1. Digital Sustainability
in the Knowledge Society
Welcome to Class 2011 ! :­)
Dr. Marcus M. Dapp
Lecturer ETH Zurich & IT strategist, City of Munich
26.09.2011

2. Today
• GOAL: you come back next week :)
• Message: Knowledge is different!
• Scientific publishing & Open Access
• Lecture overview
• «How to get credits & make friends»

3. • »If you have an apple and
I have an apple and we
exchange them, you and I
will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have an
idea and we exchange these ideas,
then each of us will have two ideas.«
• George Bernard Shaw

4. What did we learn?
• Physical stuff • Information stuff
• One original, • All copies ident.,
no copies „original“?
• Only one can • Can be shared
eat the whole easily
• Prevent others • Prevent others
from access is from access is
easy <...>?

5. Economists: Two Characteristics of Goods
• How excludable is access?
• Easy/Diffult to prevent people from
access?
• How rival is consumption?
• Does one person‘s use of the good
diminish another person‘s enjoyment of
it? (Verbrauch vs. Gebrauch)

6. Characteristics of Knowledge
Consumption
rivalrous non­rivalrous Consumption
Private Goods Natural Monopolies Does one
excludible
person‘s use
Car, Book Fire protection diminish another
(most stuff...) Cable TV person‘s
Access
enjoyment of it?
non­excludible
Common Resources Access
Public Goods
Can people be
Fish in the ocean Peace/Nat’l Defense prevented from
The environment Knowledge/Culture using the good?
N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Economics, Dryden 1998.
Knowledge »as such« is nonrivalrous and hard­to­exclude.

7. But markets‘ need rivalry...
• Pricing needs
scarcity
• Scarcity needs
rivalry
• What if there is
no rivalry?
• Create it!

8. How to make knowledge rivalrous
• »Intellectual property rights«
• Exclude others from access/use
• By creating legal monopolies
• Copyrights, patents, trademarks, ...
• Underlying assumption: No new
knowledge created if
• No incentives Do you
agree?
• No rewards

9. <ethical position>
• »For if a thing is not diminished
by being shared with others,
it is not rightly owned if it is
only owned and not shared.«
• Saint Augustinus (397 AD)

10. What happens when information goes digital?
• Analog world • »digital effects«
• costly production • … of PCs on
& distribution production
need investments • … of the Internet
• Risky investments on distribution
need incentives

11. Many »things« are knowledge artifacts
• Science • Software
• Traditions • MP3 Audio
• Literature • Video
• Human genome • JPEG image
• Design plans • Blog/Wiki entry
• ... • ...

12. Example: Scientific publishing
• Scholars publish articles (in journals)
• Use references to:
• Learn
• Build on previous work
• Measure performance
• Important system for
• Knowledge exchange
• Reputation building

13. Science: How much does one brain contribute?
ALMOST ALL?
ONLY A BIT AT
THE TOP?

14. The »all alone« theory
• How did Edison invent the light bulb?
• By working hard for a long time? By
being an individual genius?
ALL ALONE

15. The »just a bit« theory
• How did Einstein build the Theory of
Relativity?
• All by his own? By building on previous
work?
• Was he »just« the last missing
piece in a long chain?
PREVIOUS
WORK

16. How does science evolve?
• »If I have seen further it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants.«
Isaac Newton, 1676
• »Genius is one per cent inspiration,
ninety­nine per cent perspiration.«
Thomas Alva Edison, 1847­1931
• »Creativity and innovation always
builds on the past.«
Lawrence Lessig, 2001

17. Different »theories« lead to different world views
• Goal = Ensure • Goal = Ensure
• Protection • Access
• Incentives • Information Flow
• for creator only • for many/all

18. Example: STM publishing industry
• Scientific, technical and
medical journals (STM)
• 8 largest = 2/3 of the
market
• Market size: $7.3 billion
(N­AM, EU)
• Where are the
“Developing Countries”?
Source: UK House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee,
10th Report, Scientific Publications: Free for all?, 20. July 2004

19. STM publishing market
publishing industry
Edit & proof­
Publish
read
¥€$!
Review &
Write
select
scientific community

20. Publishers like the status quo
• Get content
• High­quality (peer­reviewed)
• Gratis
• Plus: Copyright transfer
• Costs get lower
• Digital technology
• Income
• Loyal readers

21. The market is a pyramid
• Motto »Reach the top«
• No product substitution
• Demand is independent of supply
• Does market play?

22. Uhm...
www.plos.org

23. • «All researchers, regardless of the
nature of their institution, should be
granted access to the scientific
journals they need to carry out their
work effectively.»
• 10th Report of Science and Technology
Committee (UK House of Commons)
»Open Access Publishing«

24. Open access publishing process
(industry is skipped)
Edit & proof­
Publish
read
Review &
Write
select
scientific community

25. Open Access model
• Different pricing/costing models
• free for readers
• author­pays up­front
• contractual expiration of ©
• Market
• Quickly increasing
• OA ~5% of STM market in 2004

26. Open access initiatives
• Public Library of Science
• www.plos.org
• Directory of Open Access Journals
• www.doaj.org
• Wikipedia encyclopedia
• www.wikipedia.org

27. There is much more...
• ‚Journals‘ are one example in the big
DEBATE
• about the use of digital resources in
our society. Important aspects:
• stakeholder groups
• costs & benefits
• levels of power

28. Goal #1 of this class – Understand the big picture!
Traditional models Sustainable approaches
Use of digital resources
Digital Technology
Production & Distribution of
Knowledge & Culture
Stakeholders Cost/Benefit Power
Law Economics Politics

29. Goal #2 of this class – Reflect on selected issues
• Groups of 3 students produce
• report (5000 words)
• presentation in class (10'+5')
• Can get 2 credits
• Space limit: max.15 groups
• Solution: »Apply« online for a topic

30. Reader­Package
• Jeanette Hofmann (Hrsg.), Wissen
und Eigentum, bpb 2006.
• Volker Grassmuck, Freie Software,
bpb 2004.
• Konrad Becker, Die Politik der
Infosphäre, bpb 2003.
• All available as online PDFs.

32. Next week
• Discussing Key Terms
• HOWTO groupwork
• Write the report
• Run a presentation