Weekend Reading: 12 November 2010

Another Friday and another set of Weekend Readings.  I have two very interesting documents, the first, from the Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force, is seeking comments on their look into the relationship between availability and protection of online resources.  I read it last night and found several passages worth highlighting, particularly dealing with copyright infringement.  Here is the list of goals the task force identifies in their request:

By way of this Notice and a follow-on report, the Task Force seeks to identify policies that will: (1) Increase benefits for rights holders of creative works accessible online but not for those who infringe on those rights; (2) maintain robust information flows that facilitate innovation and growth of the Internet economy; and (3) at the same time, safeguard end-user interests in freedom of expression, due process, and privacy. 

While the document does seem bent towards greater protection and enlargement of intellectual property rights, there are some areas of concern regarding peer usage of materials to create new culture that could allow one to articulate a more progressive vision of future source use.  They are taking comments for another seven days, ending on 19 November, and the document is not long- only six pages- so give it a read and send some comments Commerce's way.

The second document is a white paper drafted by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy titled 'Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age'.  Here is a quote from the introduction of the report:

The information revolution is benefiting those in the middle class and up and, in a different way, many young residents of urban and suburban communities. They have never had greater access to more relevant information. But many Americans are in danger of remaining or becoming second-class citizens in the digital age, whether because of low income, language barriers, lack of access to technology, limited skills and training, community norms, or lack of personal motivation.  The poor, the elderly, rural and small town residents, and some young people are most at risk. Those who belong to more than one of these groups are especially vulnerable. To take perhaps the most dramatic example of an enduring divide: “Only sixty-eight percent of households on Tribal lands have a telephone; only eight Tribes own and operate telephone companies; and broadband penetration on Indian lands is estimated at less than ten percent.”

This is an increasingly important issue, as America is significantly lagging behind other developed nations in terms of the level of internet access provided and the availability for a wide range of people to actually interact with the network.  The digitization of our knowledge production efforts and the increasing movement of culture to the online realm certainly will leave those populations who live outside of major urban centers in the dust of an ever faster moving society.  I have written on this blog the need for Historians to become more engaged with the larger public regarding their use of digital sources- perhaps this is another area our profession can help contribute to, especially if it fosters the development and recognition of a larger commitment to reasonable, open access to information streams.