Public Sector Information in the Digital Age
Georg AICHHOLZER und Herbert BURKERT (Hrsg.), 2004
This timely volume reviews key issues and developments in the controversial area of public sector information (PSI). It addresses the fundamental themes, challenges and conflicts surrounding the access to, and use of, PSI in the new digital era. Using detailed empirical analyses and case studies from across Europe and the USA, the authors focus on the crucial policy, economic, legal and social issues.
The public sector is the biggest single producer and holder of information including administrative and government documents, regulatory texts, political data and public registers. The authors demonstrate that this huge store of information is a key resource for a broad range of stakeholders such as citizens, civic organisations, private businesses and public sector agencies. They argue that charging the marginal cost of dissemination, a policy favoured in the US, will lead to optimal economic growth in society and will far outweigh the immediate perceived benefits of aggressive cost recovery. They illustrate how open government information policies create significant economic advantages to society and are beneficial in both the short and long term for the general public, the private sector and for governments themselves.
This is one of the first books devoted to addressing the new challenges of access to PSI and the role of public policy. The international contributors, including leading experts from Europe and US, have produced an informative and coherent resource that will be of interest to scholars, students and decision-makers working in the fields of public policy, economics, political science, law and information technology.
Chapter headings
PREFACE
PART ONE INTRODUCTION
1 The Mechanics of Public Sector Information
Herbert Burkert
PART TWO GENERAL OVERVIEW
2 Privacy Issues as Limits to Access
Charles D. Raab
3 Access to Public Sector Information: In Need of Constitutional Recognition?
Corien Prins
4 Information Access Legislation for the Future? Possibilities according to a Norwegian Experience
Dag Wiese Schartum
PART THREE LEGAL POLICY ASPECTS: EUROPE AND THE US
5 Exploitation of Public Sector Information in the Context of the eEurope Action Plan
Yvo Volman
6 European Access Legislation: Consistence or Divergence?
Maeve McDonagh
7 The Foundations of United States Government Information Dissemination Policy
Robert Gellman
8 Borders in Cyberspace: Conflicting Public Sector Information Policies and their Economic Impacts
Peter N. Weiss
PART FOUR ECONOMIC ISSUES
9 Thunder and Lightning: Public Sector Information Policy Experiences of Private Meteorological Service Providers
Michael Kamps
10 Access Models for Public Sector Information: The Spatial Data Context
Massimo Craglia and Michael Blakemore
PART FIVE THE PROBLEMS OF THE DATA HOLDERS
11 Public Broadcasting and Digital Media Archives: The Example of Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
Peter Dusek, Philipp Marouschek and Martin Szerencsi
12 Cultural Heritage: The Conflict between Commercialisation and Public Ownership
Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger
PART SIX THE END USERS' VIEW
13 A Citizen's Perspective on Public Sector Information
Monika Bargmann, Gerald Pfeifer and Boris Piwinger
14 Third-generation Freedom of Information in the Context of E-Government: The Case of Bremen, Germany
Herbert Kubicek
15 Harnessing Public Sector Information for Greater Accessibility: Austria and the UK
Georg Aichholzer and Puay Tang
PART SEVEN OUTLOOK
16 Towards a Blueprint for a Policy on Public Sector Information
Herbert Burkert and Peter N. Weiss
INDEX
About the editors
Georg Aichholzer is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA), Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration more info
Herbert Burkert is Professor of Public Law, Information and Communication Law at the Research Center for Information Law, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Senior Research Fellow, Fraunhofer Institute for Media Communication, St. Augustin, Germany more info here and here
