US - Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences goes Open Access

(Ars Technica)
In recent years, the Open Access movement in academic publishing has been gathering steam, with the growth of open access journals such as PLoS and mandates from funding bodies such as the NIH that require authors to deposit copies of their work into open databases. Now that 800lb. gorilla of academe, Harvard University, has started to throw its weight behind the spread of Open Access publishing. Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences has voted to require faculty to make copies of their research freely available through the Office of Scholarly Communications.

Labels: Digital_content, Open_source_open_access

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.

Labels: Digital_content, Mobile_and_wireless

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."

Labels: Digital_content, Social_networking

UK - Writers' digital row with library

(BBC)
Scores of writers are refusing to let their works be scanned for an online archive at the National Library of Wales because they are not being paid. A year after a near-£1m project was awarded to digitise modern Welsh writing, a dispute between authors and the library has not been resolved. The library is putting some 3.5m words from 20th Century English and Welsh periodicals and magazines on the web.

Labels: Copyright_trademarks_and_patents, Digital_content

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.

Labels: Digital_content

From major to minor

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

Labels: Digital_content

UK - Apple to cut UK download prices

(BBC)
Apple has announced that it will cut the price it charges for music downloads in the UK from its iTunes music store within the next six months. The cut will bring the UK into line with the charges in the rest of Europe. Apple currently charges 79 pence per download in the UK, compared with 99 euro cents (74p) in the rest of Europe. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes welcomed the move, saying that it would "allow consumers to benefit from a truly single market for music downloads". A Commission spokesman said the settlement had been the result of direct talks between Ms Kroes and Apple boss Steve Jobs. see also Commission Press Release.

Labels: Copyright_trademarks_and_patents, Digital_content

EU - Creative Content Online in Europe's Single Market

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 ? by mid 2008 ? 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.

Labels: Digital_content

EU - Commission authorises French aid scheme for video game creation

(RAPID)
The European Commission has authorised, under the EC Treaty rules on state aid, a French tax credit aimed at encouraging video game creation. This tax credit may be granted only to video games that meet the criteria of quality, originality, and contributing to cultural diversity. After an in-depth investigation, the Commission has concluded that this measure qualifies for the exemption provided for by the EC Treaty for aid to promote culture. See also UK Government and ELSPA speak out on French tax breaks (MCV).

Labels: Competition, Digital_content, Video_games

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.

Labels: Digital_content

DE - Merkel startet "Netz für Kinder"

(Heise)
Mit dem Portal fragFINN.de ist der erste geschützte Internet-Bereich für Kinder in Deutschland gestartet. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) schaltete am Donnerstag in Berlin die Webseite frei, die Zugang zu ausschließlich kindergerechten Angeboten bieten soll. In das "Netz für Kinder" stellt eine Redaktion nur geprüfte Inhalte ein. fragFINN.de soll als Startseite im Webbrowser dienen. Mit einem Browser-Plugin kann zusätzlich der Zugang zu nicht von fragFINN.de genehmigten Seiten verhindert werden; das Plugin steht bislang nur für den Internet-Explorer zur Verfügung, eine Firefox-Version soll in Kürze folgen.

Labels: Digital_content, Protection_of_minors

Games content 'concerns parents'

(BBC)
More than 75% of parents are concerned about the content of video games played by their children, a survey suggests. Almost half of the 4,000 parents surveyed in the UK, France, Italy and Germany said that one hour of gaming each day should be the limit. Some 43% of the surveyed parents said they were not aware of ratings systems for games to determine suitability. The survey comes as Dr Tanya Byron conducts a separate review of games and their impact on UK children.

Labels: Digital_content, Protection_of_minors, Statistics, Video_games

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.

Labels: Digital_content

US - RIAA tries to pull plug on Usenet.

(Declan McCullagh)
The Recording Industry Association of America has found a new legal target for a copyright lawsuit: Usenet. In a lawsuit, the RIAA says that Usenet newsgroups contain "millions of copyrighted sound recordings" in violation of federal law. Only Usenet.com is named as a defendant for now, but the same logic would let the RIAA sue hundreds of universities, Internet service providers, and other newsgroup archives. AT&T offers Usenet, as does Verizon, Stanford University and other companies including Giganews.

Labels: Copyright_trademarks_and_patents, Digital_content, Open_source_open_access

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

Labels: Digital_content

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.

Labels: Digital_content

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.

Labels: Digital_content

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.

Labels: Digital_content

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.

Labels: Digital_content

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

Labels: Digital_content, Mobile_and_wireless

Game net distribution 'lift off'

(BBC)
Steam, an online distribution platform for videogame content, has signed up more than 13 million users, the system's owners Valve has said. More than 150 PC games can be downloaded via Steam and the system has also been used to automate more than 2,500 updates to existing games. Digital distribution of game content is a growing segment of the industry. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have all started online services for downloading games onto consoles.

Labels: Digital_content, Video_games

BBC iPlayer: free TV, radio programme downloads on demand - preview

(A Consuming Experience)
by Improbulus. This is a first look at the BBC iPlayer, the umbrella term for "catchup TV" and other "on demand" services proposed by the BBC's management. The new services were finally approved on 30 April 2007 by the BBC Trust following an extensive public consultation - but with a couple of changes.

Labels: Digital_content

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?

Labels: Digital_content

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.

Labels: Digital_content, Open_source_open_access

2007-06-21 Geneva ITU/EBU High-Level Experts Meeting on Competitive Platforms for Digital Content

(ITU)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are jointly organizing a high-level experts meeting to identify global trends and to address the new technological and policy challenges in the digital content delivery environment. The ITU/EBU High-Level Experts Meeting on 'Competitive Platforms for Digital Content' will be held from 21 to 22 June 2007 at EBU Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. It is a unique opportunity which will bring together the world's leading ICT companies, decision-makers, international organizations and governments for a high-level meeting to facilitate the creation of new opportunities for growth in the digital content market.

Labels: Digital_content, Forthcoming_events