Modern democracy means accessing databases, the Internet? [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: New Report-Health of Democracy Tied to Access to Online Info
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:03:34 -0400
From: Natalia Kennedy <natalia.kennedy () nyu edu>
To: <declan () well com>

Contact:
Natalia Kennedy, (212) 998-6736


HEALTH OF U.S. DEMOCRACY TIED TO NEW MODEL
FOR PUBLIC ACCESS TO ONLINE INFORMATION

Report on "Information Commons" Released
By Free Expression Policy Project


New York, NY - Today, the Free Expression Policy Project released The
Information Commons, a groundbreaking report to link the vitality of 21st
century democracy to the creation of online communities dedicated to
producing and sharing information.  Nancy Kranich, a former president of 
the
American Library Association, is the report's author.

The Information Commons begins: "For democracy to flourish, citizens need
free and open access to information.  In today's digital age, this means
access to information online."  The information commons movement promoted
by the report recognizes that public access to online information is being
damaged by a combination of restrictive technology, unbalanced changes to
intellectual property law, onerous licenses, and media industry 
consolidation.
Essential ingredients for a healthy democracy - political discourse, free
speech, civic participation, and creativity - all suffer as a result.

According to Ms. Kranich's report, these threats to democracy can be
remedied, or at least dampened, by adopting the emerging concept of the
information commons.  As illustrated by these examples (there are dozens
more in the report), the information commons provides a model for treating
information as a shared resource, thereby spurring political discourse,
stimulating innovation, and fostering creativity:

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).  In
response to annual subscription prices for scholarly journals that can
approach $20,000 - forcing some research libraries to discontinue many of
their journals - the academic community sought to reclaim control of its
research and scholarship.  SPARC, a leading information commons created for
this purpose, is a six-year old alliance of universities and research 
libraries
comprised of 300 member institutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and
Australia.  SPARC uses a networked digital environment to develop
alternatives to high-priced journals and to educate scholars about new
publishing possibilities.  (www.arl.org/sparc)


The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit scientific publishing
initiative dedicated to the belief that the "immediate, unrestricted 
access to
scientific ideas, methods, results, and conclusions will speed the 
progress of
science and medicine."  Costs are covered by a $1,500 author charge and
funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.  Nobel Laureate Harold
Varmus with his colleagues Michael Eisen and Pat Brown developed this
information commons.  (www..plos.org)

The Internet Archive/International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) 
works with
the publishing community to provide a free online collection of 
international
literature for children.  The library's primary purpose is to provide 
access to
literature that helps children understand the global society in which they
live.  Representatives from national libraries select materials from their
respective countries.  Publishers must abide by the rules of the 
information
commons in order to provide books to the collection.  (www.icdlbooks.org)

Project Vote Smart is a citizens' organization that provides unbiased,
nonpartisan, and comprehensive voter information, including profiles of
elected officials and candidates and status reports on major legislation.
(www.vote-smart.org)

DSpace is a groundbreaking digital library system created to capture, 
store,
index, reserve, and redistribute the intellectual output of a major 
university.
DSpace provides articles, data sets, images, and audio and video by MIT
professors, as well as an open source software platform that allows other
universities to adopt the open access model.  (www.dspace.org)

The OYEZ Supreme Court Multimedia Archives converts audio recordings of
Supreme Court hearings to MP3 format, permitting offline listening and 
sharing
through the same software used to swap music and movies.  The information
commons is based at Northwestern University.  (www.oyez.org/oyez)

Berklee Shares, at the Berklee College of Music, offers online lessons for
downloading and sharing.  Topics include composing, producing, engineering,
remixing, and performing.  Musicians are encouraged to swap audio and video
clips of course material over peer-to-peer networks.
(www.berkleeshares.com)

The Allen Brain Atlas Project was created by Microsoft co-founder Paul 
Allen
for the purpose of illustrating the anatomy of the brain.  The open access
information commons will overlay structural imagery of the brain with 
details
about the locations and functions of active genes.  (www.brainatlas.org)

The Information Commons provides recommendations for building on these
examples and for expanding this new movement.  The report's central
recommendations  focus on legislative advocacy, coalition building, and
practical actions for expanding of information commons.

For example, The Information Commons urges support for legislation that
ensures public access to public research, and opposes new copyright laws
and regulations that limit the public's access rights.  With respect to 
private
action, the report recommends: publication in open access publications;
agreement only to licenses and contracts that allow open access and
guarantee user rights such as fair use, and "first sale" sharing of 
copyrighted
works; and encouragement of peer production of information.

The Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP) was started four years ago to
provide research and analysis on difficult issues of censorship, democracy,
and access to ideas.  Earlier this year, FEPP merged with the Brennan 
Center
for Justice at NYU School of Law.

To obtain copies of the report, or to speak with Marjorie Heins, the 
head of
the Free Expression Policy Project, or Nancy Kranich, the report's author,
please call Natalia Kennedy at (212) 998-6736.  To read The Information
Commons online, go to:
www.fepproject.org/policyreports/InformationCommons.pdf or
www.fepproject.org/policyreports/infocommons.contentsexsum.html. For a
printed copy, email Mary Lapas, mary.lapas () nyu edu.

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