OPEN ACCESS AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN IN DIGITAL DATA AND INFORMATION FOR SCIENCE
PROCEEDINGS OF AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
Julie M. Esanu and Paul F. Uhlir, Editors
U.S. National Committee for CODATA
Board on International Scientific Organizations
Policy and Global Affairs Division
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Support for this project was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (under Grant No. 02-74944-000-GEN) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service (under an unnumbered purchase order). Additional support was provided by the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, the International Council for Science, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Preface
Data and information produced by government-funded, public-interest science is a global public good caught between two different trends. On the one hand, the Internet provides valuable new opportunities for overcoming geographic limitations and the promise of unprecedented open access to public information for research on a global basis. The synergistic aspects of the availability and access to such information result in a broad range of positive externalities and network effects that increase exponentially with the addition of new Internet users. On the other hand, there are growing restrictions on the availability and use of public data and information arising from the privatization and commercialization of such sources. This countervailing trend undermines the traditional scientific cooperative and sharing ethos. It diminishes the public domain and open access to such global public goods and leads to a host of lost opportunity costs at both the national and international levels.
While there has been a great deal of focus on new commercial opportunities with digital information and on increased intellectual property rights, comparatively little attention has been devoted to the importance of maintaining open access to the source of upstream scientific—and other—data and information produced in the public domain for the benefit of all downstream users, or to the imperative to balance the public and private interests. The question is how to preserve and promote access to and sharing of such public scientific resources without unduly restricting new opportunities for commerce or the rights of authors. Conversely, how should commercial activities in the private sector be promoted without significantly compromising the availability of data and information in the public domain or through open access for global public good purposes?
The recent pressures on both public-domain and open-access information—scientific and otherwise—have resulted from a variety of legal, economic, and technological factors. New and revised laws have broadened, deepened, and lengthened the scope of intellectual property and neighboring rights in data and information, substantially redefining and limiting the public domain. National security concerns also are constraining the scope of government data and information that can be made publicly available. Economic pressures on both government and university producers of data and information similarly have narrowed the scope of such information placed in the public domain, with resulting access and use restrictions on resources that were previously openly available to researchers, educators, and others. Advances in digital rights management technologies for enforcing proprietary rights in various information products are posing some of the greatest potential restrictions on the public domain and open access to data and information.
Nevertheless, some well-established mechanisms for preserving public-domain or open-access data and information—such as public archives and data centers, together with ever-increasing numbers of open Web sites—exist
in the government, academic, and not-for-profit sectors. Very innovative institutional and legal models for making available digital scientific data and information resources in the public domain or through open-access provisions are now being developed by different groups in the scientific, library, and legal communities in many countries.
To address these issues the International Council for Science (ICSU), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the U.S. National Academies, the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), and the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) jointly organized a major international symposium on “Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science.” This symposium, which was held on March 10-11, 2003, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, brought together policy experts and managers from the government and academic sectors in both developed and developing countries to (1) describe the role, value, and limits that the public domain and open access to digital data and information have in the context of international research; (2) identify and analyze the various legal, economic, and technological pressures on the public domain in digital data and information, and their potential effects on international research; and (3) review the existing and proposed approaches for preserving and promoting the public domain and open access to scientific and technical data and information on a global basis, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries.
The symposium, along with the Workshop on Science in the Information Society, which was organized by ICSU, CODATA, and UNESCO and held on March 12, 2003, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris,1 also helped to identify and analyze important issues for follow up by the ICSU family of organizations. The results of this subsequent workshop were summarized by ICSU and used to provide scientific community input for the development of a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society.
The symposium was organized into six sessions, each introduced by a moderator and then followed by several invited presentations. The first session focused on the legal, economic, and technological framework for open access and public domain in digital data and information for science. The following sessions explored the opportunities and challenges of open-access and public-domain scientific information in developing countries in the areas of data and information in the public health and environmental sectors, the basic sciences, and higher education. The summary concluded with a discussion of innovative models for public-domain production of open access to scientific and technical data and information, with a focus on examples of new initiatives for promoting open access in developing countries.
Different aspects of the issues discussed in this symposium have already been addressed in some detail in several reports published by the National Academies.2 More specifically, the Office of International Scientific and Technical Information Programs (ISTIP) recently convened a “Symposium on the Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain.”3 The March symposium built on the results of the ISTIP symposium.
The results from these studies and activities provided a solid foundation for holding in-depth discussions of the issues relating to public domain and open access in digital data and information produced or used by public interest science. Although these previous works addressed various aspects of these issues in detail, none provided an international focus and forum at which representatives of public and private interest groups and experts could discuss them in a public venue. Over 150 experts attended the meeting (see the list of participants in Appendix C).
This publication presents the proceedings at the symposium. The speakers’ remarks were taped and transcribed, and in most cases subsequently edited; however, in several instances the speakers opted to provide a formal paper. The statements made in these proceedings are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the positions of the steering committee or the National Academies.
1 |
For additional information on the “Workshop on Science and the Information Society,” as well as ICSU’s Declaration of Principles and the Agenda for Action, see http://www.icsu.org/. |
2 |
See, for example, National Research Council (NRC). 1997. Bits of Power: Issues in Global Access to Scientific Data, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.; NRC. 1999. A Question of Balance: Private Rights and the Public Interest in Scientific and Technical Databases, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.; NRC. 2000. The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property Rights in the Information Age, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.; and NRC. 2002. Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. |
3 |
NRC. 2003. The Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. |
Acknowledgments
The U.S. National Committee for CODATA and the Board on International Scientific Organizations of the National Research Council of the National Academies wish to express their sincere thanks to the many individuals who played significant roles in planning the International Symposium on Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science. The Symposium Planning Committee was chaired by M. G. K. Menon of LEAD India. Additional members of the Steering Committee were Carlos Correa, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dialo Diop, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal; Farouk El-Baz, Boston University, United States; Dominique Foray, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France; Alexei Gvishiani, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia; Elizabeth Longworth, Industry New Zealand, New Zealand; Lulama Makhubela, South African National Research Foundation, South Africa; Erik Sandewall, Linköping University, Sweden; Mary Waltham, Publishing Consultant, United States; and Ferris Webster, University of Delaware, United States.
We also would like to thank the following individuals (in order of appearance) who made presentations during the workshop (see Appendix A for symposium agenda): Shuichi Iwata, University of Tokyo, Japan; M. G. K. Menon; David Dickson, SciDev.Net, United Kingdom; Elizabeth Longworth; Thomas Dreier, University of Karlsruhe, Germany; Alan Story, University of Kent Law School, United Kingdom; Robin Cowan, MERIT/ University of Maastricht, Netherlands; Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO; Clemente Forero-Pineda, University of Bogota, Columbia; Chrisanthi Avgerou, London School of Economics, United Kingdom; Massey Beveridge, University of Toronto, Canada; Jean Luc Poncelet, Pan American Health Organization, United States; D. K. Sahu, JPM Managing Editor, India; Leslie Chan, Bioline, Canada; Farouk El-Baz; Mukund Rao, Indian Space Research Organisation, India; Peter Weiss, U.S. National Weather Service, United States; Liu Chuang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; Andrew Kaniki, National Research Foundation, South Africa; R. Stephen Berry, University of Chicago, United States; Mikhail Zgurovsky, National Technical University of Ukraine, Ukraine; Jerome Reichman, Duke University Law School, United States; Charles Schweik, University of Massachusetts, United States; Erik Sandewall; Harlan Onsrud, University of Maine, United States; Sarah Durrant, International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications, United Kingdom; Gilberto Câmara, National Institute for Space Research, Brazil; Saloshini Muthayan, Doctoral Candidate, South Africa; Florence Muinde, UNESCO Fellow, Kenya; Ndaendelao (Emma) Noongo and Nico Willemse, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia; and T. B. Rajashekar, National Centre for Science Information, India.
This volume has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for quality. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of selected papers: William Anderson, Praxis101; Carlos Correa, University of Buenos Aires; Paul David, Stanford University; Jean Garnier, National Institutes of Health; Bernt Hugenholtz, University of Amsterdam; Heather Joseph, BioOne; Stephen Rossouw, University of Capetown; and Gordon Wood, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the individual papers. Responsibility for the final content of the papers rests with the individual authors.
The U.S. National Committee for CODATA would like to recognize the contributions of the following National Research Council staff and consultants. Paul Uhlir, director of International Scientific and Technical Information Programs, was project director of the symposium. Julie Esanu helped to organize the symposium and served as the primary editor of the proceedings. Valerie Theberge organized and coordinated the logistical arrangements, and Amy Franklin assisted with the production of the manuscript.
In addition, the committee would like to thank the other individuals who contributed to the success of the workshop. Kathleen Cass, executive director of CODATA; Carthage Smith, assistant director of ICSU; John Rose, senior program specialist of the Information Society Division of UNESCO; and Barry Mahon, executive director of ICSTI, were integral in organizing the workshop. Malene Munkebo, communication coordinator of CODATA, and Annick Ongouya, a secretary at UNESCO, provided local logistical support in Paris.
Contents
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Welcome by CODATA President |
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Introduction by Symposium Chair |
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UNESCO’s Approach to Open-Access and Public-Domain Information |
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Science Communication and Public Policy |
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Introductory Remarks by Session Chair |
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Overview of Legal Aspects in the European Union |
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Database Protection in Countries of the South |
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Economic Overview of Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Scientific and Technical Information |
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Introductory Remarks by Session Chair |
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A Contractually Reconstructed Research Commons for Scientific Data: International Considerations |
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The Open-Source Paradigm and the Production of Scientific Information: A Future Vision and Implications for Developing Countries |
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New and Changing Scientific Publication Practices Due to Open-Access Publication Initiatives |
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Overview of Open-Access and Public-Commons Initiatives in the United States |
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Session 6: |
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Introductory Remarks by Session Chair |
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Overview of Initiatives in the Developing World |
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Open-Source Geographic Information Systems Software: Myths and Realities |
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Open-Access Research and the Public Domain in South African Universities: The Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems |
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The Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems |
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Metadata Clearinghouse and Open Access to Geographic Data in Namibia |
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Open-Access Initiatives in India |
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Closing Remarks by Symposium Chair |