INFORMATION RESOURCES

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INFORMATION RESOURCES
The Commodification of Information and the
Marginalisation of Regional Cultures Frits
Pannekoek, Ph.D. Director of Information
Resources University of Calgary Alberta, Canada
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• Trends in Information
• Increasing importance of digital information
• Increasing gap between haves and have- nots
• Commodification of Information
• Rise of information monopolies
• Dominance of the English Language

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• The Increasing Importance of Digital Information
• e-journals and e-books
• Pre-publication servers
• Digitization of public domain materials
• WEB based instruction
• Decrease in knowledge stability

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Commodification of Information
• Increasing restriction of access though user-id
• Rise in cost of information by several hundred
  per cent.
• Move from Information haves to information
  have-nots
• Decreasing attention to niche market knowledge

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Internationalization of Knowledge
• Fewer and fewer information providers
• Fewer and fewer information systems
• Dominance of English language in both
• Consolidation of unique providers
• Reinforced by tendency of academics to seek
  validation from international peers.

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• Consequences
• Marginalization of indigenous knowledge
• Anglicization indigenous cultures
• Concentration of high end information at a few
  super universities

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• Solutions for Discussion
• State Involvement?
• Cultural stake holder involvement?
• University involvement?

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• State Involvement
• State or National licences
• State support for national and indigenous
  cultural expression
• Problems?

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INFORMATION RESOURCES
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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Cultural Stake Holder Involvement
• Understand the issues
• Seize opportunities
• Allow for dynamics
• Continue and reinforce traditional communication
  strategies

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• University Involvement
• Be the intellectual host to the regions cultures
• Provide information stability
• Provide access point to information for the
  community

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• Discussion
• What other dimensions of the issue need to be
  brought forward?

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Discussion
• What other dimensions of the issue need to be
  brought forward?
• How real is the problem?

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Discussion
• What other dimensions of the issue need to be
  brought forward?
• How real is the problem?
• What should be the involvement of the state?

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Discussion
• What other dimensions of the issue need to be
  brought forward?
• How real is the problem?
• What should be the involvement of the state?
• What should be the involvement of the
  universities?

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INFORMATION RESOURCES

• Discussion
• What other dimensions of the issue need to be
  brought forward?
• How real is the problem?
• What should be the involvement of the state?
• What should be the involvement of the
  universities?
• What should be the involvement of information
  aggregators?