the generic open access university – a viral model

Open access is often discussed as a choice between publishing routes or as a technical problem of repository management. This paper proposes a wider institutional model. The university can be understood as a knowledge node organised around an open access repository containing digital and analogue resources. Networks of scholars, online learning, libraries, museums and archives, and face-to-face interaction translate those resources into usable knowledge. Through these intermediary structures, the university serves learners, the public sector, civil society and business. The argument is that openness corresponds closely to academic motivation: scholarship gains value through circulation, scrutiny and reuse, and citation records the extent of that circulation. The model also anticipates two strategic questions for repositories: the appropriate balance between institutional and national infrastructures, and the long-term curation of research data. Open access must nevertheless demonstrate effects beyond the academy. Claims about social and economic benefit require credible evidence, especially under conditions of financial constraint. Commercial publishing need not disappear; it may shift towards specialised services that add value around openly available content. The generic open access university is therefore neither a closed institution nor a single repository. It is a connected, reproducible and adaptable arrangement for making knowledge public.