Appeared in the Toronto Star on December 18, 2006 as Decisions, Disputes that Shaped Technology in '06 This past year in law and technology has been marked by a series of noteworthy developments including the explosive interest in user-generated content, the emergence of several artists-backed copyright coalitions, and the arrival […]
Post Tagged with: "open access"
Google Offers Free Journal Digitization
Peter Suber reports that Google is offering publishers free digitization of their journal back issues. While there are some strings unsurprisingly attached, it appears to be an ideal method for journals to digitize and make available years of content currently confined to paper versions.
Digital Info Strategy Requires Courage Before Cash
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines efforts in Canada to develop a national digital information strategy in light of a national summit on the issue held last week in Montebello, Quebec. The column notes that the good news is that many provincial governments and organizations are not waiting for Ottawa to act, citing initiatives by the Alberta and Quebec governments, Alouette Canada, Synergies, the McCord Museum, and the blossoming of user generated content.
This enormous energy suggests that digitization will flourish regardless of whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda adopt a formal strategy. However, despite the good news, the summit also left little doubt that there are immediate steps that can be taken to pave the way for even more.
In fact, I argue that the federal government would do well to resist introducing expensive new initiatives by first maximizing the benefits that can be extracted from the current set of policies and programs.
SPARC and CARL Support CIHR Open Access Policy
Thanks to Peter Suber's site for pointing out the public support from two organizations that together represent more than 200 academic libraries in North America.
CIHR Releases Draft Open Access Policy
CIHR, Canada's federal health research funding agency, has released new proposed requirements for open access to its funded research. The requirements allow for a maximum six month publication delay before the research is made broadly available. (Hat tip – Heather Morrison)