Commons of Science Conference

[Frank Warmerdam]

Geodata and Education folks,

I received an invitation to attend a "Commons of Science Conference",
apparently sponsored by the folks who brought us the Creative Commons
license.  I am not able to attend, but I thought this does fall into the
area of interest of the Education and Geodata committees, and that someone
from one of those groups might be interested in attending on behalf of
OSGeo.  The conference is in Washington on October 3-4.  Admission and
food is free, but you would be responsible for your own transportation and
accomodations.  They are looking for confirmation by July 24th.

Best regards,



Jim Campbel wrote:
 > Dear Mr. Warmerdam,
 >
 > Science Commons is convening a small (60-70 people) invitation-only
 > conference at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington on
 > October 3-4, 2006 to help create a vision for a Commons of Science. The
 > conference Program Committee would like to extend an invitation to you to
 > participate. If you will be able to attend, please respond by July 24 so
 > that we can reserve one of the limited spaces for you.
 >
 > Presenters at the Conference will include Michael Carroll of Villanova, Paul
 > David of Stanford and Oxford, Eric Kansa of the Alexandria Archive
 > Institute, and Paul Uhlir of the National Academies of Science, to name only
 > a few. Conference participants will be drawn from the worlds of science, law
 > and policy, and research funding organizations.
 >
 > Briefly, the focus of the Commons of Science Conference is on enabling the
 > widespread sharing and reuse of scientific datasets. As you know, there are
 > many efforts underway to make open access to finished scientific papers
 > available. However, current efforts to make data accessible are fragmented,
 > discipline specific, and very limited. Even within these existing efforts,
 > there is generally no clear understanding of what data can be re-used for
 > what purposes, even if the data is accessible - and much important data is
 > not openly accessible at all. Property rights, in combination with the
 > technology available to enforce those rights, have become a major factor
 > impeding the free flow of data and information. In this environment, how can
 > we move forward so that scientific data can be re-used, built upon, and help
 > to engender new discoveries and understanding of our world? That is the
 > question we hope to explore, and, with your participation and input, to lay
 > out a roadmap to help answer.
 >
 > We have set up a conference web site and are in the process of filling it in
 > with information. We invite you to visit it for background information on
 > the conference, including the entire schedule. It is located at
 > http://informationcommonsforscience.org.
 >
 > In the coming weeks, we will be releasing conference discussion papers by
 > Paul Uhlir of the National Academies and Paul Schroeder of the Netherlands
 > Ministry of Education, Paul David of Stanford, John Wilbanks of Science
 > Commons, Harlan Onsrud of the University of Maine, Mackenzie Smith of MIT,
 > Susan Struble of Sun Microsystems, and others. These papers will encourage
 > participants to begin the discussion before the physical conference convenes
 > and, we hope, to make the conference more fruitful for all.
 >
 > We heartily hope that you will be able to accept our invitation to
 > participate in the conference. Lunches and breakout snacks will be provided,
 > and there is no fee to attend. Unfortunately, we do not have funds to cover
 > travel and lodging for participants.
 >
 > Again, we would appreciate a response by July 24, 2006 so that we may
 > reserve a place for you. If you are not able to attend, please let us know
 > and please follow, and participate in, the conversation on the Conference
 > web site.
 >
 > If you have any questions or if we can provide any additional information,
 > please do not hesitate to email me at campbell at creativecommons.org, or to
 > call 207 548-2200.
 >
 > Sincerely,
 >
 > Jim Campbell
 >
 > Science Commons Fellow for the Commons of Science Conference

-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGF, http://osgeo.org