Issue no. 389 - 22 June 2008

• EU - Agreement between Cultural Institutions and Right Holders on Orphan Works (Europa)
  An agreement on copyright was signed by libraries, archives and right holders, in the presence of Commissioner Viviane Reding. The Memorandum of Understanding on orphan works will help cultural institutions to digitise books, films and music whose authors are unknown, making them available to the public online. In parallel, the High Level Group on Digital Libraries, chaired by Viviane Reding, adopted practical guidelines for partnerships between cultural institutions and private organisations. In relation to copyright issues, the High Level Group adopted a final report in which it endorsed a new model license for making works that are out of print or out of distribution accessible for all on the internet. It also gave guidance on copyright issues related to the preservation of web-content by cultural institutions. In the area of scientific information, publishers and scientists presented the progress of a large scale project on the effects of open access to scientific journals.

Issue no. 388 - 1 June 2008

• Microsoft To Shut Live Search Books (Washington Post)
  Microsoft is shutting down its book digitization initiative, which launched in 2006. The company has digitized 750,000 books and indexed 80 million journal articles to date. Google's competing product, Book Search, is adding 3,000 books per day to their index, although they have not disclosed the total number of books scanned. The company said "Based on our experience, we foresee that the best way for a search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content repositories created by book publishers and libraries."

Issue no. 384 - 24 February 2008

• Cellphones take spotlight at Cannes music show (IHT)
  The mobile phone is now the world's best-selling portable music device - even if most people don't play tunes on their phone. An MP3 player is almost standard on any midrange or high-end phone coming to market these days. Orange is about to open digital music stores in a half-dozen countries. The Orange stores will not be just for phone users, however. They will be on the Web, and anyone with an Internet connection can buy. In addition, Orange customers will be able to get their downloads from either their computer or their phone. Internet access is key for music on phones. Nokia said that 75 percent of customers were "sideloading" music from their computers to their phones via a cable, while 25 percent were downloading the tunes over the air.

• Could social networking sites save the music industry? (IHT)
  Especially among 15- to 25-year-olds, people seem to need their peers to validate their musical tastes, making the Internet a perfect medium for the intersection of MP3s and mob psychology. The challenge is to draw young people away from file-sharing networks that don't bother with legal licenses. So "added value" has become the new hook, or as one industry participant put it at a music industry gathering this week, "a better form of free." Imeem and Bebo are two Web sites trading on the idea that music is a social phenomenon, and that the Internet is the place to be to gather around it. Imeem asks, "What's on your playlist?," while Bebo calls itself a "social media network."

Issue no. 383 - 27 January 2008

• From major to minor (Economist)
  Last year was terrible for the recorded-music majors. The next few years are likely to be even worse.

• UK - BBC Worldwide signs MySpace deal (Guardian)
  BBC Worldwide has struck a deal with MySpace to make programmes including Doctor Who and Top Gear available to the website's 100 million-plus global users. The partnership will initially see around 150 clips of BBC programming made available online via a dedicated BBC Worldwide channel on the social networking website's video service, MySpaceTV. The MySpace deal is only the second of its kind BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, has struck following reaching an agreement with YouTube in March last year.

Issue no. 382 - 6 January 2008

• EU - Creative Content Online in Europe's Single Market (RAPID)
  The Commission has adopted a Communication on "Creative Content Online in Europe's Single Market". In the Communication, the Commission identifies four main, horizontal challenges which merit further action at EU-level:
  • Availability of creative content. Owners of creative content are sometimes reluctant to make it available for online distribution.
  • Multi-territory licensing for creative content.
  • Interoperability and transparency of Digital Rights Management systems (DRMs).
  • Legal offers and piracy.
  The Commission is launching a public consultation in order to prepare an EU Recommendation on Creative Content Online for adoption by the European Parliament and the Council. Stakeholders are invited to comment on today's Communication by 29 February 2008. In addition, the Commission will set up the "Content Online Platform", a stakeholders' forum.

• Google debuts knowledge project (BBC)
  Google has kicked off a project to create an authoritative store of information about any and every topic. The search giant has already started inviting people to write about the subject on which they are known to be an expert. The system will centre around authored articles created with a tool Google has dubbed "knol" - the word denotes a unit of knowledge - that will make webpages with a distinctive livery to identify them as authoritative.

Issue no. 381 - 8 December 2007

• EU - The European Approach to Promoting "Content Online" (Europa)
  Speech by Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media. High Level Seminar on European Audiovisual Content Online, Lisbon, 9 October 2007.

• Launch of European digital library "on track" (RAPID)
  A high level group on digital libraries met Commission officials in Brussels to discuss progress towards launching the European digital library. A European digital library foundation has recently been created. This formalises the agreement of European archives, museums, audiovisual archives and libraries to work together and to provide a common access point to Europe's cultural heritage online.

Issue no. 380 - 30 September 2007

• British Library books go digital (BBC)
  More than 100,000 old books previously unavailable to the public will go online thanks to a mass digitisation programme at the British Library. The programme focuses on 19th Century books, many of which are unknown as few were reprinted after first editions. The library believes online access to the titles will help teachers.

• Clicks and links will bring all the walls tumbling down (Guardian)
  The New York Times has just abandoned its two-year effort to charge for content online, taking down TimesSelect, the pay wall around its columnists and much of its archives. So content is now and forever free. That isn't because people won't pay for content - some did. It's because there is a new economy of content online that isn't built on scarcity and control but instead relies on the idea that content must be public and permanent to realise its value in the wider conversation.

Issue no. 378 - 5 August 2007

• All the news that's fit to link (CNET News.com)
  The humble hyperlink ought to be counted high in the ranks of digital-age phenomena that have transformed the face of news reporting and consumption. In one sense, it's the 21st-century equivalent of a newspaper running an Associated Press or Reuters wire story instead of assigning one of its own reporters to the task. On the other hand, the hyperlink is the foundation behind a phenomenon that's purely Web 2.0.: the news aggregator.

• EU - MEPs vote to create a European digital library (EUObserver)
  European lawmakers have called for the creation of a multilingual European digital library aimed at securing easy access to the continent's cultural heritage. MEPs in the European Parliament's culture committee unanimously adopted a report - 'i2010: Easy access to European cultural heritage' - by French centre-right MEP Marie-Hélène Descamps.

• How digital technology is changing the way cinemas work (Economist)
  A rapidly growing number of cinemas are going digital. Over 3,000 North American screens have been converted, nearly two-thirds of them in the past year. Some download films and advertisements via satellite, and others have films delivered on hard drives (which are a lot smaller, lighter and cheaper than big reels of film). America's biggest chains, which have lagged behind, will start to convert cinemas next year. And Europe, which has trailed even further, should catch up thanks to a deal announced this month with two Hollywood studios.

Issue no. 377 - 5 July 2007

• Hanging up on ringtones (Guardian)
  With the market for downloadable over-the-air content flat, operators and music companies are looking to other ways of making money from mobiles, says Adam Webb.

Issue no. 375 - 9 May 2007

• OECD - Study on Participative Web: User-created content (OECD)
  The concept of the "participative web" is based on an Internet increasingly influenced by intelligent web services that empower the user to contribute to developing, rating, collaborating on and distributing Internet content and customising Internet applications. This study describes the rapid growth of "user-created content" (UCC), its increasing role in worldwide communication and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are associated challenges? Is there a government role and what form could it take?

• Push for open access to research (BBC)
  Internet law professor Michael Geist takes a look at a fundamental shift in the way research journals become available to the public. Last month five leading European research institutions launched a petition that called on the European Commission to establish a new policy that would require all government-funded research to be made available to the public shortly after publication. That requirement - called an open access principle - would leverage widespread internet connectivity with low-cost electronic publication to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe

Issue no. 372 - 25 February 2007

• EU - Growth for creative content online, (RAPID)
  Revenue from online content will reach ?8.3 billion by 2010 in Europe, a growth of over 400% in five years, says 'Interactive Content and Convergence: Implications for the information Society', a new study for the European Commission. For the most advanced sectors, online content will represent a significant share of total revenue: about 20% for music and 33% for video games. Thanks to the spread of broadband, the roll-out of advanced mobile networks, and the massive adoption of digital devices, the study shows that mass market online content distribution is becoming a reality, creating unique opportunities for Europe.

• EU - Scientific information in the digital age: Ensuring current and future access for research and innovation (RAPID)
  Access to research results has a significant role to play in driving innovation and maintaining the quality of research. Developments in digital technology challenge existing business models and practices for making research results available, and with open access research funding bodies are taking different approaches. The Commission has thereforelaunched a policy document to examine how new digital technologies can be better used to increase access to research publications and data as an important driver for innovation in our increasingly knowledge-based economy.

• UK - BBC's download plans get backing (BBC)
  TV shows like Doctor Who are expected to be available for download after the BBC Trust gave initial approval to the BBC's on-demand plans. Viewers will be able to watch popular programmes online or download them to a home computer up to a week after they are broadcast. But the trust imposed tough conditions on classical music, which could stop a repeat of the BBC's Beethoven podcasts.

Issue no. 370 - 3 December 2006

• EU - Cultural diversity and creative rights (RAPID)
  Speech by Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. Cultural Diversity and Creative Rights Conference, Brussels, 29 November 2006.

• UK - This is me, reporting for the BBC (Guardian)
  BBC News 24 is to launch what it has billed as the UK's first news programme based entirely on user generated content. Your News will broadcast stories, features and videos that have proved most popular with viewers on television and the internet.

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