Abstract: Universal access to the knowledge contained in the comprehensive printed record of mankind is a goal that can be achieved within a decade. With appropriate public policies and the development and deployment of standards, not addressed in this paper as they are the subject of a separate processes, most of this knowledge could be provided free at the point of use while increasing the return to copyright holders over the life of copyright protected publications. With proper attention to the representation of contextual knowledge in print images and the interchange of raw forms of this data, national governments can ensure the emergence of the first integrated and comprehensive resource representing the print literature of the world. Human creativity and capabilities will be unleashed without regard to barriers previously imposed by limited access to information, barriers that effectively kept everyone, no matter how privileged, from having full access to universal print heritage and supported dramatic differences between a very few who had significant access and the overwhelming majority that had virtually none.

Abstract: Доклад рассматривает участие ЮНЕСКО в первом этапе всемирной Встречи на высшем уровне по вопросам информационного общества (ВВУИО) и ее дальнейший двухлетний вклад в подготовку второго этапа саммита в Тунисе. Предлагаются возможные рекомендации для осуществления Плана действий саммита и для определения роли, которую ЮНЕСКО могла бы сыграть в этом процессе.