Hospitals in developing nations don't have access to up-to-date scientific information. So journal publishers, two major universities, the United Nations, and Microsoft took steps on Tuesday to create a lasting bridge across that digital divide.
"This will not make a difference tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but we are building for the future," said Derk Haank, CEO of the publisher Springer Science + Business Media, at a meeting at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington.
Hospitals in poor countries can't afford to buy the company's print journals. But many of those hospitals have computers hooked to the Internet. Using an interface designed by library staff members at Yale and Cornell, doctors and nurses can search journals from Springer, Elsevier, and about 100 other publishers, and download the latest articles–which are normally quite expensive–for free.
The effort, which started on a small scale in 2001, is run by a tongue-twisting trio of U.N. programs: the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative, Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture, and Online Access to Research in the Environment.
All of the major partners have agreed to continue the effort, at first conceived as a short project, until 2015. Microsoft also joined the group, providing servers to host the Internet gateways along with security software to reassure publishers that their content won't be swiped by unauthorized users.
"The challenge is to blend this powerful technology used by the world's leading publishers with the 10-year-old technology used by the developing world," said Randy Ramusack, Microsoft's U.N. technology adviser. "But we're able to do that pretty well. And it's worthwhile. This is the world's library."–Josh Fischman
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