Law Library 2.0: New Roles for Law Librarians in the Information Overload Era

WWW has rapidly evolved from a technological into a social medium. Web 2.0 has become a metaphor for the distributed and decentralized collaboration networks on a global scale. With the recent trends of new media development, the sources available have reached a critical mass resulting in an unprecedented information overload. The urgent challenge to all information professionals, in this case law librarians, is no longer availability and direct provision of resources, but rather the filtering and highlighting the ubiquitous Infosphere. The recent transformation of legal information has had more drastic consequences than in many other cases. The Cornell Law Library recognizes the new role of law librarians as advocates of free access and open source and, in parallel, as guides through the information overload and coaches of critical thinking of IT

Law Library 2.0: New Roles for Law Librarians in the Information Overload Era

WWW has rapidly evolved from a technological into a social medium. Web 2.0 has become a metaphor for the distributed and decentralized collaboration networks on a global scale. With the recent trends of new media development, the sources available have reached a critical mass resulting in an unprecedented information overload. The urgent challenge to all information professionals, in this case law librarians, is no longer availability and direct provision of resources, but rather the filtering and highlighting the ubiquitous Infosphere. The recent transformation of legal information has had more drastic consequences than in many other cases. The Cornell Law Library recognizes the new role of law librarians as advocates of free access and open source and, in parallel, as guides through the information overload and coaches of critical thinking of IT

E-Culture Design in Batubara District by Implementing Web-Based Crowdsourcing Methods

The development of technology today is very rapid and makes it easier for humans to access various information that they want to know by using technology in the form of the internet. E-Cultural is a cultural digitization system that utilizes internet technology to increase efficiency in the field of culture, especially in terms of documentation, dissemination of information as well as knowledge of elements of culture. At this time, web-based information regarding tourism and culture of Batubara Regency is not yet available, the public can only introduce it through social media such as Facebook, Instagram and other media. Lack of legal media at the Batu Bara District Youth, Sports and Culture Service and Tourism to promote tourism and culture in the Batubara District. This prompted the author to create a legal system so that the Batubara Regency Cultural Sports Youth Service can promote tourism and culture by involving the global community. Therefore, this research uses the crowdsourcing method, namely that there is unlimited involvement and regardless of background for everyone who wants to make a contribution, whether paid or free. In the system that I will create, the global community can play a role in updating data or information on the website as well as using the waterfall development method, namely analysis, design, implementation and testing. The results of the development of E-Culture in Batubara Regency using the crowdsourcing method have had a good impact, by making it easier for the local community to promote culture and tourism in their are

The Trust and Distrust of Intellectual Property Rights

In the past, intellectual property issues were considered complex, obscure, and highly technical; they were only of interest and concern to intellectual property attorneys, legal scholars, technology developers, and rightsholders. Thanks to the Internet and new communications technologies, however, intellectual property has now begun to play a more significant role in society. In December 2003, the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Geneva. While the conference affirmed the importance of intellectual property rights and free access to information and knowledge, the resulting Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action fail to address issues concerning the recent expansion of intellectual property rights. Being vague and abstract, the documents also fail to provide concrete actions as to how the international community can improve the international intellectual property regime. This book chapter examines the international intellectual property regime as it relates to the development of an inclusive global information society. Part I provides an overview of the various intellectual property rights and justifications for protecting these rights. Part II explores the increased distrust of the intellectual property system, especially among less developed countries, human rights advocates, development specialists, and those on the unfortunate side of the digital divide. Part III delineates five prerequisites for the development of a fair, balanced, and robust international intellectual property regime: (1) thorough understanding, (2) balanced debate, (3) effective dialogue, (4) fair regime, and (5) global solidarity. Part IV concludes by critically examining the intellectual property-related portions of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action

The Trust and Distrust of Intellectual Property Rights

In the past, intellectual property issues were considered complex, obscure, and highly technical; they were only of interest and concern to intellectual property attorneys, legal scholars, technology developers, and rightsholders. Thanks to the Internet and new communications technologies, however, intellectual property has now begun to play a more significant role in society. In December 2003, the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Geneva. While the conference affirmed the importance of intellectual property rights and free access to information and knowledge, the resulting Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action fail to address issues concerning the recent expansion of intellectual property rights. Being vague and abstract, the documents also fail to provide concrete actions as to how the international community can improve the international intellectual property regime. This book chapter examines the international intellectual property regime as it relates to the development of an inclusive global information society. Part I provides an overview of the various intellectual property rights and justifications for protecting these rights. Part II explores the increased distrust of the intellectual property system, especially among less developed countries, human rights advocates, development specialists, and those on the unfortunate side of the digital divide. Part III delineates five prerequisites for the development of a fair, balanced, and robust international intellectual property regime: (1) thorough understanding, (2) balanced debate, (3) effective dialogue, (4) fair regime, and (5) global solidarity. Part IV concludes by critically examining the intellectual property-related portions of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action

Collaboration and open access to Law: How can Web 2.0 technologies help us understand the law?

With 4 billion people excluded from the Rule of Law, United-Nations Development Programs’ Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor established that a first strategy to foster access to justice and the rule of law would call on the greater dissemination of legal information and the creation of peer groups to provide self-help. This essay discusses how the global Legal Information Institute movement could employ collaborative technologies, also called Web 2.0, in light of the UNDP-CLEP’s vision. These non-profit organisations compile a free and open archive of primary legal materials, namely laws and court rulings, on the Internet. Based on current examples and technological tools from the field, we establish an analytical framework called the Collaborative Document Management Framework. The CDMF is comprised of two entities, agents and documents, that interact in four relationships: links; conversations or exchanges; consumption; and writing. We then apply this framework to the specific case of legal documentation

Collaboration and open access to Law: How can Web 2.0 technologies help us understand the law?

With 4 billion people excluded from the Rule of Law, United-Nations Development Programs’ Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor established that a first strategy to foster access to justice and the rule of law would call on the greater dissemination of legal information and the creation of peer groups to provide self-help. This essay discusses how the global Legal Information Institute movement could employ collaborative technologies, also called Web 2.0, in light of the UNDP-CLEP’s vision. These non-profit organisations compile a free and open archive of primary legal materials, namely laws and court rulings, on the Internet. Based on current examples and technological tools from the field, we establish an analytical framework called the Collaborative Document Management Framework. The CDMF is comprised of two entities, agents and documents, that interact in four relationships: links; conversations or exchanges; consumption; and writing. We then apply this framework to the specific case of legal documentation

Legal Protection of Sui Generis Databases

It is undeniable that databases are an essential building block of the Information Society. Today, every business in developed countries operates fully based upon clientele databases, economic statistics, and industries profiles; and innovation and invention rely heavily on collections of facts, data and information that scientists discovered in research and development or exchanged among them. Legislatures have envisaged a need and significance of the free flow of access to information, thereby prescribing copyright protection only to creative selection and arrangement of the contents of databases, not the factual contents contained within. However, the advent of technology avails unconventional methods of copying, altering, and recompiling to manipulate the contents of databases. Anyone can make use of technology, gather information, recompile them, and take this opportunity to enter into market, being possessed by original players and creating unfair competition. Original database makers, therefore, are suffering from losses in investment and crying for a legal solution, giving rise to possible intellectual property right of sui generis databases or a right of its own kind. Throughout history, it is clear that copyright extends only to the creative or expressive contents, not the underlying facts, data, or information. Although there were battles between publishers or authors, copyright law meant to reward creative genius rather than contribution of finance or pure labor. Over centuries, its rationale remained unchanged, promoting a proper balance of author\u27s incentive to complement creativity cycle and the public\u27s free and open access to information to keep the market place of ideas intact. For the protection of collections and compilations, Article 2(5) of the Berne Convention makes clear that it extends only to the creative elements of the selection and arrangement of the contents. However, it is insufficient for database industries who have contributed capitals and entrepreneurial efforts in the making of databases. To maximize profit, lobbyists from database industries have urged their governments to recognize a property right in the compiled facts and information resulted from entrepreneurial effort alone. This endeavor has reached not only national level, but also international. Such concept of protection, thus, opposes the principle of the free flow of access to information that copyright law has promoted. The scientists and those, who are in the educational field, express concern that such regime impedes the free flow of access to facts, data, and information by increasing a cost to access them. Developing and least developed countries worry about negative impacts of sui generis protection on their socio-economic infrastructure, particularly human resources development, not only because of an increasing cost to access, but a fear of losing their traditional knowledge, such as collections of undeveloped medical plants and compilations of unimproved medical treatments. A justifiable intellectual property right in sui generis databases, if any, must be considered and based upon the concept to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedom for all in the global society to benefit from the progress of science and the use of arts and literatures

Legal Protection of Sui Generis Databases

It is undeniable that databases are an essential building block of the Information Society. Today, every business in developed countries operates fully based upon clientele databases, economic statistics, and industries profiles; and innovation and invention rely heavily on collections of facts, data and information that scientists discovered in research and development or exchanged among them. Legislatures have envisaged a need and significance of the free flow of access to information, thereby prescribing copyright protection only to creative selection and arrangement of the contents of databases, not the factual contents contained within. However, the advent of technology avails unconventional methods of copying, altering, and recompiling to manipulate the contents of databases. Anyone can make use of technology, gather information, recompile them, and take this opportunity to enter into market, being possessed by original players and creating unfair competition. Original database makers, therefore, are suffering from losses in investment and crying for a legal solution, giving rise to possible intellectual property right of sui generis databases or a right of its own kind. Throughout history, it is clear that copyright extends only to the creative or expressive contents, not the underlying facts, data, or information. Although there were battles between publishers or authors, copyright law meant to reward creative genius rather than contribution of finance or pure labor. Over centuries, its rationale remained unchanged, promoting a proper balance of author\u27s incentive to complement creativity cycle and the public\u27s free and open access to information to keep the market place of ideas intact. For the protection of collections and compilations, Article 2(5) of the Berne Convention makes clear that it extends only to the creative elements of the selection and arrangement of the contents. However, it is insufficient for database industries who have contributed capitals and entrepreneurial efforts in the making of databases. To maximize profit, lobbyists from database industries have urged their governments to recognize a property right in the compiled facts and information resulted from entrepreneurial effort alone. This endeavor has reached not only national level, but also international. Such concept of protection, thus, opposes the principle of the free flow of access to information that copyright law has promoted. The scientists and those, who are in the educational field, express concern that such regime impedes the free flow of access to facts, data, and information by increasing a cost to access them. Developing and least developed countries worry about negative impacts of sui generis protection on their socio-economic infrastructure, particularly human resources development, not only because of an increasing cost to access, but a fear of losing their traditional knowledge, such as collections of undeveloped medical plants and compilations of unimproved medical treatments. A justifiable intellectual property right in sui generis databases, if any, must be considered and based upon the concept to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedom for all in the global society to benefit from the progress of science and the use of arts and literatures

Implementing the Right to Information as a Key Element of Freedom of Expression in the BRICS Countries

The category of rights and freedoms, including the right to access information and the right to self-expression, is not immutable. Rights and freedoms are a byproduct of the historical development of society and represent a socio-cultural phenomenon that reflects the historical identity of peoples and countries throughout the world. As a result, each legal system has its own legal concept of rights and freedoms, without which the crisis-free development of a particular state is impossible. This is because the degree to which citizens’ rights to self-expression and information are realized has a direct impact on the overall quality of a democratic system. This article analyzes the sectoral normative legal acts of the BRICS countries that regulate the right to information. Based on the data obtained, a comparison was made between restrictions and prohibitions regarding the exercise of the right to information. Furthermore, the article describes and analyzes the main approaches to assessing and determining the index of democracy in the world. Based on the comparison of the democracy index, the global ranking of the right to information and the global ranking of the civilian population, a formula for calculating democracy was derived. The degree of democracy in the BRICS countries was then calculated using the formula obtained, and a regional ranking of democracy within the BRICS countries was compiled. The authors believe that providing citizens with the opportunity to fully exercise their right to information, which would be impossible without the balanced participation of the state, results in the creation of an objective information environment, which in turn provides citizens with the opportunity to justly exercise their right to self-expression. In this regard, it is self-evident that democracy is closely connected with the full realization of the right to information. Today it plays akey role in citizens’ exercise of their right to self-expression