Nurturing the Global Information Commons: Public Access, Public
Infrastructure
Outline (text) for a presentation to the
4th Annual B.C. Information Policy Conference
Vancouver, B.C., October 28, 1995
The following is an outline of the presentation, with links to other sites on the
Internet. The text of the presentation is also available.
the Electronic Highway
. . . is built by engineers;
the Information Highway
. . . is built by communicators
Three topics:
- pricing of government info
- government use of the Internet
- public use of the Internet in relation to government
1. Pricing of government electronic info
- government information can be treated as a service to the public, or as a 'corporate
asset'
- governments: let's sell our computerized information in order to get more money
Problems with sale of government info
- governments overestimate the actual profit that can be made
- monopoly pricing will attract utilities commission controls
- governments have tended to adopt the high-price, low-volume approach
- should distribution of government info be a public service or a cash cow?
The Accord and the pricing
question:
- "An informed public is essential to democracy"
- "Government information must be disseminated for free to public access points,
where it is in the public interest to do so."
- Chief Information Officer should
spearhead implementation
The IHAC Final Report
and the pricing question:
- government should act as a "model user"
- government should ensure "government works are broadly and routinely
distributed"
- "The Crown in Right of Canada should, as a rule, place federal government
information and data in the public domain..."
- "Where Crown copyright is asserted for generating revenue, licensing should be
based on the principles of nonexclusivity and the recovery of no more than the marginal
costs incurred in the reproduction of the information or data."
YES!!! Finally, governments begin to use the Internet!
Room for improvement!
- most B.C. statutes are (regretably) NOT available on the Internet, except:
- B.C. regulations are NOT available on the Internet
- BUT, consolidated versions of key
environmental regulations ARE accessible on the Internet ONLY TO GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
WHO HAVE THE PASSWORD!!
- (The Queen's Printer's exercise of Crown copyright is responsible. If you would like to
comment, you can send an email message to the Queen's Printer at feedback@bbs.qp.gov.bc.ca.)
- no directory of government e-mail addresses
- public registries on Internet (yeah!), but not current (example: B.C. Environmental Assessment Office)
- media release says document
available on Internet for public consultation (great!), but document not actually until
several days later
Public use of the Internet in relation to government
Conclusion
- public access and public infrastructure regarding the Information Highway is a matter of
building a community
- the content of the communications and the social relationships among the communicators
are what is important
End of Document