[Open-education] Fwd: [EIFL-OA] Launch of The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery In The Digital Age

Wed May 6 13:39:06 UTC 2015

FYI

There are now 55 organisations that have signed The Hague Declaration on
Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age, which calls for immediate changes
to intellectual property law and the removal of other barriers preventing
widened and more equal access to content/data and the ability to text/data
mine for new discoveries: http://thehaguedeclaration.com/

Organisations and individuals who wish to support the Declaration can add
their signature on the official website,www.thehaguedeclaration.com
<http://libereurope.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=60226f05bc&e=c5c8f8ac70>.
In so doing, they will officially recognise the huge potential for
knowledge discovery whilst also acknowledging that steps need to be taken
to ensure that everyone can benefit from this potential.

                         *Declaration Calls For Changes To Intellectual
Property Law, Equal Access To Knowledge*         *Over 50 organisations
have signed The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age
<http://libereurope.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=6fb245b829&e=c5c8f8ac70>,
which calls for immediate changes to intellectual property (IP) law and the
removal of other barriers preventing widened and more equal access to
data. *

Improved treatments for diseases, answers to global issues such as climate
change and billions in government savings are among the potential benefits
to be gained, if the principles outlined in the Declaration are adopted by
governments, businesses and society.

The Declaration asserts that copyright was never designed to regulate the
sharing of facts, data and ideas â€’ nor should it. The right to receive
and impart information and ideas is guaranteed by the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights but the modern application of IP law often limits this
right, even when these most simple building blocks of knowledge are used.

*The rapidly changing digital environment, increased computing power and
the sheer quantity of data being produced makes it essential for
researchers and society to be able to use modern techniques and tools to
help them make new discoveries. Research practices could be revolutionised
and lives could literally be saved, if we can achieve better access to the
knowledge contained within Big Data,  *said Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen,
President of LIBER
<http://libereurope.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=a3a5141992&e=c5c8f8ac70>,
the Association of European Research Libraries, which has led work to
develop the Declaration.

A new approach to knowledge discovery is critical at a time when society is
facing a literal data deluge. The digital universe, or the data we create
and copy annually, is doubling in size every two years and is expected to
reach 44 trillion gigabytes by 2020.

In addition to clarity around the scope of IP law, a skills gap and a lack
of infrastructure must also be addressed if computers are to be better
employed to extract and recombine data in order to identify patterns and
trends. This process, known as Content Mining, is widely recognised as the
only way to deal effectively with Big Data.

*Given the need to make sense of the ever-expanding literature and derive
new insights, the Wellcome Trust strongly supports the right of researchers
to mine content to which they already have lawful access. The Hague
Declaration is an important step in demonstrating the common vision that
knowledge discovery and reuse should not be constrained by existing legal
frameworks and uncertainty. In particular, we are advocating for reform of
copyright law at European level to permit data and text mining for all
uses, both commercial and non-commercial,  *said Will Greenacre, Policy
Officer at The Wellcome Trust
<http://libereurope.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=6e7af38fd0&e=c5c8f8ac70>
.

Organisations and individuals who wish to support the Declaration can add
their signature on the official website,www.thehaguedeclaration.com
<http://libereurope.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=60226f05bc&e=c5c8f8ac70>.
In so doing, they will officially recognise the huge potential for
knowledge discovery whilst also acknowledging that steps need to be taken
to ensure that everyone can benefit from this potential.

*Further Information:*

   - See the Declaration website -www.thehaguedeclaration.com
   <http://libereurope.us7.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=7898c4b35d&e=c5c8f8ac70>
-
   to read the full text of the Declaration and download an accompanying
   infographic.
   - Contact LIBER, the Association of European Research Libraries, which
   has been leading the work to develop the Declaration: liber at kb.nl
   <liber at kb.nl?subject=Press%20question%20about%20The%20Hague%20Declaration>

You are receiving this email because you asked to be kept updated on
developments with The Hague Declaration.

*Our mailing address is:*
Hague Declaration
c/o LIBER Europe
PO Box 90407
The Hague, 2509 LK
Netherlands

<http://libereurope.us7.list-manage.com/vcard?u=08b067f65d561cfa7c49b79f4&id=8b14bdd741>

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-- 

*Marieke Guy | Project Manager skype: mariekeguy | tel: +44 (0) 1285 885681
<%2B44%20%20%280%29%201285%20885681> | @mariekeguyOpen Knowledge
<http://okfn.org/>Empowering through Open Knowledgehttp://okfn.org/
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