I would argue that currently "academic publishing" is a misnomer. If you write up some work you can easily show it to your colleagues or put it on your blog. Y

I would argue that currently "academic publishing" is a misnomer. If you write up some work you can easily show it to your colleagues or put it on your blog. You can place it on a pre-print server if you are doing science. In my field (design), and the wider humanities, you can also look to Medium.com, theconversation.com, Twitter, a think tank etc. Once your work is formally published you're rights to show it people have gone. It's quite possible that it will reach a much diminished audience. In my institution many people haves published in journals that the university has not purchased access too; on a strict interpretation of the law those people can no longer show their research to the person who sits next to them. "Publishing" can often mean less people seeing it. "Academic validation" or similar would be a more appropriate. The whole thing is a racket. The public sector has a vampire squid sucking the blood out of it; no single institution has sufficient incentive to sort it out.