Info Commons - Saturday - Session I
Libraries and Information Commons Workshop
Saturday
Panel 1: Commons Space
Peter Levine
Brian Campbell
Daniel Lee
Levine -- Prince George County Commons: series of research projects, managed by Univ. of Maryland and executed by local high school students
Several types of commons
1) Libertarian/free-owned commons: no one can control it as a whole -- oceans, the ideas within books in a library/bookstore, the Internet
2) Democratic commons: some people own it, makes rules for its use, not infinitely shareable -- Boston common, library facilities
Flaws in libertarian commons ... some control may be warranted (ex. restricting access to obscene or lewd material by children)
Who the people are who own the commons is a basic question for the democratic commons
3) Communitarian commons -- involves intense personal communication, many obligations, involves lots of control
4) Associational commons: owned by a voluntary group (non-profit, 501(c)3 type orgs) -- membership of the association is key to access of the commons
Associational commons can defend itself against enclosure, overuse, exploitation
The Internet is doomed as a libertarian commons
An associational commons can recruit "new blood" -- requires moral discipline, and non-intuitive skills for the maintenance of the commons
Brian Campbell
Class and politics in the info commons -- lacking in discussions of the commons
The concept of commons and the value of neutrality -- contradictory
'You can't address the commons without becoming non-neutral'
Vancouver Public Library
45,000 people a year attend public programs at VPL
"Public Voices" programs -- left, social democrat and libertarian speakers
The library has become a civic space for protest (very near Canadian INS facility)
The library plaza and surrounding area has become a staging ground for political parties, activists, etc.
Fight between the commons and the marketplace (plaza space shared by commons-oriented programming and marketing)
Ongoing struggle to define "the public good" and how the library can/should contribute to that
A lot of people are excluded from how libraries are currently organized
Projects to reach poor and socially-isolated communities
"There is no use talking about the commons when 40% of the population are not library users"
Active Info Policy debate
We must "protect what we got" before we can extend our resources
VPL moving to open source software for public applications; setting up virtual communities
It involves risk to get library boards and staff on the side of access and openness, and if we can't get them to support what we already have, we won't be able to do the commons work
Saving community information as important as academic information
Daniel Lee - Commons as Space
University of Arizona Information Commons space -- learning environment
Part of a new facility: Integrated Learning Center -- underground classrooms and meeting spaces in front of the library, leads into what was the basement of the library
Space for learning -- commons of a sort
No sign-ins or log-ins to use the workstations; no checking of IDs
Students don't always recognize their peers (complaints to get the "homeless" out of the library)
Campbell
Concern of commons as a technological space -- technology should not be the only focus of commons
Questions
Why limit commons work to libraries ... need to reach out to public radio, public TV, etc.
The commons as a space for the public to be with others
Interconnecting commons -- Content commons as well as space commons
How to take an info commons space and turn it into a true commons -- organized and managed by the users/participation
Respondents
Jessamyn West
Wayann Pearson
Kathleen Imhoff
Imhoff -- the physical space isn't easy
Many libraries AREN'T resource-rich ... but libraries can serve as the "gate" to the commons/"pasture"
Libraries as meeting spaces, civic spaces, safe spaces, a "third" place
Pearson -- Cerritos strives not to be known as "the information space" -- emphasis on the "commons as space"
"information just happens to be the commodity" of the space
Focus: how-to information, practical information; informal learning opportunities, original content
Librarians as stewards of the environment, not just the information within the environment
West -- Balance with demands of the public and the principles of the library
Issues of sharing; dealing with expectations of staff and patrons; how to bring the high-minded ideas of intellectual freedom, commons, etc. to the basic small public library
(Break-up into multiple groups to brainstorm of commons concepts and execution)