Dear Andy:
From what I have heard so far, Ourmedia seems to be a very good thing tohave happened. I will check it when I get some time. In the meanwhile, I would like you and other member of the DDN network to consider an equivalent site (or system) for all of the world's research output, in particular refereed journal articles in the sciences (including medicine, agriculture and engineerng) social sciences (including economics) and other areas of scholarly inqiry. There is so much new knowledge generated from different parts of the world, but locked away from those who need it and who can use it to advance knowledge. I am sure most of our members are aware of the open access movement and the tremendous benefits open access brings to knowledge creation. I would like to see the tremendous energy and enthusiasm that our members have are in some way channelised to proactively promote the culture of open access worldwide.
I have spoken to both Fred Naronha and Partha Sarkar (of bytesforall) about the need to promote OA. I am also in touch with the leading academics promoting OA, such as Peter Suber, Stevan Harnad, Leslie Chan, Barbara Kirsop, Jean Claude Guedon, John Willinsky, Hans Falk Hoffman, and Bernad Schutz. I also realise that we have long way to go before we can achieve the ideal of a level playing field for information access, and we need focused advocacy and public education to achieve universal open access to scientific and scholarly literature.
One thing I am sure about is that groups like ours with so many energetic and enthusiastic people with a zeal for public good causes can and must play a role. Especially those who are active in the open source movement and Ourmedia.
Regards.
Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam]
----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Carvin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:02 AM
Subject: [DDN] Ourmedia and bridging the content digital divide
Like Phil noted earlier today, the launch of Ourmedia.org has generated a lot of traffic, but I strongly recommend that list members take a few minutes to visit the site; I think it's one of the most important new websites to come along in a while. Ourmedia is trying to build an online commons where anyone who wants to produce Internet content - particularly podcasts, video blogs and other large media files - will have a free place where they can host this content. Ourmedia is partnering with The Internet Archive to host content, and Creative Commons for Internet-friendly licenses. Just for kicks, I uploaded one of my podcasts yesterday (Anatomy of a CNN Interview), and it's currently the most downloaded media file on the Ourmedia site. I'm sure that won't last for very long, because there are so many people out there with content much better than mine who will soon be using the site to host their content.
Anyway, please check out www.ourmedia.org when you get a chance; if it doesn't work the first time, try and try again, because it's worth it. This site, I'm sure, will do a lot of great work when it comes to bridging the content side of the digital divide.... -ac
Andy Carvin
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