Letter Text
The text of the letter can be found http://www.okfn.org/fcd/open_letter_20040610.html
Background
On May 26th, a group of students, educators, archivists, artists and TV-licence payers gathered in London to kick off the "Friends of the Creative Domain," a group that stands in support of a fully realised BBC Creative Archive.
Original Press Release Info
The Friends of the Creative Domain have written an open letter to the government Department of Culture, Media and Sport to express their concern that it be done properly:
- Over the last three weeks many of the constituencies that have a stake in the BBC's plans for the Creative Archive have started to talk about how this archive can best serve the public interest. A fully realized Creative Archive could transform the BBC's precious, deep archive into a springboard for a new century of participatory creation by Britons. The project stands to make the BBC the banner-carrier for public service broadcasting in the information age, but if the BBC bends to pressure to scale back its ambition, the Creative Archive could amount to little more than brochureware and failed promise.
In light of the BBC's accelerated schedule for submitting new charter language, we have decided to release the attached letter signed by many of the supporters of the "Friends of the Creative Domain." We see this as the start of a longer public conversation, and as we continue to organise support for a robust Archive, we look forward to speaking with you on these issues.