Canadian Digital Information Strategy

The Digital Strategy

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Executive Summary

Digital information and networked technologies are key drivers of economic growth and social well-being in the 21st century. It is clear that the nations that nurture their digital information assets and infrastructure will prosper; those that do not will fall behind. Canada must act quickly and decisively. We must ensure that the needs of all Canadians-private citizens, scientists, creators, industry, students, workers-are met. We must also make certain that the fundamental values of our nation, such as bilingualism, multiculturalism, inclusiveness, and equity are reflected in the digital realm. This can only be accomplished with a coordinated strategic approach that involves all of those engaged in the creation, preservation and dissemination of digital information.

In 2005, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) initiated a dialogue reflecting the range of interests in the digital field, with the goal of framing a Canadian Digital Information Strategy (CDIS). Through a series of meetings, LAC consulted with over 200 stakeholder organizations from a variety of sectors: publishing and media producers, creators, rights bodies, academics, provincial and federal officials, and memory institutions. The consultations culminated in a National Summit at which broad consensus on the elements of a national strategy emerged, which in turn led to the development of this document by a committee whose members are named in Appendix III.

The vision proposed is:

The Strategy puts forward three broad opportunities for achieving this vision:

1. Strengthening content so that, over time, Canada's information assets and accumulated knowledge will be in digital form.
   
   
2. Ensuring preservation so that Canadians will have ongoing access to their country's digital knowledge and information assets, and future generations will have evidence of our intellectual and creative accomplishments.
   
   
3. Maximizing access and use so that Canadians will have optimal access to Canadian digital information important to their learning, businesses and work, leisure activities, and cultural identity; and Canadian content will be showcased to the world.

For each of these, there are a number of specific objectives, each of which has proposed actions. The objectives address the following:

Toward strengthening digital content:

• mass digitization on a national scale
• a conducive digital production environment
• improved digital production practices
• diversity in digital content production

Toward ensuring digital preservation:

• selection and capture of digital content for long-term retention
• distributed digital preservation repository network
• preservation-related research
• new workplace skills
• increased public awareness of digital preservation issues

Toward maximizing digital access:

• mechanisms for democratic, ubiquitous and equitable access
• seamless access and global visibility
• more open access to public sector information and data
• effective communication and management of copyright
• increased user research

The goals of the Strategy cannot be undertaken by any single organization; rather, an inclusive, coordinated and distributed approach involving stakeholders from all sectors of the information environment is required. The information community sees growing urgency in the need to deal with digital issues, and has expressed a new willingness to work collaboratively within a common framework so that Canada is ensured a leadership role in the global digital knowledge economy.

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