I. Background

The impact of digital information environments has been remarkably universal, extending to industry, government, and the academy; to business persons, scientists, engineers, and scholars of the humanities; to the individual in the workplace and the individual in the home. Vast quantities of information in digital form – text, images, audio, video, Web pages, computer programs, databases – are produced, exchanged, and used in a variety of settings, for myriad purposes. These diverse applications of digital technology rest on a common foundation of shared benefits, including powerful search and retrieval capabilities, network delivery, perfect duplication, and interoperability.