The following is the report that will be presented to the "Access and Social Impact Working Group" of the Information Highway Advisory Council by the Coalition for Public Information on Thursday, December 15, 1994 in Ottawa. The report is based on feed-back received to date through the "Future-Knowledge" public consultation process. This report represents the first part of the draft report that CPI will present at the end of the consultation process in March. Your comments on this report are welcomed and solicited. Please feel free to pass it on for further comment. Stan Skrzeszewski The Coalition for Public Information TOWARDS A PUBLIC POLICY ON UNIVERSAL ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION FOR THE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE. PRESENTED TO: THE "ACCESS AND SOCIAL IMPACT WORKING GROUP", INFORMATION HIGHWAY ADVISORY COUNCIL. PRESENTED BY: Stan Skrzeszewski THE COALITION FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION OTTAWA, ONTARIO. DECEMBER 15, 1994. The Coalition for Public Information (CPI) was formed in November of 1993 in order to ensure that the developing information infrastructure in Canada, the "Information Highway", serves the public interest, focuses on human communication, and provides universal access to information. A national organization, CPI's membership includes over three hundred individuals, organizations and public interest groups whose goal is to foster broad access to affordable, useable information and communication services and technology. The public needs a voice in the debates about who gets connected to the information highway, what the cost is, what kind of information is available and which rules apply. That is why the Coalition for Public Information was formed. In order to reflect the public voice, the Coalition has undertaken a major cross-Canada consultation process which will not be completed until March, 1995. The results will be compiled in Future-Knowledge: The Report which will be released at that time. This report today reflects some of very early feedback from the consultation process. We expect to add many more ideas and further revisions before we develop our formal position on these issues. A NATIONAL VISION The Coalition believes that the Government of Canada must develop a national vision based on a commitment to universal access to the information infrastructure. This vision must be supported by a national information access plan with a representative public body to oversee its implementation. The vision should be based on universal access and participation. UNIVERSAL ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION All Canadians have the right to fully participate in Canadian society and democracy, and therefore have the right of universal access and to full participation in the information infrastructure. The right of access and participation will be enabled through single-party, digital access lines and electronic access from the home, school, library and places of work and governance to interactive communications, government services, public information databases, commercial services and global connectivity. PRIMARY PRINCIPLES The Coalition for Public Information believes that universal access and participation should be based on four primary principles. I. Equitable Access and Ubiquity II. Pluralism of Expression and Intellectual freedom III. The Right to Privacy IV. Intellectual Property and Copyright If these principles are used as the basis of the policies, strategies and action plans that build Canada's information highway, then the highway will serve as a much needed catalyst to economic growth and it will also be of value to the public and to the public interest. It will be an investment not only in Canada's business future, but in the future of Canada's people as well. EQUITABLE ACCESS AND UBIQUITY The most critical and complex issue to be addressed is that of access to the emerging information infrastructure. The Coalition for Public Information believes that: .1 Public and private resources must be allocated to the development of the information infrastructure. The development of the information infrastructure must not be left to market forces alone. .2 Access to basic services, including broadband and switched services, should be universal, that is, access should be affordable to all. .3 Network access and connectivity should be made available regardless of geographic location. .4 Non-profit participation in the governance in the information superhighway is essential. .5 Diversity of access should be protected through the use of non-proprietary standards. .6 Network access costs for public funded information providers such as libraries, educational organizations, government entities and for non-profit groups should be stable, predictable and not distance sensitive. Access should be on a flat-rate basis. .7 The network should be designed in such a way so as to ensure ease of use, and must include directories that allow people to effectively search and locate information. PLURALISM OF EXPRESSION AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM Our Canadian society is one of the most diverse in the world. Our cultural diversity is firmly rooted in our tolerance of the views of all Canadian, and in our commitment to human rights, including freedom of expression. The Coalition for Public Information believes that: .1 The Canadian information infrastructure should encourage the expression of the ideas of all Canadians, regardless of age, religion, race, disability, sexual orientation, social and political views, national origin and economic status. .2 Those who will act as common carriers in the information infrastructure must guarantee the free flow of information in the spirit of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and provide open access on a non-discriminatory basis. .3 Individuals should have the right to choose the information they wish to receive, and the source of that information. .4 A diversity of information sources and providers, including non-profit organizations and community groups, should be encouraged in order to guarantee and open, fair and competitive marketplace, with a full range of viewpoints. .5 The individual should be protected from unwanted or unsolicited information, and from abuses of the information infrastructure. STRATEGIES 1. Universal Access and Ubiquity. .1 A Commitment to Universal Access and Ubiquity. The Coalition recommends that the Government of Canada must develop a national vision based on a commitment to ensuring that all Canadians are connected to the information infrastructure. .2 ISDN Since the current infrastructure combined with expanded ISDN service can provide most of the digital information services without requiring high bandwidth cabling the Coalition for Public Information recommends that regulations for infrastructure development for the information highway should provide incentives (eg.lower tariffs) for the proliferation of universal ISDN telephone service in advance or parallel to the proliferation of high bandwidth ATM fibre-optic services. .3 Training and Development Foundation Since universal access and participation will require broad-based training and ongoing support, and since the training program should be independent of government or corporate agendas the Coalition for Public Information recommends that telecommunications and cable television companies be required to pay a one-time levy for the establishment of a public interest foundation whose mandate will be to support efforts which ensure universal access to the information highway through training, equipment purchases, technical consulting, research and foundation grants. This foundation could be administered by the proposed National Access Board. .4 Public Participation The Coalition supports the commercialization of the information infrastructure since this will provide valuable services and business opportunities. However, commercialization must not deny access for non-profit groups, public agencies and individuals to high bandwidth networks. The Coalition for Public Information recommends that 20% of the carrying capacity of the future broadband networks be reserved for non-profit agencies and civic participation. .5 People with Disabilities The information highway will enable people with disabilities to have access to information and learning opportunities on the same basis as the general population. Participation in the current information infrastructure has been virtually impossible for those with impairments, such as blindness and other visual handicaps, because so much information is driven by print. Digital information opens a new opportunity for people with disabilities for full participation and access. Therefore the Coalition for Public Information recommends that the information infrastructure be made accessible through a variety of access methods, including visual and sound methods, so as to ensure universal access for all. .6 Access for People in Rural and Remote Areas. Since it is unlikely that ISDN or ATM will penetrate rural and remote areas, and since CPI is committed to equitable and ubiquitous access, The Coalition for Public Information recommends that wireless technologies be considered in order to provide access to these areas. .7 Affordability Affordable pricing policies must be established that support the concept of universal access and participation. It must be recognized that in some cases affordable may mean no fee. The Coalition recommends that pricing for network access and use must be set to encourage usage and not be distance or time sensitive. If based on bandwidth pricing must not exclude people on low incomes. .8 Directories The usability of the system to access information will depend on indexing and directory services. The Coalition recommends that The Government of Canada develop strategies and financial support for the development standards-based navigational and retrieval tools, including directories that will identify and locate information. 2. Pluralism of Expression and Intellectual Freedom. .1 Eliminate the Legislative Distinctions Among Technologies. The continuing process of convergence is blurring the distinctions between the different information technologies, therefore the Coalition recommends that the distinctions in legislation and regulation about the different technologies be discontinued. This discontinuance must be conducted over a period of time to prevent any service disruptions, provide existing services with some time to adapt and to allow any new services an opportunity to prepare for the new opportunities. .2 Content Pluralism of expression and intellectual freedom are dependent on sufficient content being available to reflect a wide range of views. The Coalition recommends that the Government of Canada develop strategies for the rapid digitalization of government information sources and of the holdings of libraries. .3 Model Libraries The newness of the information infrastructure means that we lack models and experience of the new governance structures, collection management tools, access systems, and digitalization processes and issues. The Coalition recommends that the federal funding be provided to libraries to develop pilot projects that will define and create a digital library as a model for implementation across Canada. NATIONAL ACCESS BOARD The development of universal access and participation in the information infrastructure in Canada will be a long term and evolutionary process. This process should be guided by a permanent national board which will evaluate progress and develop strategies to achieve universal access and participation. Many of the recommendations made in this report could be referred to the National Access Board for implementation. It is important that the board be representative of the three main sectors of Canadian society. These are the government sector, the corporate or private sector, and the non-profit or social sector. This board could be attached to the CRTC or CANARIE, but it must be noted that neither of these bodies are fully representative of Canadian society.  From co_pub_info@resudox.net Wed Dec 14 18:59:09 1994 Received: from ([127.0.0.1]) by gabriel.resudox.net (8.6.4/8.6.4) with SMTP id SAA15748; Wed, 14 Dec 1994 18:55:38 -0500 Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 18:55:38 -0500 Message-Id: Errors-To: admin@ Reply-To: co_pub_info@resudox.net Originator: co_pub_info@resudox.net Sender: co_pub_info@resudox.net Precedence: bulk From: Stan Skrzeszewski To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: CLA IHAC presentation (fwd) X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0b -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Comment: Coalition for Public Information Distribution List Status: RO X-Status: For your information. Stan Skrzeszewski The Coalition for Public Information The following text will be presented to the IHAC Working Group on Access & Social Impact on Thursday, Dec. 15. by the Canadian Library Association. Brian Campbell & Karen Adams will be attending on behalf of CLA. Introduction: Founded in 1946, the Canadian Library Association (CLA) is composed of over 4,000 personal and institutional members representing school, public, university, college, government, and corporate libraries. Each type of library serves its particular community by providing access to the broadest possible range of information and knowledge. The value-added contributions of libraries to the economic and social well-being of Canada are incalculable. CLA has been active for a number of years on information policy issues. It sponsored the 1992 National Summit on Information Policy in co-operation with the Department of Communications and other partners. In 1994, with the support of the federal Treasury Board, CLA organized Canada's first-ever national Information Rights Week to focus public attention on information and telecommunications policy issues. Besides participating in Information Rights Week, provincial and national library organizations are involved in a wide variety of information policy issues at all levels of government. Libraries are also heavily committed to Free-Nets, and the principles which underpin them. CLA has adopted "Information and Telecommunication Access Principles," which guide libraries across Canada and which have been previously distributed to members of the Advisory Council. Historically, school, university and college libraries have been central to both the learning and research/knowledge creation roles of their institutions. Public libraries have been the most broadly used public institution for life-long learning, information gathering, and recreational reading. They are the information safety net of our communities, providing basic information services to the entire population and a repository for our collective memory. With over 3,000 library buildings in Canada, public libraries are more heavily utilized in their communities than any other social resource except for the parks and recreation system. In the 37 largest public library systems in Canada, library users borrow more than 100 million items and ask over 17 million reference questions each year. As an example, the number of people entering the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library in a year exceeds the number attending all hockey, football, soccer, and baseball events in the City. A great strength of libraries is the trust in which they are held by the general population for their commitment to equal and non-judgmental access to information. Libraries and particularly public libraries are the only social institution historically and currently committed to open access to the widest possible range of information for recreation, and for personal and intellectual growth for all people. Libraries have been among the first to adopt the new electronic technologies to promote resource sharing, to increase institutional efficiency, and to promote broader access to the collections of the world. Many libraries pioneered the development of integrated computer systems for managing collections, were early users of CD-ROMs, and developed one of the world's first standards for the electronic transmission of data, the MAchine Readable Cataloguing (MARC) format. In contrast, the EDI format in the business community has only recently been developed. The leadership role played by libraries in the introduction of new technologies stems directly from their service orientation, responding to public needs and constantly re- tooling their services to meet those needs. It is likely that a larger segment of the Canadian public had their first exposure to and training on computers at the public access catalogues in libraries than in any other way. Libraries and library staff, because of their long history of providing information and exposure to technology to the public, have a deep understanding of the issues and implications of providing public access to the telecommunication and information networks being discussed by this Council. Information Highway Issues: Among the issues that must be addressed are: 1. The lack of widespread access to the information highway. Even though individual ownership is rapidly increasing, currently only 35% of the population owns a home computer. A much smaller number own and use a modem. 2. Ownership of the equipment and access to the networks are not equally dispersed through the population. A recent Time magazine survey (Sept. 14, 1994) demonstrated that only 5% of the users of the Internet were female and only 2% were over the age of 50. 3. Depending on the marketplace alone to introduce new technologies will increase the disparity between the information rich and the information poor. A recent study for the Centre of Media Education in Washington, DC demonstrated that telephone and cable companies systematically redlined areas dominated by the poor and blacks. This makes sense from a marketing but not a social perspective. The development of universal telephone service in Canada required the creation of public utilities, particularly in the Prairie provinces, to provide services which the private corporations were unwilling to provide. The system of cross-subsidies which developed permitted affordable rural service at slightly greater cost to urban users of the system. 4. Increasing local telephone line costs as was recently done by CRTC 94-19 is a retrograde step in achieving universal access. Telephones are currently the most democratic tool in the information age and are the first 100 yards to connect with any other telecommunication network. 5. Access means more than just providing a link to the information highway. The link must be free or at very low cost. 6. The concept of access must also be broadened to include the provision of content representing a wide range of perspectives and voices. Each library in Canada has rich local resources already in the public domain that could be digitized and shared with other libraries and the public across Canada. Libraries, Free-Nets and community organizations must be assisted in making community information available. There is a real danger that the only content on the information highway will be that which is commercially profitable. A recent survey done for MACWORLD (October, 1994) sought answers to the question, "What interactive capabilities do consumers want [on the information highway] and how much would they pay for these capabilities?" The results indicated that much of the interest is in education, libraries' catalogues, reference material, and survival information. Much less interest was shown in video online, video gambling, video dating and sports on demand. 7. Despite all the hype, it will be a very long time before the majority of publications and information is available in digital form. Attempts to organize the distribution of information on the assumptions that all information will shortly be digitized and that everyone will have access to a terminal are doomed to failure. A more balanced perspective is needed to put the possibility of the information highway in an appropriate historical context. Policies will look much differently if it is understood that implementation will be over a significant period of time and not a sudden revolution. 8. Government information should be made widely available in digitized as well as other formats, including print and alternate formats for people who can't read conventional print. However, the federal government currently views the introduction of information technology, according to its "Blueprint on Reinventing Government", as a way to make government more cost effective and as a method of introducing pay-per services. Little attention is being paid to increasing access to information and improving the possibilities for democratic participation. 9. Providing information in digital form does not make it widely available unless an entire infrastructure for public access is created and supported. The statutory requirements of government to distribute information cannot be met unless the public can also access the information. Libraries, along with Free-Nets and other community organizations, are logical public access points. 10. Simply providing a public terminal does not mean that individuals have access. Training must be provided that is tailored to the specific needs of individuals, depending on their age, ability, language capability and educational background. Again, libraries are the organizations which have the greatest experience introducing the public to new technology and information resources. 11. While discussion on the information highway centres on increasing the bandwidth, much of the information in which the public is currently interested can be made available over a relatively narrow bandwidth. It is more important to achieve universality at a narrow bandwidth than to achieve restricted access at a broad bandwidth. Experiments and tests can be run with selected libraries and other institutions at the broader bandwidth in preparation for the next leap. 12. Much of the information on the Internet is provided by hobbyists, volunteers and others whose main concern is not the overall accuracy and accessibility of the information but rather quick and short-term dissemination. Attention has been focused on the mechanisms of physical access and dissemination rather than the content. Access also means having appropriate mechanisms to ensure the quality of information on the Internet through: organizing the information so that it is intellectually accessible, archiving and preserving information for later retrieval and research, working to ensure the broadest range of information is available, and developing mechanisms for selecting information sources, ie. recommending databases that are available and authoritative for new users or researchers. Options: The Advisory Council has three general options in developing their recommendations: 1. Reinforce a market-driven top-down approach to information policy. This is the current policy. This policy is the information equivalent of the trickle-down effect in economic policy. Grants will be given to develop new products for the broadband information highway and grants or tax incentives will be used to encourage investment in the physical infrastructure. Little or no thought is given to encouraging broad participation on the networks or providing services which relate to the real lives of people as opposed to entertainment. 2. Encourage broad participation by the public by developing free or very cheap access to a core level of services including email, government information, community information, survival information and a basic link to the Internet. Survival information may be health related, consumer information, job and training banks, educational and self-training courses, transportation schedules, weather information, etc. People would learn the new technologies through the process of using them to acquire basic information and resources they need, integrating technology more completely into their lives than would be the case using pay-per commercial programming and training divorced from real needs. New and commercial products could be developed in response to requests and demands made by the public as a result of their use of the base product. The current direction is to create products and then create a demand. 3. Combine the two policies It must be recognized, however, that current government activity in this area is heavily weighted to option 1. Information and telecommunications policy is of fundamental importance to the direction of the Canadian society and economy. For this reason, the Information Highway Advisory Council must strongly urge the federal government to hold public hearings on future policy options. This must not be a token effort such as the cross-Canada focus groups conducted by Industry Canada consultants during the summer. Poor planning, short notification and no advance publicity resulted in only 150 people from 10 cities being consulted. Resources should be provided to advertise the issues in a fashion equivalent to the advertising campaign Stentor conducted promoting their vision for the information highway. Funds also have to be provided to community groups to prepare submissions. The CRTC has been making enormously important decisions with little public consultation. Small organizations such as the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Consumers Association of Canada have been pitted against the resources of the Stentor group and the cable companies. The funds those organizations have received for preparing their earlier interventions will not be made available for the third tier CRTC convergence hearings in May. Public consultations require public education and public resources. Recommendations: While this brief has focused on public libraries, CLA supports the Briefs submitted by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries/Association des bibliothques de recherche du Canada and the Council of Administrators of Large Urban Public Libraries. CLA also welcomes the Minister's announcement that investment in SchoolNet will support the inclusion of libraries, and encourages the government to build on that initiative. CLA strongly believes that the federal government should encourage broad participation by the public by developing free and low cost access to a core level of services, including email, government information, community information, and survival information, as well as providing a basic link to the Internet. In many communities, the public library will be used to provide the safety net for those who have no other access. The following recommendations provide more specific activities to support this vision: 1. CLA encourages the government to consider and invest in the creation of a broad base of users with a core level of service linked to the on-going needs of the public. 2. The federal government must work with CLA and other community organizations to initiate public education and a consultation process to inform all Canadians of the issues and options in information policy. 3. The federal government must make financial resources available to community organizations to enable their participation in public hearings, including the preparation of materials. 4. The federal government must establish pilot projects to demonstrate the importance of libraries as public access points for the information highway. 5. The federal government must work with provincial and territorial governments to provide libraries with the technology and resources to provide specialized training for individuals with special needs based on age, ability, language capability and educational background. 6. The federal government must work with provincial and territorial governments in establishing mechanisms to support broad public access to the information highway through libraries, Free-Nets and other community organizations, as well as through home and office access. 7. The federal government must work with provincial and territorial governments to facilitate the development of shared electronic resources between all libraries in Canada, thus contributing to the growth of public information resources. 8. The federal government must work with provincial annd territorial governments to fund librarians and other information specialists to develop tools for collecting, organizing, archiving, preserving and finding information on the information highway.