Shuichi Iwata, Opening Remarks at the CODATA Session 1 within the Eighth Plenary Session of the World Summit on the Information Society, November 18, 2005. Iwata is the President of CODATA. Excerpt:
At the first WSIS meeting in Geneva in December 2003, 175 countries adopted a landmark Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action....Article 10 of the Agenda for Action recognizes the importance of “Access to Information and Knowledge,” and Article 23 recognizes the important role of “e-Science.” Many actors and organizations within the scientific community already are engaged in activities that address these issues, in particular the importance of widespread access to scientific data and information. However, there is a growing perception of the need to coordinate and integrate these efforts.
With this in mind, CODATA consulted extensively during the past year with the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Council of Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI), the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), the Science Commons, UNESCO, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), CERN, and scientists and scholars from around the world.
Earlier this week, we held a special event at a WSIS Satellite Event here in Tunis to launch a new initiative to create the Global Information Commons for Science.
The Global Information Commons for Science Initiative is a multi-stakeholder undertaking with the following goals:
(1) Improved understanding and increased awareness of the societal benefits of easier access to and use of scientific data and information, particularly those resulting from publicly funded research activities;
(2) Wider adoption of successful methods and models for providing open availability on a sustainable basis and facilitating reuse of publicly-funded scientific data and information, as well as cooperative sharing of research materials and tools among researchers; and
(3) Encouragement and coordination of the efforts of the many stakeholders in the world’s diverse scientific community who are engaged in efforts to devise and implement effective means to achieve these objectives, with particular attention to data and knowledge transfer from haves to not-haves, e.g., next generations, non-experts, developing countries.
The Initiative will not duplicate existing efforts . Rather, it will provide a shared global platform to supplement and support members’ work on existing initiatives.
To become a partner, organizations will need to make a commitment to undertake one or more activities that contribute to the stated goals.
Abstracts of the other presentations at the CODATA session are now online.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/20/2005 07:48:00 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.
