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PAPERBACK list:$44.00 Web:$39.60 add to cart Rights & Permissions Free Resources PDF FORMAT Display this book on your site! Related Titles Strategies for Preservation of and Open Access to Scientific Data in China: Summary of a Workshop Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Journal Publishing and Its Implications: Proceedings of a Symposium Other Related Titles Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science: Proceedings of an International Symposium (2004) Board on International Scientific Organizations (BISO) Web Search Builder Use this book's key terms to search within this book, across our collection, or across the Web. Skim This Chapter Skim this chapter and use this chapter's key terms to search within this book. Reference Finder Paste in your own text to find books that relate to your topic. Page 158   E-mail  Facebook  Digg  Stumble  Twitter More The following HTML text is provided to enhance online readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML. Please use the page image as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy. 35 Closing Remarks M. G. K. Menon LEAD, India The purpose of this symposium was to discuss the area of public domain and the question of open access to data. There has been a great deal of clarification on a wide range of issues through the discussions that have taken place. For example, many presentations addressed the economic aspects of open access. Open-source software is very important and will be of great value. However, one should not minimize the task involved. It is going to be expensive, complex, and it will take time. It will have particular relevance to developing countries that cannot afford to pay repeatedly for proprietary software, as systems are upgraded and earlier ones are rendered obsolete. The focus on open access, public domain, and information needed for science laid particular emphasis on the needs of developing countries. Presentations on the legal aspects of open access examined current policies in this area in the United States and in Europe, and also with reference to developing countries. What came out was a scenario that was highly varied, with some countries being more restrictive and others more open. Apart from a general discussion on these issues a large number of interesting examples and field demonstrations were highlighted, illustrating how initiatives involving the North and the South can overcome problems that lead to the digital divide. Governments that are the participants in intergovernmental meetings and that therefore help to produce the World Trade Organization, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and European database directive policies do so on the basis of self-interest. Commercial interests lobby for what they require. Science however is much more diffuse. Science does not lobby per se with governments. The needs of science are, however, something that governments must be made to understand, whether this be in terms of access to data or on a more general basis an ambience of openness, freedom, excitement, transparency, and integrity. The entire basis for the developments that have enabled today’s information society has come from work in science, whether it was the Internet, the World Wide Web, the developments in computer science, including hardware and software, the mathematical underpinning, solid-state electronics (and more particularly microelectronics), lasers, wireless, space technologies, and much more. This impact of science is somewhat like the large part of an iceberg below the surface of the sea—it has to be conveyed to policy makers and understood by them. Because science does not lobby for its interests, its case often gets left behind or forgotten. To some extent when we debate such issues at forums such as this symposium, the participants represent a rather coherent, homogeneous community with interests in and an understanding of science. The problems we Page 158 Front Matter (R1-R12) Introduction 1 Welcome by CODATA President (1-4) 2 Introduction by Symposium Chair (5-6) 3 UNESCO s Approach to Open-Access and Public-Domain Information (7-9) 4 Science Communication and Public Policy (10-14) Session 1: Legal, Economic, and Technological Framework for Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science 5 Introductory Remarks by Session Chair (15-18) 6 Overview of Legal Aspects in the European Union (19-23) 7 Database Protection in Countries of the South (24-28) 8 Economic Overview of Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Scientific and Technical Information (29-32) 9 Scientific Research, Information Flows, and the Impact of Database Protection on Developing Countries (33-40) 10 Information Technology and Data in the Context of Developing Countries (41-44) Session 2: Data and Information in the Public Health Sector 11 Introductory Remarks by Session Chair (45-48) 12 The Ptolemy Project: Delivering Electronic Health Information in East Africa (49-54) 13 Health Information for Disaster Preparedness in Latin America (55-57) 14 Bioline International and the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine: A Collaborative Model of Open-Access Publishing (58-62) Session 3: Data and Information in the Environmental Sector 15 Introductory Remarks by Session Chair (63-65) 16 Geospatial Information for Development (66-68) 17 Borders in Cyberspace: Conflicting Government Information Policies and Their Economic Impacts (69-73) 18 Recent Developments in Environmental Data Access Policies in the Peoples Republic of China (74-76) Session 4: Basic Sciences and Higher Education19 Introductory Remarks by Session Chair (77-80) 20 Information Needs for Basic Research: An African Perspective (81-84) 21 International Transfer of Information in the Physical Sciences (85-90) 22 Access to Scientific Information: The Ukrainian Research and Academic Network (91-94) Session 5: Innovative Models for Public-Domain Production of and Open Access to Scientific and Technical Data and Information 23 Introductory Remarks by Session Chair (95-97) 24 A Contractually Reconstructed Research Commons for Scientific Data: International Considerations (98-102) 25 The Open-Source Paradigm and the Production of Scientific Information: A Future Vision and Implications for Developing Countries (103-109) 26 New and Changing Scientific Publication Practices Due to Open-Access Publication Initiatives (110-113) 27 Overview of Open-Access and Public-Commons Initiatives in the United States (114-118) Session 6: Examples of New Initiatives in Developing Countries 28 Introductory Remarks by Session Chair (119-121) 29 Overview of Initiatives in the Developing World (122-126) 30 Open-Source Geographic Information Systems Software: Myths and Realities (127-133) 31 Open-Access Research and the Public Domain in South African Universities: The Public Knowledge Project s Open Journal Systems (134-145) 32 The Public Knowledge Project s Open Journal Systems (146-149) 33 Metadata Clearinghouse and Open Access to Geographic Data in Namibia (150-153) 34 Open-Access Initiatives in India (154-157) 35 Closing Remarks by Symposium Chair (158-160) Appendix A: Symposium Agenda (161-166) Appendix B: Biographical Summaries of Symposium Speakers and Steering Committee Members (167-175) Appendix C: Symposium Attendees (176-181) Appendix D: Acronyms and Initialisms (182-183)

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Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science: Proceedings of an International Symposium 35 Closing Remarks M. G. K. Menon LEAD, India The purpose of this symposium was to discuss the area of public domain and the question of open access to data. There has been a great deal of clarification on a wide range of issues through the discussions that have taken place. For example, many presentations addressed the economic aspects of open access. Open-source software is very important and will be of great value. However, one should not minimize the task involved. It is going to be expensive, complex, and it will take time. It will have particular relevance to developing countries that cannot afford to pay repeatedly for proprietary software, as systems are upgraded and earlier ones are rendered obsolete. The focus on open access, public domain, and information needed for science laid particular emphasis on the needs of developing countries. Presentations on the legal aspects of open access examined current policies in this area in the United States and in Europe, and also with reference to developing countries. What came out was a scenario that was highly varied, with some countries being more restrictive and others more open. Apart from a general discussion on these issues a large number of interesting examples and field demonstrations were highlighted, illustrating how initiatives involving the North and the South can overcome problems that lead to the digital divide. Governments that are the participants in intergovernmental meetings and that therefore help to produce the World Trade Organization, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and European database directive policies do so on the basis of self-interest. Commercial interests lobby for what they require. Science however is much more diffuse. Science does not lobby per se with governments. The needs of science are, however, something that governments must be made to understand, whether this be in terms of access to data or on a more general basis an ambience of openness, freedom, excitement, transparency, and integrity. The entire basis for the developments that have enabled today’s information society has come from work in science, whether it was the Internet, the World Wide Web, the developments in computer science, including hardware and software, the mathematical underpinning, solid-state electronics (and more particularly microelectronics), lasers, wireless, space technologies, and much more. This impact of science is somewhat like the large part of an iceberg below the surface of the sea—it has to be conveyed to policy makers and understood by them. Because science does not lobby for its interests, its case often gets left behind or forgotten. To some extent when we debate such issues at forums such as this symposium, the participants represent a rather coherent, homogeneous community with interests in and an understanding of science. The problems we

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Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science: Proceedings of an International Symposium encounter are with external driving forces, and they are not usually present. It is very important that we do not just preach to the converted but also look at what we need to do to make the needs of science appreciated by governments, business, industry, and more generally, by society. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) presents an opportunity for such outreach. CERN plans to convene a preparatory meeting before the first WSIS to strategize on making the case for science. We need to participate in this and give it our fullest support. We have a good case, but we have to make it.

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Representative terms from entire chapter:

information society