HELIN Task Force on Electronic Archiving Report

Report of the HELIN Electronic Archiving Task Force, appointed from the HELIN Serials Committee and the HELIN Collection Development Committee

EIFL and Library Group Comments on Updated Draft WIPO CMO Toolkit (2021)

EIFL and partner organizations in the library, archives and museum communities responded to a public consultation to provide additional comments on the updated draft WIPO Good Practice Toolkit for Collective Management Organizations (CMOs), released on 27 May 2021. Publication of the updated draft Toolkit follows an earlier consultation that took place in April 2021. The updated version of the Toolkit contains an expanded section on supervision and monitoring of CMOs (Section 13). We noted three concerns in the updated Section 13, in particular. In our comments, we propose a number of amendments to address the concerns in Section 13, along with suggestions in other parts of the text to provide clarifications or to iron out ambiguities. The final, updated version of the CMO Toolkit will be published at the end of September 2021. The additional were submitted to WIPO together with the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA), the International Council of Archives (ICA), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the Society of American Archivists (SAA)

SelectedWorks User Guide

Guide provides instructions for new and existing users of SelectedWorks, a companion product of eCommons designed to collect an author\u27s scholarly work in one location from many different collections in the Digital Commons network

Statements to the WIPO Standing Committee on Committee on Copyright and Related Rights

As an NGO accredited with permanent observer status at WIPO, EIFL has the opportunity to make interventions at sessions of WIPO committees and meetings EIFL advocates at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for an international copyright framework that benefits libraries in developing and transition economy countries. We participate in sessions of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) that usually meets in Geneva twice a year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, just one SCCR took place in 2021, in hybrid mode (online for observers and limited physical participation for member state delegates). We work with Member States and the WIPO Secretariat to increase understanding of library copyright issues in the digital environment and to encourage support for international copyright law reform. We also participate from time to time in other WIPO meetings, such as the annual WIPO Assemblies, and we cooperate with other NGOs on areas of common interest

Replica Placement on Bounded Treewidth Graphs

We consider the replica placement problem: given a graph with clients and nodes, place replicas on a minimum set of nodes to serve all the clients; each client is associated with a request and maximum distance that it can travel to get served and there is a maximum limit (capacity) on the amount of request a replica can serve. The problem falls under the general framework of capacitated set covering. It admits an O(\log n)-approximation and it is NP-hard to approximate within a factor of $o(\log n)$. We study the problem in terms of the treewidth $t$ of the graph and present an O(t)-approximation algorithm.Comment: An abridged version of this paper is to appear in the proceedings of WADS'1

Rural and urban vernacular architecture of the Mediterranean : a source for contemporary, contextual, architectural design solutions

This paper addresses the rural and urban vernacular architecture of the Maltese archipelago, a group of islands in the centre of the Mediterranean. It has long been acknowledged that the islands boast of a long cultural legacy dating back to the Neolithic period. By means of two contemporary case studies from Gozo, the second largest island of the group, this paper illustrates contextual architectural design solutions which are inspired by vernacular language. Although both case studies are located in the village of Xewkija, one is in a rural setting whilst the other is an urban one. Thus, following a brief section which makes reference to the definition of the vernacular, the paper outlines the vernacular architecture of the islands. It concludes by making reference to the recent health and sanitary regulations which reinforce the former, vernacular insensitive, mid-nineteenth sanitary provisions, thus negatively impinging on the well-being of society.peer-reviewe

Personal Data and individual access control. The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems

Autonomous and Intelligent systems (A/IS) are developing faster than the supporting standards and regulation required for transparency and societal protections can keep pace. The impact of these systems on society is direct and considerable. A/IS require data to fuel learning, and inform automatic decision-making. Increasingly this data is personal data, or personally identifiable information, known as PII. PII is defined as any data that can be reasonably linked to an individual based on their unique physical, digital, or virtual identity. As a result, through every digital transaction (explicit or observed) humans are generating a unique digital shadow of their physical self. Ethical considerations regarding data are often focused largely on issues of privacy — what rights should a person have to keep certain information to themselves or have input into how it is shared? However, individuals currently lack clarity around how to access, organize, and share their data to ensure unintended consequences are not the Laws are generally enforceable result. Without clarity, these issues will continue to reflect negatively on the proliferation of the A/IS industry. The aim of this Committee is to set out the ethical considerations in the collection and use of personal data when designing, developing, and/or deploying A/IS. Furthermore, to entreat all global (A/IS) technologists (academics, engineers, programmers, manufacturers, and policy makers) to proactively prioritize and include individuals in the data processes that directly relate to their identity. There is a fundamental need for people to have the right to define access and provide informed consent with respect to the use of their personal data (as they do in the physical world). Individuals require mechanisms to help curate their unique identity and personal data in conjunction with policies and practices that make them explicitly aware of consequences resulting from the bundling or resale of their personal information and life experiences. Enabling individuals to curate their identities and manage the ethical implications of their data use will remain essential to human culture everywhere in the world. While some may choose only minimum compliance to legislation like the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), forward-thinking organizations will shift their data strategy (marketing, product, and sales) to enable methods of harnessing volunteered intentions from customers (or in governmental contexts, citizens), versus only invisibly tracking their attention or actions. For individuals to be at the center of their data, policy makers and society at large will need to rethink the nature of standards and human rights as they have been applied to the physical world and to re-contextualize their application in the digital world. While standards exist, or are in production relating to augmented and virtual reality, human rights law, privacy and data, it is still largely not understood how human agency, emotion, and the legal issues regarding identity will be affected on a large scale by society once A/IS technologies become ubiquitous. The goal of the analysis of these ethical issues and considerations by this Committee regarding data usage and identity is to foster a positive and inclusive vision for our shared future. To accomplish this goal, this document is focused on the following themes: 1. Digital Personas 2. Regional Jurisdiction 3. Agency and Control 4. Transparency and Access 5. Symmetry and Consent We have also created an Appendix document listing key resources referenced in the following section. Addressing these issues and establishing safeguards prioritizing the protection and assets of individuals regarding privacy and personal data in the realms of A/IS is of paramount importance today. To that end, since the creation of the first draft of Ethically Aligned Design this Committee recommended ideas for the following IEEE Standards Working Groups which have been and approved and are free for all to join (click on links for details): • IEEE P7002™, Data Privacy Process • IEEE P7004™, Standard on Child and Student Data Governance • IEEE P7005™, Standard on Employer Data Governance • IEEE P7006™, Standard for Personal Data Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agent The goal of this Committee is that our recommendations, in conjunction with the development and release of these Standards once adopted, will expedite the prioritization and inclusion of all global individuals in the data processes that directly relate to their identity