ALAWON v6, n103 - INTERNET COPYRIGHT BILL; IT LITERACY: INPUT NEEDED
ALAWASH E-MAIL (ALAWASH@ALAWASH.ORG)
Fri, 21 Nov 1997 17:01:51 -0500
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 17:01:51 -0500
Message-Id: <199711212207.RAA28450@comet.connix.com>
From: ALAWASH E-MAIL (ALAWASH E-MAIL) <ALAWASH@ALAWASH.ORG> (by way of mgolrick@sclc.org (Michael A. Golrick))
To: Multiple recipients of list <conntech>
Subject: ALAWON v6, n103 - INTERNET COPYRIGHT BILL; IT LITERACY: INPUT NEEDED
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ALAWON Volume 6, Number 103
ISSN 1069-7799 November 21, 1997
American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
In this issue: (213 lines)
-AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION URGES STRONG SUPPORT FOR
COMPREHENSIVE NEW INTERNET COPYRIGHT BILL;
REPS. RICK BOUCHER AND TOM CAMPBELL APPLAUDED
-INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LITERACY STUDY UNDERWAY; INPUT REQUESTED
_________________________________________________________________
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION URGES STRONG SUPPORT FOR
COMPREHENSIVE NEW INTERNET COPYRIGHT BILL; REPS. RICK BOUCHER AND
TOM CAMPBELL APPLAUDED
The American Library Association (ALA) is urging all librarians
to strongly support legislation proposed by Rep. Rick Boucher
(D-Va.) and Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) just hours before the First
Session of the 105th Congress adjourned Nov. 13.
Designed to update the U.S. Copyright Act for the electronic
networked environment, the Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act
of 1997 (H.R. 3048) would amend the Copyright Act to make clear
that the needs of both information proprietors and consumers must
be protected.
"Reps. Boucher and Campbell have introduced exactly the type
of balanced and visionary copyright legislation that our nation
needs to ensure that everyone benefits from the Internet's
tremendous promise," said Barbara J. Ford, president of the
58,000-member American Library Association. "This excellent bill
balances the needs of information proprietors with those of
information consumers like teachers, students, software designers
and library users everywhere. It is that balance that has made
the U.S. the technological and economic leader that it is and
must remain."
The Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act would amend current
copyright law to make clear that:
-the Fair Use Doctrine -- relied on by students, teachers,
journalists and others for reasonable access to information for
non-commercial purposes without the owner's advance permission --
applies in the digital environment;
-libraries and archives may use the latest technology to preserve
and store endangered materials;
-educators engaged in distance learning may use computer networks
to remotely distribute an appropriate variety of materials
directly related to a defined curriculum to students enrolled in
their classes;
-electronic copies of material incidentally or temporarily made
in the process of using a computer network may not serve as the
sole basis for copyright infringement liability; and and
individuals who deliberately use a computer network to violate
copyright laws should be subject to substantial civil (but not
criminal) liability;
-and federal copyright law, including rights and privileges that
afford access to information, cannot be overridden by
non-negotiated, take-it-or-leave-it licenses like those often
found shrink wrapped with computer software or increasingly in
on-line transactions.
ALA is a member of the Digital Future Coalition
(http://www.dfc.org), a group of 39 nonprofit educational,
scholarly, library and consumer groups, together with major
commercial trade associations representing leaders in the
consumer electronics, telecommunications, computer and network
access industries.
For more information, see the ALA Web page at http://www.ala.org
under Washington Office or contact Adam Eisgrau, Legislative
Counsel for ALA's Washington Office, at 202-628-8410, ext.
208.
_________________________________________________________________
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LITERACY STUDY UNDERWAY; INPUT REQUESTED
The ALA Washington Office and Office for Information Technology
Policy have been asked to distribute the attached request and to
identify individuals within the library community who are
particularly well-qualified to provide knowledgeable and
thoughtful answers to the questions below on information
technology literacy.
The library community is particularly well positioned to provide
input on this project being conducted by the Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council. The
NRC was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to
associate the broad community of science and technology with the
Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the
federal government.
Your help is needed to (1) redistribute this message and
attachment to all appropriate library listserves; and (2) please
forward immediately names, addresses, phone, fax, and e-mail
contacts of persons especially well-qualified to answer these
questions, and perhaps participate further in this project, to
Carol Henderson at the ALA Washington Office, cch@alawash.org or
fax to 202-628-8419. You may also, of course, recommend names to
the director of the study. Please note the December 15 and
February 2 deadlines in the attachment.
_________________________________________________________________
PLEASE POST WIDELY...
The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the
National Research Council is undertaking a project to explicate
the various dimensions of what might be called information
technology (IT) literacy, i.e., what everyone needs to know about
information technology. A major part of the project's task is to
develop a consensus for the appropriate definitions of everyone,
know, and information technology.
The committee responsible for this project is chaired by Larry
Snyder, professor of computer science and engineering at the
University of Washington -- the full membership of the committee
is attached to the end of this note.
Because the subject of IT literacy is subject to many differing
opinions, the committee has developed a number of questions for
which it hopes to generate a broad response. The set of
questions below has been developed for information management and
information retrieval professionals.
1 -- In an online information community, what should every
citizen know about information technology in order to make
effective use of the capabilities it enables? Please describe
each element of this knowledge (e.g., how to perform a net
search, how to understand its results) and briefly say why you
believe this is important. For each element, suggest what about
it you believe should be taught at what grade levels.
2 -- Two particularly important examples of new capabilities are
those of information searching and information presentation.
What are the basic principles that guide an effective search or
presentation? At what level should these principles be taught?
How should people learn about the limitations of searches and
presentations?
3 -- What learning experiences do students need to obtain the
skills and knowledge described in answer to Questions 1 and 2?
(Learning experiences can include both in-school and
out-of-school activities.) Please be specific, using examples
from your own teaching if possible.
4 -- What technological environment (computers, networks,
software, resources, etc.) is needed to support the learning
experiences described in Question 3?
The committee invites you to submit your answers to these
questions in the form of a short position paper (5 pages or
less); in addition, please identify your field of expertise and
your institutional affiliation. All responses will be considered
by the committee. In addition, respondents may be invited to
participate in a workshop to be held in Irvine, California on
January 14-15, 1998 whose purpose is to discuss answers to
these and other related questions. Or, they may be invited to
revise their position paper for inclusion in the committee's
final report.
DEADLINES:
-December 15, 1997, for those who wish to be considered for
participation in the workshop.
-February 1, 1998 for those who wish their input to be considered
by the committee.
E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR INPUT: IT-Lit@nas.edu
FAX FOR INPUT: 202-334-2318
U.S. MAIL ADDRESS FOR INPUT:
Dr. Herb Lin, Study Director
CSTB
National Research Council
Room HA-560
2101 Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20418
202-334-3191 voice
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
Lawrence Snyder, Chair, University of Washington
Alfred V. Aho, Columbia University
Marcia C. Linn, University of California, Berkeley
Arnold H. Packer, Johns Hopkins University
Allen B. Tucker, Jr., Bowdoin College
Jeffrey D. Ullman, Stanford University
Andries van Dam, Brown University
________________________________________________________________
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1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F)
Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V)
Lynne E. Bradley, Editor <leb@alawash.org>
Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor <alawash@alawash.org>
Contributors: Carol C. Henderson
Adam Eisgrau
All materials subject to copyright by the American Library
Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial
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