Congoo will offer free online access to selected priced articles
Congoo is a forthcoming search engine that will give registered users free online access to selected toll-access publications. Users will download a 200 KB browser plug-in, register with Congoo, run searches, and find some fee-based content in the hit list. When they click on an item from a willing publisher, Congoo will pass the user’s registration info on to the publisher, and the publisher will give the user free access to full text, at least temporarily. Users get free online access to texts that aren’t ordinarily free, and one-time registration for all publishers that eventually participate. But what’s in it for publishers? Some of their content is more visible to users (the amount, the pieces, and apparently the duration always under publisher control) and they get the contact info for users interested enough to click through. Congoo should launch in January. For more details see the Congoo page for publishers or Anthony Gonsalves’ story in yesterday’s InformationWeek
Comment. It’s not OA, but it’s an interesting new model. I like the theory that greater visibility and impact benefit publishers, not just authors, and might lead them to remove access barriers. I like the way Congoo creates an incentive for publishers to convert enhanced visibility and impact into revenue without returning to access barriers. How many publishers will like it? How many users will be attracted to a search engine that requires downloading a plug-in and can only offer a continually varying random shot at access? Will users find themselves spammed with publisher solicitations to subscribe? We’ll find out. I suspect Congoo will face a chicken-and-egg problem: Publishers may wait until it’s clear that many users are using it, and users may wait until it’s clear that many publishers are participating.
source: Congoo will offer free online access to selected priced articles
