The Smithsonian's controversial cable television programming will debut Wednesday, but right now only [subscribers to DirecTV's premium high-definition service] will be able to see it....
Several groups objected to the contract because the Smithsonian signed over to Showtime semi-exclusive rights to produce films built around the national institution's resources....
Members of Congress, who control the 70 percent of the budget the Smithsonian receives from the federal government and who also oversee its operations, expressed doubt about the arrangement from the beginning. Both Republicans and Democrats voiced concern about independent filmmakers' access and that the shows would be available only to select viewers who could pay more....
Carl Malamud, president of [PublicResource], a nonprofit that seeks to make more government information public, had objected to the secrecy of the contract. "I think it is very sad that after a year and a half all they have managed is to snag a DirecTV distribution agreement, when any high school kid can upload a video to YouTube and have 100 million viewers," Malamud said....
PS: For background, see my earlier posts on the Smithsonian-Showtime deal.
Update. For a more detailed analysis, see Richard Kurin, Commentary: the Smithsonian goes cable, Museum Anthropology, 30, 2 (2007) pp. 89-100. (Thanks to Jason Baird Jackson.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/24/2007 01:01:00 PM.
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.
