Science and the Information Society
Science and the Information Society
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科学与信息社会
DOI：
10.1126/science.301.5639.1443
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发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
S. Iwata
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Lubchenco;S. Iwata
联合国 (UN) 秘书长科菲·安南在其社论“对世界科学家的挑战”（《科学》，2003 年 3 月 7 日，第 [1485][1]）的开场白中指出，“科学为人类进步和现代社会的发展做出了巨大贡献。”他承认，“信息技术、遗传学和生物技术的最新进展为个人和整个人类的福祉带来了非凡的前景。”但他向科学界提出的真正挑战是：“我们的倡导可以帮助实现科学知识获取方面的突破……”
作为科学家，我们大多数人可能认为这种对科学价值的看法是理所当然的，但对于我们的政治领导人或整个社会来说却不一定如此。因此，科菲·安南的挑战是国际科学界需要强有力回应的挑战之一。信息社会世界峰会（WSIS）将于 2003 年 12 月在瑞士日内瓦和 2005 年在突尼斯突尼斯举行，为科学界提供了前所未有的机会，向世界领导人宣传开放获取科学知识的重要性，从而证明我们确实是“联合国不可或缺的合作伙伴”。
国际科学理事会 (ICSU) 及其科学技术数据委员会 (CODATA) 正在与其他国际科学组织合作，确保信息社会世界峰会的正式声明中明确认识到科学在信息和通信技术 (ICT) 开发和使用中的关键作用。科学知识在帮助世界实现联合国千年发展目标方面具有巨大潜力，而信息通信技术的使用为加速这一进程提供了前所未有的机会。与此同时，科学家和政府必须共同努力消除而不是扩大“数字鸿沟”：贫富、南北之间的鸿沟。
在教科文组织主办的一次国际研讨会（巴黎，2003 年 3 月）之后，ICSU 和 CODATA 制定了一份题为“信息社会中的科学”的联合立场文件和行动议程，可在 上找到。该行动议程强调了加强科学数据和信息公共领域的重要性，并确保必要的政策和基础设施到位，以实现普遍和公平地获取这一宝贵资源。该行动议程现已得到世界各地许多国家科学院和国际科学组织的正式认可。
2003 年 7 月上旬，在巴黎召开了一次信息社会世界首脑会议特别政府间闭会期间会议，以完善原则宣言草案和行动计划，各国元首将在 12 月的日内瓦峰会上予以批准。一些国家的政府，特别是瑞士、法国和罗马尼亚，已经接受了科学界的信息，科学现在已成为修订后的宣言草案的重要内容。然而，商业部门和同情政府都强烈呼吁进一步加强知识产权和版权制度。尽管似乎没有人强烈反对开放和公平获取科学数据和知识的原则，但相对于短期商业利益，这一价值很容易被降到次要地位。因此，科学界继续促进广泛共享的科学知识的社会效益至关重要。信息社会世界峰会的下一次筹备会议将于 9 月 16 日至 26 日在日内瓦举行。我们的目标是确保科学继续在预计该会议产生的正式峰会文件的最终草案中占据重要地位。
“信息社会中的科学”行动议程是一个起点。将科学纳入七月份的政府文件草案是向前迈出的重要一步。现在需要世界各地的科学家采取这一行动议程，进行讨论，并在必要时进行调整，但最重要的是，将其提交给将于今年 12 月就信息社会的未来做出重大决定的国家政府代表团。科菲·安南将前往日内瓦。我们邀请科学界表明愿意接受他的挑战，倡导普遍和公平地获取科学知识。
[1]：/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.299.5612.1485
I n the opening line of his Editorial “A Challenge to the World's Scientists” ( Science, 7 March 2003, p. [1485][1]), United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan states that “Science has contributed immensely to human progress and to the development of modern society.” He acknowledges that “Recent advances in information technology, genetics, and biotechnology hold extraordinary prospects for individual well-being and that of humankind as a whole.” But the real challenge he puts to the scientific community is this: “[Y]our advocacy can help bring about a breakthrough in access to scientific knowledge …”
As scientists, most of us probably take such views on the value of science for granted, but this is not necessarily the case for our political leaders, nor for society as a whole. Thus, Kofi Annan's challenge is one to which the international science community needs to respond forcefully. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland (December 2003), and Tunis, Tunisia (2005), provides an unprecedented opportunity for the scientific community to promote the importance of open access to scientific knowledge to world leaders and thereby demonstrate that we are indeed “an indispensable partner of the United Nations.”
The International Council for Science (ICSU) and its Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) are working with other international science organizations to ensure that the crucial role of science in the development and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is clearly recognized in the formal declarations that come out of the WSIS. Scientific knowledge carries enormous potential for helping the world address the UN Millennium Development Goals, and the use of ICTs opens up unprecedented opportunities to accelerate this process. At the same time, scientists and governments must work together to eliminate, not widen, the “digital divide”: the division between rich and poor, North and South.
After an international workshop hosted by UNESCO (Paris, March 2003), ICSU and CODATA developed a joint position paper and agenda for action entitled “Science in the Information Society,” which can be found at . This agenda for action emphasizes the importance of strengthening the public domain for scientific data and information, and ensuring that the necessary policies and infrastructure are in place to enable universal and equitable access to this invaluable resource. The agenda for action has now been formally endorsed by many national science academies and international science organizations around the world.
A special intergovernmental intersessional meeting for WSIS took place in early July 2003 in Paris to refine the draft declaration of principles and plan of action that heads of state will be asked to endorse at the summit in Geneva in December. Several governments, in particular Switzerland, France, and Romania, have embraced the messages from the science community, and science now features in the revised draft declaration. However, there were strong pleas from both the commercial sector and sympathetic governments to strengthen intellectual property rights and copyright regimes even further. Although no one appears to be strongly opposed to the principle of open and equitable access to scientific data and knowledge, that value can easily be relegated to a secondary position relative to short-term commercial interests. Hence, it is crucial that the science community continue to promote the societal benefit of widely shared scientific knowledge. The next preparatory meeting for the WSIS is in Geneva from 16 to 26 September. Our goal is to ensure that science continues to feature strongly in the final drafts of the formal summit documents expected to emerge from that meeting.
The “Science in the Information Society” agenda for action was a starting point. Getting science into the draft governmental documents in July was a significant step forward. What is now needed is for scientists around the world to take up this agenda for action, discuss it, and adapt it where necessary—but most of all, present it to the national government delegations who will be making major decisions on the future of the information society this December. Kofi Annan will be in Geneva. We invite the scientific community to demonstrate its readiness to take up his challenge by championing universal and equitable access to scientific knowledge.
[1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.299.5612.1485