Empowering Humanities: Open Access and Engaging the Public in a Visual Society

Publishers’ responsibility to society throughout history has been to provide straightforward, meaningful, and direct communication of scientific research with the interested public.

The accessibility of research is exceptionally important in the humanities, as it promotes widespread knowledge and understanding of diverse perspectives, cultures, and histories. It enables informed discussions and critical thinking and fosters a more inclusive and informed society.

Open-access publications make research findings available to a larger number of users than the scholarly community and may lead to the democratization of knowledge, the idea of making knowledge accessible and available to a wider audience. With the abundance of information available through democratization, navigating and filtering through the vast amount of content is necessary to identify reliable and relevant information. This can result in information overload, making it difficult to discern accurate knowledge from inaccurate or irrelevant information. And we come back to the fact that a plethora of information does not create knowledge.

Contemporary society is often considered to be more visual than before, primarily due to the widespread availability and accessibility of visual media and technology. The rise of digital media, including social media, online videos, and online communication in general, has greatly increased the production and consumption of visual content, leading to visual saturation in everyday life. The ability to interpret and understand visual information has become increasingly important in today's society. Visual literacy, the ability to critically analyze and interpret visual media, is considered a valuable skill today. Learning from the past, images have been used as a tool for propaganda, promoting specific ideologies, or influencing public opinion. Throughout history, rulers, governments, and religious institutions have commissioned artwork to promote their beliefs, values, or agendas. For example, different religious systems commissioned artwork to convey the teachings and promote their authority and influence to an audience that was not familiar with the written word. Isn't it time that the scholars used the same proven methods to engage larger groups? Publishers may be good mediators for empowering society with knowledge.