Information commons

The phrase "Information Commons" refers to our shared knowledge-base and the processes that facilitate or hinder its use. 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, like the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights from the World Trade Organization,
• Privacy,
• Open source software,
• Open Access,
• and much more.

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

Bibliography

• Bollier, 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
• Griffiths, 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
• Information Commons - Uniting society’s public information into one massively distributed database to ensure its availability to all.