Partial Support for a Symposium on the Role of the Public Domain in Scientific and Technical Information

美国国家科学院（NAS）将召开一次专题讨论会，讨论公有领域在促进和保护科学数据和信息交流方面现在和将来可能发挥的作用。 这次专题讨论会将汇集150名科学数据和信息方面的专家、在管理这种数据和信息方面有经验的专业人员以及来自公共和私营部门的科学家。 专题讨论会将评价公有领域目前在支持科学，包括研究和教育方面所发挥的作用;查明并量化公有领域所面临的各种压力;讨论在这种压力下保护公有领域的现有和未来的办法;查明这些领域中可能需要进一步研究的问题;并就如何最有效地解决这些问题提出建议。 越来越多的法律的、经济和技术压力有可能减少科学数据和信息流向公共领域，从而限制了研究科学家从公共领域获取数据和信息并在其研究中加以利用的能力。 公共领域的科学数据和信息对科学研究的进行一直是而且仍然是必不可少的。 同样，向公共领域公布在这类科学研究过程中产生的数据和信息，对于评价、核实和批评这类研究的结果也至关重要。 专题讨论会的会议记录将在专题讨论会后12个月内以电子和硬拷贝形式提供。

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will convene a symposium to address the role that the public domain plays now and may play in the future in both promoting and protecting the exchange of scientific data and information. The symposium will bring together 150 experts on scientific data and information; professionals experienced in management of such data and information; and scientists, from both the public and private sector. The symposium will evaluate the present role that the public domain plays in support of science, including research, and education; identify and quantify the various pressures on the public domain; discuss existing and prospective approaches for preserving the public domain in the face of such pressures; identify issues in these areas that may warrant further study; and recommend ways in which such issues might be addressed most effectively. Increasing legal, economic and technological pressures threaten to reduce the flow of scientific data and information to the public domain and thus constrain the ability of research scientists to draw data and information from the public domain and utilize it in their research. Scientific data and information in the public domain has been and remains essential to the conduct of scientific research. Similarly, the release into the public domain of data and information generated in the course of such scientific research also is essential to evaluation, verification and criticism of the results of such research. The proceedings of the symposium will be made available in both electronic and hard copy formats within twelve months of the symposium.