AKMA on the SBLSP clause

It's good to see AKMA coming on board with the concerns expressed in various blogs over the "hands off" clause ("Because these papers represent works in progress, they should not be quoted or otherwise cited without permission from the author") in the new on-line version of the SBL Seminar Papers:

Matter of Principle

But more important, the whole issue points to the extent to which this constituency of academia has yet to come to terms with the changes — and especially the opportunities — that online publication entails. Trevor and I have been knocking ourselves out, trying to find people who were willing to publish their work online at all. We’ve encountered all varieties of resistance, to what will be a matter of uninteresting fact in a few years. Rather than seeing the positive implications for disseminating scholarly debate over biblical topics, the guild responded with fear and with futile clutching after an illusory control.