Activity tagged "open access"

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Shadow libraries and AI training

For those just learning about LibGen because of the reporting on Meta and other companies training LLMs on pirated books, I’d highly recommend the book Shadow Libraries: Access to Knowledge in Global Higher Education (open access).

I just read it while working on the Wikipedia article about shadow libraries, and it’s a fascinating history.

I fear the already fraught conversations about shadow libraries will take a turn for the worse now that they’re overlapping with the incredibly fraught conversations about AI training.

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A scan of a linocut print, which has the text “Free people read freely” in block capitals above a person in a dress reaching to take a book from a large bookshelf

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The Trump administration is explicitly targeting libraries, museums, and the press in the latest executive order.

Also going after services for the homeless, minority businesses, and community development.

The cruelty is the point.

i) the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;
(ii) the United States Agency for Global Media;
(iii) the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution;
(iv) the Institute of Museum and Library Services;
(v) the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness;
(vi) the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and
(vii) the Minority Business Development Agency.

Published an issue of Citation Needed:

“Wait, not like that”: Free and open access in the age of generative AI

A digital collage depicting a vampire biting onto a laptop displaying the Wikipedia homepage

The real threat isn’t AI using open knowledge — it’s AI companies killing the projects that make knowledge free

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made some new stickers based on the linocut print i did earlier this year. the fight to protect libraries and access to information will be more important than ever.

store link

Read:

"One Practical Thing: Protect Information".

Heather Bryant in Heather Bryant — @HBCompass. Published November 8, 2024.

The enemy of control is information. Book bans (historically book burning), data purges, the wiping of websites and logs are all common acts by those who seek to re-write and overwrite a history that does not support their actions. Knowledge, history, community discourse and our recorded narratives are all critical elements to a free and participatory society.

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ah. well.

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Thank you to everyone who helped raise $4,211 to support the Internet Archive’s Open Library!

Defend the Internet Archive
Bid on a print to support the Internet Archive's Open Library
Image: A 6x8" linocut print in black ink depicting a person in a dress reaching for a book on a large bookshelf. Above is “Free people read freely”; below is “Defend the Internet Archive”. The print is propped up against a shelf of books.
Organized by Molly White
$4,211
10 Supporters
Story

The recent Second Circuit decision in Hachette v. Internet Archive is only the latest battle in the war on libraries and the freedom to read. Support the Internet Archive's Open Library and fight to protect libraries and readers.

All proceeds go to the Internet Archive's Open Library.

Confirmation screen: Thank you, Molly! We deeply appreciate your donation of $4211.00. Your generosity helps us promote Universal Access to All Knowledge.h

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6 × 8” linocut relief print, CC BY 4.0

Black ink linocut print of a person in a dress reaching for a book on a large bookshelf. Above is “Free people read freely”; below is “Defend the Internet Archive”.

Published an issue of Citation Needed:

Big publishers think libraries are the enemy

Linocut relief print, in black ink, of a person reaching for a book on a large bookshelf.

The recent Second Circuit decision in Hachette v. Internet Archive is only the latest battle in the war on libraries and the freedom to read.

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