Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Saturday, November 11, 2006

OA to publicly-funded research as a universal human right

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has revised its Internet Rights Charter (also available in PDF).  Theme 3, on Access to Knowledge, has three parts:

3.1 The right to access to knowledge Wide-spread access to knowledge and a healthy knowledge commons form the basis for sustainable human development. Because the internet enables knowledge-sharing and collaborative knowledge-creation to a previously unprecedented degree, it should be a focus for the development community.

3.2 The right to freedom of information National and local government, and publicly-funded international organisations, must ensure transparency and accountability by placing publicly relevant information that they produce and manage in the public domain. They should ensure that this information is disseminated online using compatible and open formats and is accessible to people using older computers and slow internet connections.

3.3 The right to access to publicly-funded information All information, including scientific and social research, that is produced with the support of public funds should be freely available to all.

APC intends Theme 3 to spell out Article 27 (which it cites as Article 26) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asserting that "Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits."