The UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies (SOIS) and the Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) have been accredited as official non-governmental observers at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Dean Tom Lipinksi recently attended the meeting of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) in Geneva, Switzerland, and submitting the following intervention on behalf of SOIS/CIPR:

Thank you Mr. Chairman and I thank the member states for their willingness to hear an additional voice here at WIPO; it is a privilege to join the discussions today. Thank you also to Professor Seng for his industrious and comprehensive work on this important topic.

I speak on behalf of the School of Information Studies and its Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, one the newest observers here at SCCR. Personally, I also speak as a member the broader community of library, archive, curator and information technology educators that are part of the iSchool movement. iSchools exist in dozens of countries in over one hundred universities around the globe, from Singapore, Korea and China to Australia and New Zealand to Uganda, Turkey and of course Europe and North America.

The opportunities of current online (read digital) education means that knowledge is indeed a global good. The fact that I have had students routinely take my classes from locations on all continents but Antarctica attests to this reality.

I would ask Professor Seng whether in his opinion he believes the current limitations and exceptions are adequate to support cross border opportunities among the globe’s educational institutions, educators and learners, including as you stated earlier, self-learners.

Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and thank you again member states.