Siobhan Stevenson, faculty at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information Studies, has published a paper in First Monday entitled “Public libraries, public access computing, FOSS and CI: There are alternatives to private philanthropy“. Great read!
I had the great fortune to read her University of Western Ontario PhD thesis (The post-Fordist public library : from Carnegie to Gates) in which she lays out her critique of Gates and Carnegie-style philanthropy. Great thesis — interlibrary loan that baby if you get a chance. It’s only 125 pages long, too: good and succinct. She also has an article in the Winter 06/07 issue of Progressive Librarian entitled “Philanthropies Unexpected Consequences: public libraries and the struggle over free v. proprietary software”. Do you see the theme in her research?
Here is the abstract from her First Monday paper:
In January 2007, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) announced its second multi–year technology grant program for America’s public libraries. The purpose of Phase II, Keeping communities connected: The next step is to help public libraries sustain the public access computing infrastructure laid down during Phase I. Now, as then, the goal of the program is to bridge the digital divide. But it is a digital divide as defined by Bill Gates and not the public library community. Situating Gates’ philanthropy within a critical policy frame, this paper considers two alternatives to Gates’ problem definition of the digital divide, and how knowledge of these might benefit those communities served by public access computing (PAC) services as found in public libraries. The two specific alternatives considered come from the Free Software Foundation (FSF), and Community Informatics (CI). Significantly, both social movements promote the potential of free and open software as an important part of any solution. Finally, the public library literature is reviewed for patterns in the community’s use of FOSS, and the argument is made for its use in the delivery of PAC services.
First Monday is just super.
-SIO