal is to contribute, or rather, to help you contribute to the circulation of your and others’ work, if only over the long term. My assumption is that, in addition to self-promotion, we are here as educators to improve knowledge’s public standing.

1. Have you been frustrated by the confusing state and slow progress of open access to research, while being fed up with publishers’ excessive Article Processing Charges (APCs) to open your work?

2. Are you encountering relevant articles for your research that appear in journals with which you’re not familiar, leaving you unsure of whether to cite them?

3. Does your scholarly society publish with (or are you an editor for) a large commercial publisher that concerns you over its lack of open access, high APCs, or pressure for quantity over quality?