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Michael Geist - Why Universities Should Not Sign the Access Copyright

A new post from Michael Geist is added to the positive message from the growing list of universities not signing the AC/AUCC "unModel" License. What more do Canadian universities need to make the only decision that is in the best interests of our institutions and learners?

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster, There is Still Leadership in This World

UBC announced today that they ARE NOT signing the Access Copyright agreement. This is a sensible decision and one that speaks to what every university in Canada should do. If you are a Canadian institution that has not yet signed on to the Access Copyright/AUCC "license" pleae forward this to your decison-makers and encourage the same approach. I love the statement encapsulating why: 

We believe we are taking the bolder, more principled and sustainable option, which best serves the fundamental and long-term interests of our academic community.

Finally. Leadership that stands up for the fundamental rights and freedoms of learners.

Elite Universities' Online Play (Again)

The Coursera effort described in this article is an interesting new twist in the ongoing effort to "redefine" the delivery of university education. There has been a lot of buzz about Stanford's recent massively open online courses efforts, especially since they address the opportunity to deliver to tens of thousands of students at the same time. Surely this is an indication of the evolution of technology in the last decade, but I suspect also a little of the innovation that comes from a desire to see more revenue from courses offered in uncertain fiscal times. It all sounds interesting until you get to the "Can I get credit?" question that will get asked, and the discussion at the end of the article that essentially admits that credit would likely only come with an element of on-campus learning too. Still an awesome idea to make such compelling and diverse course offereings available for anyone to take - isn't this what universities are ultimately about?

If There Was Ever Any Doubt...

this latest battle of the IT overlords should dismiss any that remains. The emerging legal details in the Google-Oracle battle over Java highlights why Oracle and open source are like oil and water. The attempt to copyright a language is the fascinating detail in this skirmish. Maybe we should strive to actually speak in Java and see what would happen if we did so freely at the next big Oracle love-in?

Not a Bad Idea, If Not For...

This recent announcement from the federal government seems like a long time coming and one I personally am mostly in favour of, if only the government wasn't also decimating other services for the "those with less", including Internet access. Would this not have made so much more sense together with an announcement about the INCREASE in funding for CAP, instead of the one killing the CAP program? If I was a pessimist (and I'm not) I would think this was another brick in the wall around a much less open and democratic government. But hey, this is Canada! Isn't it?

Subject: Notification of Deficit Reduction Action Plan Implications for PWGSC's Depository Services Program / Avis concernant les répercussions du Plan d'action pour la réduction du déficit sur le Programme des services de dépôt de TPSGC

Sent: Apr 13, 2012 2:02 PM

FYI / A titre d'information ...

 La version française suit la version anglaise.

Dear Sir or Madam,

Further to the 2012 Budget, tabled on March 29, 2012, this is to advise you of a decision that affects the business relationship between Public Works and Government Services Canada Publishing and Depository Services Program, and your organization.

As part of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan, the decision has been made to completely transition all publications published by the Publishing Program and publications provided by departments to the Depository Services Program from traditional print to exclusively electronic publications. This aligns with the Government of Canada's greening government initiatives. This also aligns directly with Canadians' increasing access to electronic information and use of e-publications. Recent statistics from publications.gc.ca show a significant increase in the number of unique visitors to the site which was close to 2.2 Million and the number of downloads close to 10 Million annually.  The resulting demand for paper publications has greatly declined. This decline is expected to continue as the trend towards the use of the Internet to access publications increases.  By fully transitioning to free web-based publications we will eliminate the costs associated with producing, printing, distributing and warehousing hard copies.

 In 2014, Publishing and Depository Services will no longer be producing, printing, or warehousing hard copies of publications. However the Depository Services Program will continue to provide access to Government of Canada publications through publications.gc.ca.  Other services under the Publishing and Depository Services Program remain as they are.

Please be assured of our utmost co-operation in limiting the impact of this decision on your operations and in continuing to offer a high-quality service.

Thank you for your understanding and continued co-operation.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to communicate with us at: publications@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Monsieur, Madame, 

À la suite du budget de 2012 présenté le 29 mars 2012, ceci est pour vous informer d'une décision qui influe sur la relation d'affaires entre Éditions et Services de dépôt de Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada et votre organisation.

Dans le cadre du Plan d'action pour la réduction du déficit, la décision a été prise que toutes les publications publiées par le Programme des éditions du GC, et des publications que fournissent les ministères au Programme des services de dépôt, passeront de l'impression traditionnelle vers la publication électronique seulement, et ce dans deux ans. Cette mesure cadre avec les initiatives d'écologisation du gouvernement du Canada. Cette mesure cadre également avec la population canadienne qui a de plus en plus un accès direct à l'information et qui utilise les publications électroniques. Des statistiques récentes de publications.gc.ca montrent une augmentation importante du nombre de visiteurs uniques sur le site qui était près de 2,2 millions et du nombre de téléchargements de près de 10 millions par année. La demande pour les publications sur papier a ainsi fortement diminuée. Cette baisse devrait se poursuivre tant que la tendance vers l'utilisation de l'Internet pour acc!

é  der aux publications continue d'augmenter. En procédant à une transition complète vers une publication gratuite sur le Web, cela nous permettra d'éliminer les coûts associés à la production, l'impression, la distribution et l'entreposage des copies papier.

En 2014,les Services d'éditions et de dépôt ne feront plus la production, l'impression ou l'entreposage de copies papier des publications. Toutefois, le Programme des services de dépôt continuera de fournir l'accès aux publications du gouvernement du Canada par le biais du site publications.gc.ca. Les autres services offerts par les Éditions et Services de dépôt demeurent les mêmes.

Vous pouvez compter sur notre entière collaboration en vue de réduire les répercussions de cette décision sur vos opérations et continuer d'offrir un service de grande qualité.Je vous remercie de votre compréhension et votre collaboration continue.

Si vous avez des questions, n'hésitez pas à communiquer avec nous à :publications@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

 

Man With the Google Glasses

Ross Douthat's NYT column struck a chord this weekend while I was trying out some new iPad apps. My strongest thought was that the Google Glasses reflect the impeding death of the iPhone, with such a compelling interface and integration with personal space - then I remembered how much I hate wearing glasses. Ross's article also raises some interesting points, summed up with:

In this kind of world, the Man in the Google Glasses might feel like a king of infinite space. But he’d actually be inhabiting a comfortable, full-service cage.

A Global University-Cached Archive?

I just read the Jan/Feb issue of MITs Technology Review which features a piece called Fire in the Library. It made me mostly sad. It's about a group called the Archive Team and their efforts to scrape and archive what I would all "failed internet nation states" like poetry.com and geocities. The depressing part was the fact that this group is doing the job of libraries with a minute fraction of the resources. The bright sparks are that they are doing it, as well as Brewster Kahle's involvement and the loose affiliation of the project with the Internet Archive. The mostly sad part went away quickly (as it always does for me) and was replaced with the "how could we participate" part. Libraries are doing some of these things, but in a very piecemeal and exclusive fashion. Academic libraries are focusing on the scholarly record, preserving the record of promotion and tenure and so students in the future can largely not read it either. It occurred to me that the space needed for what the Archive Team is salvaging is a tiny fraction of the space the global university community stewards for our own communities, and we should step up and offer resources. Who knows, maybe the next e.e. cummings is sill hovering in the now mostly lost poetry.com archive? I'm not sure the Archive Team would want our help, and the uncertainties around the copyright of what they are scrapping would cause risk embolisms for must institutions, but I can dream ;-)

UNESCO Open Access Document

UNESCO's recently released guide to Open Access.

 

Kahle's Building a Digital Library Talk

A peek at what Brewster has planned next for his digital library.

 

AIMS White Paper Available

The AIMS project has released their white paper, which has some great reading on the issues and challenges facing institutions as they embrace the avalanch of born digital content. From the e-mail release:

AIMS (Born-Digital Collections: An Inter-Institutional Model for Stewardship) was a two year grant generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It ran from October 2009-September 2011. An international collaboration of partners from the University of Hull (UK), Stanford University, Yale University, and the University of Virginia as lead, AIMS had several main goals, among them:

1. Develop a methodology for the support and stewardship of born-digital materials 

2. Foster and enhance the digital archivist community

3. Process over a dozen collections that had born digital content.

4. Create and disseminate a white paper that outlines our findings and work

To that end, I am pleased to announce the successful conclusion of both the grant and the white paper. The white paper is an expression of our methodology for supporting and stewarding born digital materials. The participants used their experience in processing collections with born digital content as the groundwork for our shared (rather than singular) approach.  As such, it highlights decision points and practice. It is meant to introduce and expose readers to the issues of born digital stewardship, not necessarily solve every possible contingency since this is an evolving challenge for us all. We have articulated practices that are informed by archival principles that we hope will have a broad reach to our readers.

This document should be considered as a framework to guide good practice in terms of archival tasks and objectives necessary for success. 

The AIMS white paper can be found here:

http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/aims/whitepaper/