Comments on: Question for anyone who has info http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27 A blog for reflecting on the opportunities and challenges in open education Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:44:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: karen http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27#comment-77 karen Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:06:41 +0000 http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27#comment-77 Thanks for the info on this. After reading the Week 6 readings for the OpenEd course, I have a better sense for this now. I was surprised to hear that government-published work is not public domain in most other countries. Well, at least the US has an "enlightened policy" on something. Thanks for the info on this. After reading the Week 6 readings for the OpenEd course, I have a better sense for this now. I was surprised to hear that government-published work is not public domain in most other countries. Well, at least the US has an “enlightened policy” on something.

]]> By: Stian Haklev http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27#comment-73 Stian Haklev Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:37:20 +0000 http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27#comment-73 This is most certainly not the case in most places in the world - if any - outside of the US. This is one case of the US having a very enlightened policy, that has been very beneficial to all kinds of both public and private enterprises. I know that there is a determined movement in the UK, now also helped by the Guardian, to do away with Crown Copyright (Canada also uses Crown Copyright - you even have to pay to download charts from the statistical bureau), and OpenStreetMaps were started in the UK, because the Ordinance survey that makes maps sell them back to people - even to the municipalities that supplied the initial data that they were built on. As Megan points out though, one thing is copyright, but another issue is that in a lot of developing countries, this information isn't published or put online, or otherwise made available to people at all. If something is not copyrighted doesn't make a difference if the only copy is in a locked drawer (in fact a lot of museums enforce no-photo rules because of this - the paintings are out of copyright, but they have the only reproductions, and they want to keep making money out of selling reproductions). There was a very good article on FirstMonday a while ago about open access to law in developing countreis. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_12/poulin/index.html You might find this blog entry from Ethan Zuckerman interesting too: http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=1035 This is most certainly not the case in most places in the world - if any - outside of the US. This is one case of the US having a very enlightened policy, that has been very beneficial to all kinds of both public and private enterprises. I know that there is a determined movement in the UK, now also helped by the Guardian, to do away with Crown Copyright (Canada also uses Crown Copyright - you even have to pay to download charts from the statistical bureau), and OpenStreetMaps were started in the UK, because the Ordinance survey that makes maps sell them back to people - even to the municipalities that supplied the initial data that they were built on.

As Megan points out though, one thing is copyright, but another issue is that in a lot of developing countries, this information isn’t published or put online, or otherwise made available to people at all. If something is not copyrighted doesn’t make a difference if the only copy is in a locked drawer (in fact a lot of museums enforce no-photo rules because of this - the paintings are out of copyright, but they have the only reproductions, and they want to keep making money out of selling reproductions).

There was a very good article on FirstMonday a while ago about open access to law in developing countreis. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_12/poulin/index.html

You might find this blog entry from Ethan Zuckerman interesting too: http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=1035

]]> By: Megs_Planet http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27#comment-69 Megs_Planet Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:33:38 +0000 http://www.k12opened.com/blog/archives/27#comment-69 I don't know the "official" rules on public domain in the developing world, but it is exceedingly hard for most people to access government information in many countries. In fact, whether or not it is public domain belies the question of whether people can access it even if it is. Governments in general, and particularly in Africa, seem to view their information as THEIRS! Transparency international has some info on this. HakiElimu from Tanzania (who's server is currently down, so I can't give you the link beyond http://www.hakielimu.org/) has a great paper on their experiences with "Access to Information". Problems with access to info occur both at the national and local level. There is a movement afoot against this - to make things more transparent - not only financially but in terms of other factors. And in fact, in Kenya, schools are required to post their financial info and the purposes on a bulletin board outside the school. It helps ensure that the money goes to where it is supposed to and that the right number of school days occur. I don’t know the “official” rules on public domain in the developing world, but it is exceedingly hard for most people to access government information in many countries. In fact, whether or not it is public domain belies the question of whether people can access it even if it is. Governments in general, and particularly in Africa, seem to view their information as THEIRS! Transparency international has some info on this. HakiElimu from Tanzania (who’s server is currently down, so I can’t give you the link beyond http://www.hakielimu.org/) has a great paper on their experiences with “Access to Information”. Problems with access to info occur both at the national and local level. There is a movement afoot against this - to make things more transparent - not only financially but in terms of other factors. And in fact, in Kenya, schools are required to post their financial info and the purposes on a bulletin board outside the school. It helps ensure that the money goes to where it is supposed to and that the right number of school days occur.

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