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，讨论公共领域在促进和保护科学数据和信息交换方面现在和将来可能发挥的作用。研讨会将汇集150名科学数据和信息方面的专家；在管理这类数据和信息方面经验丰富的专业人员；还有来自公共和私营部门的科学家。研讨会将评价公共领域目前在支持科学（包括研究和教育）方面所起的作用；确定和量化公共领域的各种压力；讨论面对这种压力保护公共领域的现有和未来方法；确定这些领域中可能值得进一步研究的问题；并建议最有效地解决这些问题的方法。日益增加的法律、经济和技术压力有可能减少流向公共领域的科学数据和信息，从而限制研究科学家从公共领域获取数据和信息并将其用于研究的能力。公共领域的科学数据和信息一直是并且仍然是进行科学研究的必要条件。同样，向公众公布在这种科学研究过程中产生的数据和资料，对于评价、核实和批评这种研究的结果也是必不可少的。专题讨论会的会议记录将在专题讨论会结束后十二个月内以电子和硬拷贝两种格式提供。

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.