[liberationtech] Ensuring Free Access to Ideas in Public Spaces?

[Michael Allan]

Hi Nick,

In a recent search, I came across these folks: http://www.ifla.org/
See in particular their mailing lists and their FAIFE committee:
http://www.ifla.org/mailing-lists
http://www.ifla.org/about-faife

Hope this is helpful,
-- 
Michael Allan

Toronto, +1 416-699-9528
http://zelea.com/w/User:Mike-ZeleaCom/in


> Hi folks,
> 
> Thanks to the awesomeness that is TA3M [0], I've had a chance to talk
> with a few librarians who're somewhat disappointed by the fact that it's
> difficult to freely access knowledge at libraries: all Internet access
> is filtered and surveiled, reducing the freedom of expression and the
> free exchange of ideas.  So, I promised I'd reach out to folks to see
> what, if anything, we can do about the situation.
> 
> First, what technologies could public libraries employ that would ensure
> or best facilitate intellectual freedom, free expression and free access
> to ideas when people use the library?  Different libraries will have
> different connectivity structures, so this is a fairly broad question.
> 
> I think there's a more fundamental question, though, which is figuring
> out how to make libraries again responsible for providing unencumbered
> access to ideas.  I don't know how to do this.  I could help draft
> standards-language for "The Responsibilities of Libraries to the Public"
> but perhaps there's already such a document out there that could be
> updated or re-enforced.  At this point, I'm trying to start a
> discussion.
> 
> Thanks for your time,
> Nick
> 
> 0: http://wiki.openitp.org/events:techno-activism_3rd_mondays