[sc-announce] Access to knowledge in science -- Science Commons blog
Donna Wentworth
dwentworth at creativecommons.org
Mon Aug 25 15:53:39 EDT 2008
Access to knowledge in
science<http://sciencecommons.org/weblog/archives/2008/08/25/access-to-knowledge-in-science/>
August
25th, 2008
The August/September 2008 issue of *Intellectual Property Watch Monthly
Reporter <http://ip-watch.org/reporter.php> * features the second part of a
2-part series on the Access to
Knowledge<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_to_Knowledge_Movement>(A2K)
movement, which has among its goals "sharing the benefits of
scientific advancement" (see the *Treaty on Access to
Knowledge<http://www.cptech.org/a2k/a2k_treaty_may9.pdf>
* [PDF]).
The article, *Access To Knowledge "Movement" Seeks Strength In Its Diversity
* (available only to subscribers), cites the* Introduction to Science
Commons<http://www.sciencecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/ScienceCommons_Concept_Paper.pdf>
* [PDF], co-authored by James Boyle <http://www.law.duke.edu/boylesite/> and
John Wilbanks <http://creativecommons.org/about/people/#34>, to show how the
effort to change the way knowledge is governed has been reaching areas
beyond IP policy. Scientists confront multiple barriers to accessing
existing knowledge throughout the research cycle, including problems with
securing access to the physical materials needed to verify results. As the *IP
Watch* piece points out, Science Commons seeks to lower these barriers, and
to provide solutions that knit together, so that when a researcher finds one
piece of the puzzle — for instance, an article containing a piece of
relevant data — she can also find the resources she needs to put the
knowledge to use.
[Boyle and Wilbanks say that in] scientific research access to knowledge
problems start at the earliest stage. Getting access to journals and
physical materials needed for research can be difficult and time consuming –
particularly problematic for those working on a limited-term grant, they
said. This means research institutions "effectively 'discard' minds we might
need to solve problems because they do not have full access to the research
they need."
Access to knowledge then, is about ease of networking and data transfer as
much as it is about IP rights. Wilbanks and Boyle said there needs to be a
connection between efforts to "streamline the legal process for clearing
materials and efforts to streamline the practical process of actually
fabricating and transferring the materials themselves."
You can read more about our efforts to streamline the materials transfer
process here <http://www.sciencecommons.org/projects/licensing/>. For a look
at how we're working to bring together all of the resources for accelerating
research, check out the
NeuroCommons<http://neurocommons.org/page/Main_Page>and Health
Commons <http://www.sciencecommons.org/projects/healthcommons/> projects.
Donna Wentworth
Communications Specialist
Science Commons
http://sciencecommons.org
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