These are some of the points Peter Lor made which were particularly applicable to International Trade Librarianship:
- Modern ICTs have brought a shift from economies of things, to the economies of information - the weightless economy concept cf. David Skilling of The New Zealand Institute
- physical controls are eliminated in the weightless economy - logistics?
- information is being commodified therefore knowledge is a strategic resource
- new Enclosure Movement cf. Britain 1700s - we are now seeing the enclosure of intellectual property via digital locks (fences)
- Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are also locking up information and in some case forcing developing nations to adopt policies for information and intellectual property which are more appropriate for a developed nation.
- FTAs have been responsible for affecting the affordability of school textbooks therefore access to information - a negative impact cf. Costa Rica.
- Free Trade not necessarily fair trade.
- Web 2.0 will speed up the process of disintermediation or deprofessionalisation
- Lor introduced his paper by showing us a Library 2.0 Meme map attributed to Bonaria Biancu (Wikipedia 2007c). - I really liked this as a guide to Library 2.0.
Graeme
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