Information commons

For the building at the University of Sheffield, please see Information Commons, Sheffield.

An information commons is an information system, such as a physical library or online community, that exists to produce, conserve, and preserve information for current and future generations. Wikipedia could be considered to be an information commons to the extent that it produces and preserves information through current versions of articles and histories. Other examples of an information commons include Creative Commons.

Introduction

The concept of the "information commons" refers to the shared knowledge-base and the processes that facilitate or hinder its use. It also refers to a physical space, usually in an academic library, where any and all can participate in the processes of information research, gathering and production. The term commons refers to the land (or common grounds) that villagers shared for grazing purposes in simpler times. The issues that fall under this topic are varied and include:

• Licenses written to access digital content,
• Copyright law and similar intellectual property,
• Freedom of information,
• International trade,
• Privacy,
• Open-source software,
• Open-access publishing,
• Academic libraries integrated w/ CIT facilities, particularly in the U.S.A., but including:
  • Information Commons, a learning and study space at the University of Sheffield;
  • Business/SPEA Information Commons, Indiana University, created August 2007.

Some believe that the increasing control and commodification of information restricts humanity's ability to encourage and foster positive developments in its cultural, academic, and economic growth.

The Internet

The internet took the information commons to another level. The internet age empowered consumers to become creators, producers, and distributors of information. The internet facilitated a decentralized production and distribution of information. It bypasses the control of some of the more traditional publishing methods. These information are neither regulated by managers nor are they coordinated by price signals in the market. This result in a common-based production of knowledge that can be easily shared among individuals.

Software common

Many innovative programmers have started to share computer codes and released open source applications to the public. They are without the restrictive licensing provisions of commercial software. A very popular example is GNU/Linux, an open source version of the UNIX operating system. Although it is not as popular as its Apple or Microsoft counterparts, it is available for little to no cost and it may be used and redistributed without restriction. The Google search engine runs its server on the Linux open source system.

Licensing common

Licensing is the process that copyright owners use to monitor reproduction, distribution, or other use of creative works. Majority of the license outside the commons are specific, costly, and restrictive. Licensing in the commons is quite different. Creators have begun to use the licensing model to grant permissions for many uses in advance. The GNU General Public License (GPL), developed by Richard Stallman at MIT in the 1980s is an example of such license. “The GNU Free Documentation License is a form of copyleft intended for use on a manual, textbook or other document to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifications, either commercially or non-commercially.” The GPL allow works in the common to be secured in the common.

Scholarly common

“In the 1980s, many professional societies turned over their journal publishing to private firms as a way to contain membership fees and generate income.” The financial gains are eventually offset by significant losses of access to research. Prices of scholarly journals dropped dramatically and publishing corporations restricted access to these journals through expensive licenses. Research libraries had no other choice but to cut many of their journal subscriptions. European and American academic communities began to find alternate ways to distribute and manage scholarly information. The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource Coalition (SPARC) was founded in 1998. “It is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Its pragmatic focus is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on libraries."

Further reading

• Beagle, Donald Robert, with Donald Russell Bailey and Barbara Tierney (contributors). 2006. The Information Commons Handbook. Neal-Schuman Publishers. 247 p. ISBN 1-55570-562-6
• Collier, David. 2005. Brand Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-67927-5
• Burrell, Robert and Alison Coleman. 2005. Copyright Exceptions: the Digital Impact. Cambridge University Press. 426 p. ISBN 0-521-84726-5
• Free Culture
• Griffith, Jonathan and Uma Suthersanen. 2005. Copyright and Free Speech: Comparative and International Analyses. Oxford University Press. 426 p. ISBN 0-19-927604-8

External links

• Will Fair Use Survive - from the Free Expression Policy Project
• Information Commons - from the Free Expression Policy Project
• Information Commons Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association
• Internet Archive A 501(c)(3) non-profit founded to build an 'Internet library', with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format.
• Information Commons Links by Howard Besser
• The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle

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