Well, I don't know anything about birds, but the Guardian newspaper has
had a long running "Free our data" campaign about this issue, see
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/freeourdata
I also feel sadly obliged to point out that the link to Royal families
must be spurious: Canada and Australia have the same monarch as the UK
... by choice in Australia's case. If you look through the Guardian
reports profits and capitalism seem to be more relevant drivers (and
trust me, if there the Guardian could have pinned the balme on the
monarchy they would have done).
Phil
Falk Huettmann wrote:
> Hi,
>
> greetings.
> We talk a lot about Open Access here, and the English contribution.
> Some even say UK would be the leader on this (I personally doubt that
> somewhat, and from what I know about Canada, some U.S. and Australia let's
> say).
> If I may, I use the email below as a hook for my following question:
>
> In my personal view, Open Access means more than just putting PDFs online.
> As a matter of fact, PDFs are the off-concept for OA and wreck us all.
> We need to see the raw data instead in publications.
>
> Usually, birds (and their data) have been used as leaders in ecology,
> science, conservation and even democracy issues; OA included.
>
> So then, I like what happens in Canada, and partly U.S. and Australia
> regarding this issue and when it comes to free (bird) data for the sciences
> and beyond.
>
> My question goes:
> Why all this talking if in UK the bird data are NOT Open Access, and none of
> the gov. agencies and NGOs really move towards OA re. conservation and
> birds?
>
> Sad examples of lost opportunities are the British Trust for Ornithology
> (BTO), BirdLife International (Cambridge) and Royal Society of Birds (RSPB).
> When considering Commonwealth and colonial issues, we lack a global role
> model here (think of India and Africa alone).
>
> (The EU Bird Initiative is not any better there!!)
>
> For philosophers among you, I believe that the biggest hurdle with OA, and
> with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as such, comes from countries that
> have Royal Families or similar.
> This is because these public employees are usually not only exempt of the
> above, but also promote a (science) culture of experts behind locked doors.
> The very notion of Academies of Sciences, and of most museums, is based on
> that, and practiced that way. It comes with that very culture, and needs a
> change towards true OA and its concepts in my mind.
>
> My few bytes on the issue. I would be happy to learn otherwise.
>
> In the meantime, and if you can, please ask BTO, BirdLife and similar to
> move towards a true OA concept, science and business model.
>
> Very best
> F.
>
> PS From what I know and see, one might easily link the lack of OA data and
> culture to Conservation & Sustainability issues, and endangered species!!
>
> Falk Huettmann PhD, Assistant Professor
> -EWHALE lab- Biology and Wildlife Dept., Institute of Arctic Biology
> 419 IRVING I, University of Alaska Fairbanks AK 99775-7000 USA
> Email [log in to unmask] Phone 907 474 7882 Fax 907 474 6716
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Repositories discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Joy Davidson
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:54 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: 4th International Digital Curation Conference
>
> ***Apologies for cross-posting***
>
> 4th International Digital Curation Conference
> ****************************************************************************
> Registration is now open for our 4th International Digital Curation
> Conference on 1-3 December 2008 in Edinburgh.
>
> This year we'll be focusing on radical sharing, new ways of doing science
> (large scale research networks, mass collaboration, dynamic publishing
> tools, wikis, blogs, social networks, visualisations and immersive
> environments); sustainability of curation; and legal issues including
> privacy, confidentiality and consent, intellectual property rights and
> provenance.
>
> http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/dcc-2008/
> ****************************************************************************
>
> Joy Davidson
> DCC Training Coordinator and ERPANET British Editor
> Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII)
> George Service House, 11 University Gardens,
> University of Glasgow
> Glasgow G12 8QJ
> Scotland
> Tel: +44(0)141 330 8592
> Fax: +44(0)141 330 3788
> http://www.dcc.ac.uk
> http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu
> [log in to unmask]
>
--
Phil Barker Learning Technology Adviser
ICBL, School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Mountbatten Building, Heriot-Watt University,
Edinburgh, EH14 4AS
Tel: 0131 451 3278 Fax: 0131 451 3327
Web: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/~philb/
--
Heriot-Watt University is a Scottish charity
registered under charity number SC000278.
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