ePSIplus and the public domain Rob Davies ePSIplus Thematic Network Co-ordinator Communia meeting, Turin 18 February 2008 funded by eContentPlus

ePSIplus Thematic Network eContentplus –950,000 Euro –Start date: 1 September 2006 –Duration 30 months European Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information –17 November 2003 –Minimum harmonisation –Access, fairness, transparency, pricing. –ePSIplus is working in the spirit of the Directive AND its recitals –Better exploitation of market potential of PSI

Chronology of EC actions Guidelines (1989) PIRA Study (1999) PSINet Preparatory Action (2000) Green Paper EC Communication (2002) ePSINet/ePSINet-CEE Accompanying Measures (2003-5) Policy Group Directive (2004) ePSIplus (2006-9) MEPSIR Study (2006) Sectoral studies (GI, Met, Legal) announced December 2007 Review of Directive (July 2008)

EU PSI Directive ( broad) Political Review Member States comply PSI directive came into force Started in 1987 may achieve its objectives by 2017: 30 Years! We are here! EC Info Soc monitoring via contracts and projects such as ePSIplus Estimate as to when all EU25 will have Transposed the PSI Directive ePSIplus ePSINet + ePSINetCee MEPSIR CUPI Report ePSIplus - within the European context

Five thematic areas 1Legal and regulatory progress and impact –IPR/copyright –Licensing mechanisms 2 Public sector organisation and culture change 3Encouraging PSI reuse business 4The financial impact: pricing and charging 5Information management, standards and data quality

Roles in the Thematic Network MDR: network co-ordinator Analysts (subcontracted experts) National Network Members –One per country: private/public sector mix –Identify experts for Thematic Meetings –Host national meetings –Motivate participation/registration in national meetings –Supply information on country situation/ cases Stakeholders –2000: target 3000 –Public and private sector

Main activities Meetings –15 Thematic cross-border workshops (3 iterative meetings per thematic areas) –Up to 35 National, regional, ‘special’ meetings (Months 3-26) –Final Conference Spring 2008 Website (one stop shop) –Structured access to knowledge and results by country, theme –Country Scorecard –Directory of cross-border products –News, Forum, Newsletter Commission interest –DG INFSO: Digital Libraries and PSI Unit –Wants close co-operation with ePSIplus on 2008 Review of Directive –Recommendations, final conference, national meetings

PSI domains (MEPSIR) 1. Business information 2. Geographic information 3. Legal information, 4. Meteorological information 5. Social data 6. Transport information

Scope of the Directive: exemptions Documents held by public service broadcasters and their subsidiaries or other public sector bodies Documents held by educational and research establishments –such as schools, universities, archives, libraries and research facilities including, where relevant, organisations established for the transfer of research results; Documents held by cultural establishments –such as museums, libraries, archives, orchestras, operas, ballets and theatres.

Economic and Social Impact of the Public domain in the IS Study commissioned by DG INFSO: Digital Libraries and PSI Unit Lead partner, Rightscom (UK) Assemble and extrapolate quantitative and qualitative data about scope and nature of public domain in Europe –evidence-based –refinable methodology for measuring the public domain –Digital and non-digital –Numeric calculating the amount of digitized cultural content in Europe –MEPSIR study: how much re-use of PSI? –Collective Rights Management Organisations: in copyright –Creative Commons, Google counts, repository metrics etc

Study methodology Detailed case study analyses –UK, Austria, Italy, Finland, Slovakia and Hungary Assess effects of variant legislation across EU countries Careful scoping of what constitutes the public domain –Including types of work: sound recordings, recorded performances still photography and cinematography Assess readiness to come under PSI Directive –national libraries, museums, research facilities, archives, broadcasters Define ‘social and economic value’ –empirical research plus specific data collection –economic theory, standard demand curve –sensitivity analyses –‘natural’ experiments

Voluntary sharing schemes and the public domain Do non-commercial re-use licences bring works into public domain? –mechanisms and use developing rapidly: new licences and tools –Creative/Science Commons: licences based on copyright legislation –meaningful dialogue needed between proponents of voluntary sharing of creative works and of copyright regimes Discovery services e.g. search engines –directed at "open" content and tools, e.g. OpenDOAR –rights are usually licensed e.g. Creative Commons Impact of TPM on public domain Relevance of database protection for public domain –e.g. interpretation as including websites

Best practice in PSI licencing (UK) OPSI (now part of national archive) PSI Licence covers Crown+Parliamentary copyright + PSI: –essential to the business of government –explains government policy –the only source of the information –sets out how the law (UK and EU) must be complied with –considered by citizens to be key to relationship with government –subject to statutory requirement to produce or issue –authorised by PSI holders for re-use through Click-Use Licence ‘Trading Funds’ must be approached directly Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS) –sets and assesses standards for public sector bodies –encourages re-use of information, fairness and transparency

‘Click-Use’ Licences 1.PSI Licence –covers core Crown copyright information and PSI, free of charge 2.Parliamentary Licence – covers Parliamentary copyright information,free of charge 3.Valued Added Licence –may be charged, depends on type and amount of crown copyright info

Rights expression and the public domain US Federal Model –Free and easy, government waives copyright Creative Commons –machine-readable Licences for XML Rights Expression. –encourages ways to encourage permitted sharing and reuse of works Major digital libraries projects –need rights expression mechanisms to cover all types of rights –European Digital Library (mainly public domain to begin with) –DRIVER (OA repositories) New approaches –Science Commons –Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP) project

ACAP participants leadership/funding –World Association of Newspapers –European Publishers Council –International Publishers Association publishers –Agence France-Presse –De Persgroep –Holtzbrinck Macmillan –Impresa –Independent News & Media –John Wiley & Sons –Media 24 –Reed Elsevier –Sanoma technical partners –Exalead –British Library

ACAP pilot implementation Publisher use cases: –Online news –Online book content –Online journals and magazines Search engine participation in use cases Expression of access and usage permissions in XML Based upon the ONIX for Licensing Terms model –a “family” of XML document schemas –sharing underlying data model for permissions and prohibitions –using common data elements and composites –application-specific dictionaries of controlled values –applicable to many types of licensor and licensee, licensed content and usage

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