[WSIS CS-Plenary] # Towards a Free Science Scientific Information Working Group Event

[Dr. Francis MUGUET]

Poster
http://www.wsis-si.org/geneva-event/poster-SI-A0-en.pdf

 Open Access : Towards a Free Science

Revolution in Science or
Inevitable Scientific Evolution ?

Thursday 11 December 17H-20H
Room T

Organizers: Dr. Francis Muguet, Dr. Shu-Kun Lin

Open Access to Scientific Information is one of the most fundamental
issue of the Information Society which is made possible only because of
the progress of Science and Technology. Currently, a rather paradoxical
situation exists. Most scientific research is funded by public or
philanthropic institutions. Scientific authors are writing and
publishing the results of this research in papers that they are then
giving away absolutely for free to scientific journals. However, the
subscription prices of most scientific journals are extremely high, and
still rising, making them inaccessible to scientists all around the
world. Scientific Information is therefore subject to an irrational
digital divide. The Open Access journal movement and the Open Archives
movement are offering practical approaches that would allow scientific
information to be freely accessible to the whole world, in agreement
with the intent of the scientists themselves. Open Access would generate
huge savings in industrialized countries, monies that are urgently
needed to maintain research funding. Open Access would let transition &
developing countries have free access to scientific knowledge, an
absolute and fundamental requirement to build an effective education
system, and to provide the basis of a sustainable intellectual and
economical development. It would also help emergent countries to start
Scientific Journals on their own. Only historical inertia keeps the
current situation as it is now.

The recent Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the
Sciences and Humanities (22 Oct 2003) (WSIS/PC-3/C/0184 : English -
French ) that has been undersigned by the German and French Research
Agencies is definitively a very important step in favor of Open Access
that is likely to trigger a paradigm change all over the world
concerning Scientific Publishing. Already other research agencies from
Belgium(Flanders), and from Greece have undersigned the Declaration.
Other countries like Croatia are likely to follow. Therefore there is a
new dynamics towards Open Access that has been recognized recently in
the latest draft of the declaration of Principles.

3) Access to information and knowledge
We strive to promote universal access with equal opportunities for all
to scientific knowledge and the creation and dissemination of scientific
and technical information, including open access initiatives for
scientific publishing.

The goal of this event is to call the world to support and implement
nationally this recommendation of the Summit and to encourage many
countries to undersign the Berlin Declaration. It is hoped
recommendations and subsequent international national legislations may
trigger a rapid phase transition that would benefit to the whole
humanity.


PROGRAM & SPEAKERS


      INTRODUCTION


    o Dr. Francis MUGUET ( ENSTA / MDPI ) "Introduction to Open Access
Concepts and Eeport of the Working Group activities at the WSIS"


      GENERAL CONTEXT


          o Prof. Jean Claude GUEDON (Montréal University)(to be
confirmed)
            "In Oldenburg's Long Shadow: the Path to the Current
Situation"



          o Prof. Lawrence LESSIG (Stanford University) (to be
confirmed)
      "Creative Commons and Open Access"


      The BERLIN DECLARATION


          o Prof Jurgen RENN & Dr. Simone RIEGER (Max Planck Institute )
            "Towards a Web of Culture and Science."

          o Dr. Francis ANDRE ( INIST/CNRS )
            "Open Access : The French Touch"

          o H.E Dr. Diana SIMIC ( Deputy Science Minister, CROATIA )
            "Open Access: a perspective from Croatia"

          o Prof. Arunachalam SUBBIAH ( Swaminathan Research Foundation,
INDIA)
            "Why open access? - A developing country perspective "


      OPEN ACCESS PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES


          o Dr.Leslie CHAN ( University of Toronto at Scarborough )
            "Making the 'lost sciences' from developing countries
visible through collaborative open access publishing : Experience from
Bioline International"

          o Prof. Shu-kun LIN ( MDPI / Ocean University of China )
      "An Open Access Initiative in Chemistry"


OPEN DEBATE




-- 

------------------------------------------------------ 
Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D 
muguet at mdpi.org   muguet at ensta.fr  

MDPI Foundation   http://www.mdpi.net 

World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
Civil Society Working Groups 
Scientific Information :  http://www.wsis-si.org  chair 
Patents & Copyrights   :  http://www.wsis-pct.org co-chair
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