Discourses of accessibility in a digital surrounding

This paper is based on early reflections during the work on my Master's thesis on the present digital terms of accessibility. Throughout their history libraries have had the objective of making information accessible. This has been discussed on a variety of historical situations. But how does one argue (ideologically) for accessibility to information in our present digital surroundings. Based on earlier research I found this question rarely been dealt with or discussed amongst librarians in a substantial manner. In this thesis I therefore examine argumentation in a selection of modern texts that discuss access to digital information within an open access perspective. The texts originate mainly from four fields of practice; the Free Software movement, the Open Source movement, Creative Commons and the Libre Society. Digital information implies a way of mass-distribution and an extensive culture of sharing that raises some fundamental questions on the terms of access. My research objects and agents are taking action in the middle of an on-going struggle, between forces that seek to get and maintain control over information in digital formats and forces that seek a continuous process of accessibility and openness. The agents have in common that they suggest different and alternative regimes for licensing intellectual property, but differ in their argumentation on such practices. I will try to identify these agents anylytically regarding digital terms of accessibility.