Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications | AAUP

Use the link to access the full text report prepared by the American Association of University Professors.  The Executive Summary opens as follows: "This report brings up to date and expands upon the Association's 2004 report, Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications.  It reaffirms that report's 'overriding principle':  'Academic freedom, free inquiry, and freedom of expression within the academic community may be limited to no greater extent in electronic format than they are in print, save for the most unusual situation where the very nature of the medium itself might warrant unusual restrictions.'   The newly revised report seeks to apply this principle to an environment in which new social media have emerged as important vehicles for electronic communication in the academy, and in which outsourcing, cloud computing, expanded security concerns, and a variety of new electronic devices and social media have significantly altered the communications landscape.  With respect to research, this report reaffirms the earlier report's conclusion that 'full freedom in research and in the publication of the results applies with no less force to the use of electronic media for the conduct of research and the dissemination of findings and results than it applies to the use of more traditional media.'  It develops this principle more fully in an expanded discussion of access to research materials, including a discussion of the open-access movement and of the role of college and university libraries and librarians. The report affirms that '[t]he commitment of libraries and librarians to maximizing access to information and protecting user privacy and confidentiality should not change in the face of new technologies.'  The report also considers the potentially adverse impact that efforts to protect network security may have on the freedom of research and examines the role of social media in communications about still-unpublished research ..."