Open Access Memorial

Open Access Memorial enables people to experience the MIT basement corridors and closet where Aaron Swartz downloaded millions of JSTOR articles, an incident that led to his arrest and later death. However, instead of cables and racks, participants will see a book plinth in the center of the closet, displaying the 2 pages of the Guerilla Open Access Manifesto. This manifesto, written by Swartz in 2008, is a call to action, advocating for open access to academic research, particularly to articles and papers that are often hidden behind expensive paywalls. Swartz believed that the scholarly knowledge should be freely accessible to everyone and not locked behind costly pay-per-article systems.