The Free Expression Policy Project
By Nancy Kranich
Senior Research Fellow, 2003-04 and the FEPP and past president of the American Library Association.

In the last decade, mass media companies have developed methods of control that undermine the public’s traditional rights to use, share, and reproduce information and ideas. These technologies, combined with dramatic consolidation in the media industry and new laws that increase its control over intellectual products, threaten to undermine the political discourse, free speech, and creativity needed for a healthy democracy.

In response to the crisis, librarians, cyber-activists, and other public interest advocates have sought ways to expand access to the wealth of resources that the Internet promises, and have begun to build online communities, or “commons,” for producing and sharing information, creative works, and democratic discussion. This report documents the information commons movement, explains its importance, and outlines the theories and “best practices” that have developed to assist its growth.

Also available in PDF.

Related posts:

1. What is an Information Commons?
2. WHY WE MUST TALK ABOUT THE INFORMATION COMMONS
3. Who Owns the Sky? Reviving the Commons
4. House of Commons ok’s OA
5. GAO’s report on Ashcroft FOIA policy