The presentations from the conference Copyright and Universities: From Principles to Practices (Zwolle, The Netherlands, December 6-7, 2002) are now online. The site also includes the draft Zwolle Principles promulgated by the conference participants in order "to achieve maximum access to scholarship, to strengthen academic freedom, and to enhance the quality of academic work". (The principles were first framed at the June 2001 Zwolle conference and revised at the recent December conference.)
The seven principles in the draft are disappointingly general: the objectives require "optimal managment" of copyrights, which can be achieved through "thoughtful development" of policies, which will "vary according to numerous factors", but which aim to give the many stakeholders "specific rights", although the draft contains no details on which stakeholders should have which specific rights. The most promising principle is #6: "All stakeholders in the management of the copyright in scholarly works have an interest in maximising both access and quality; stakeholders should work together on an international basis to best achieve these common goals and to develop a mutually supportive community of interest."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/04/2003 09:07:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
