[cc-community] European Union Public Domain thematic network
Andrius Kulikauskas
ms at ms.lt
Thu Sep 14 17:07:05 EDT 2006
Sorry! I forgot to add this. Andrius, http://www.ms.lt
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http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/econtentplus/docs/call_2006/ecp_work_programme_2006.pdf
REINFORCING COOPERATION BETWEEN DIGITAL CONTENT STAKEHOLDERS
Issues and policies relating to the public domain are critical across
all the target areas covered by
the programme for facilitating the accessibility, use and exploitation
of digital content in general. In
2006, eContentplus will fund a thematic network to examine the situation
in the European Union
and develop strategies and solutions for its Member States.
For the purposes of this work programme, public domain refers to content
that is not or no longer
protected by copyright, for example because it is not entitled to
copyright protection or the
copyright has been waived or has expired. Related issues that also
require examination include
material that is protected by copyright, but can be accessed and used by
all, e.g. through open
access, under Creative Commons licences or as orphan works, i.e. works
protected by copyright but
where it is impossible to identify the person entitled to exercise the
rights.
6.1. A Thematic Network on public-domain and related issues
Objective: A single network will be funded to spread awareness among
content stakeholders on the importance of issues relating to the public
domain for the usability and accessibility of digital content. It will
identify the issues and develop strategies for tackling them at European
level.
Conditions: In addition to the common requirements for Thematic
Networks, proposals should meet the
following conditions:
• They should bring together experts from different backgrounds with an
interest in the public
domain, such as IPR experts, content owners (libraries and archives),
representatives of the
scientific community, end users and consumers.
• Participants should represent the interests of actors from a
sufficiently wide geographical area
so as to have an impact at European level.
Expected results: Digital stakeholders should understand and appreciate
public domain issues and incorporate that understanding and appreciation
in strategies and solutions for dealing with such issues at European
level.
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Andrius Kulikauskas wrote:
>Hi! I'm wondering if anybody is writing a proposal for the European Union's call to create a Public Domain thematic network? I want to support Roland Alton-Scheidl's efforts. He's currently at the Wizards of OS conference in Berlin and will give a workshop on this on Sunday. My Minciu Sodas laboratory members Markus Petz, Dante-Gabryell Monson and Eric Schneider are also there. I hope we might speak up and work together at this opportunity!
>
>I also ask for help to make contacts in some of the bigger businesses and institutions as I think that is essential for the success of a proposal. They could be in Europe but even outside contacts might prove helpful. I'm thinking of hardware, software, media companies but also perhaps insurance or real estate or travel or pharmaceuticals or other companies that are knowledge intensive and might possibly benefit from a progressive approach to the Public Domain. I'm also personally asking for a review of current dogma and a rethinking as to how we might approach these issues ethically first, and legally second. Please join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningfromeachother/ and also thank you for discussion at the Creative Commons list.
>
>Andrius Kulikauskas
>ms at ms.lt, http://www.ms.lt, Direktorius, Minciu Sodas
>---------------------------------------------
>
>
>The EU's European Commission has issued a call for proposals (due
>October 19, 2006) to create a Public Domain thematic network. Up to 1
>million euros is available. http://europa.eu.int/econtentplus and more
>information below.
>
>Since 1998, I have organized our Minciu Sodas laboratory
>http://www.ms.lt to deliberately leverage the Public Domain to serve and
>organize independent thinkers. Together we have created more than 15,000
>letters and 3,000 wiki pages. We're starting to reuse this material in
>more and more ways that facilitate our working together. We're also
>realizing that our spaces in the Public Domain filters in those who are
>willing to work openly and share freely and filters out sharkish,
>trollish and other deconstructive behavior. This means that we can
>encourage our participants to invest time, energy, resources in each
>other's growth. I have written about this logic in "An Economy for
>Giving Everything Away" http://www.ms.lt/en/workingopenly/givingaway.html
>
>I'm writing to encourage us to organize around Roland Alton-Scheidl,
>PUBLIC VOICE Lab & Project Lead
>RegisteredCommons.org, Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences,
>http://www.media.coop/about/ He's leading a workshop for all who would
>like to work together on this proposal. It takes place this Sunday at
>"The Wizards of OS" conference in Berlin
>http://wizards-of-os.org/index.php?id=2922
>http://www.media.coop/project/ecplus/ http://del.icio.us/ecplus
>
>I spoke with Roland today. He and Franz Nahrada know each other quite
>well. Franz leads our lab's working group Global Villages
>http://www.globalvillages.info
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalvillages/ Roland is a part of
>Franz's video bridge team which is working with telecoms so that they
>offer video bridge equipment free of charge to community centers which
>subscribe to video bridge services. This option can make all the
>difference for spreading this technology and is analogous to the DSL
>companies offering modems free of charge to their subscribers. It also
>lets subscribers use the existing proprietary technology without locking
>them into it so they might switch as open source options arise. And it's
>a ground breaking example of providers serving communities rather than
>consumers.
>
>Roland is looking for a team of four or five people who might help with
>his proposal. I'm happy to help. Who else? He also asked for help to
>find partners in the various European countries, especially large
>businesses and institutions. Here are some that we can approach right away:
>- Paolo Pumilia in Milan, Italy is the organizer of several Open Content
>conferences http://www.openculture.org with many ties to the academic
>community. He's the one who originally alerted me to the call.
>- Steve Cayzer of Hewlett-Packard Bristol Labs
>http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Steve_Cayzer/ is working on the semantic
>web and is a friend of our lab.
>- Stanko Blatnik is in Slovenia and is interested in distance learning
>and has academic connections.
>- Georg Pleger of Creative Commons Austria
>http://www.creativecommons.at/Members/georgP has been very sympathetic
>and perhaps has more contacts.
>I have some connections in Lithuania's government, perhaps that might be
>relevant.
>
>But we need bigger connections in order to have a chance of winning. I
>spoke recently with a friendly expert who made it clear that our lab had
>no chance of winning. These projects are typically won by outfits that
>manage thirty or forty of them at a time. They have the whole production
>line ready for this and the calls are usually formulated with them in
>mind. So I'm encouraging us to work openly and rally around Roland and
>all who are willing to put in the work and take the risk. This will
>provide three years of funding for a few organizers and travel for
>partners. And meanwhile it's a good opportunity for us to connect and
>support each other.
>
>I defer to Roland regarding the content of the proposal. But I share my
>ideas. I would call the proposal and the network "Ethical Public
>Domain". My goal would be to focus our attention on ethics rather than
>legalities. Our work would be to analyze each domain where content is
>generated and considered what is the ethically best way to treat content
>given the relevant issues. And then to make recommendations as to how
>laws should be changed and how to focus on ethical rather than legal
>solutions. And how to integrate different kinds of content in different
>situations.
>
>Our assumption would be that people have a basic human right to share.
>Any law which presumes that people don't want to share is in conflict
>with that right. In particular, the laws which assume that we claim
>ownership of our creative works are counter to our right to share and
>thus ethically void. People who want to claim legal protection of their
>creative works ought to be active in marking their content accordingly.
>Otherwise they are infringing on our right to share. By clarifying our
>human rights we would help show where the laws are ethical and where are
>they overstepping.
>
>For example, as Thomas Kalka noted, one argument against public
>domain software is that supposedly author's are not protected against
>presumed warrantees and associated liability. Well, instead of
>abandoning the public domain, why not clarify if the laws are unethical
>and should be changed?
>
>I'm also thinking of social networking (people's implicit content) and
>video bridges (most explicit content) as two ends of a spectrum and
>every other kind of content is somewhere in between.
>
>One idea is to have a video bridge center in every European country and
>have them in other countries so that we could have their input because
>this is a global issue. And to meet through the video bridges as much as
>possible. And perhaps bring them to conferences throughout the year so
>that people throughout Europe and around the world could hook up on this
>issue both online and offline.
>
>I also think that it could be helpful to focus attention on content that
>is socially meaningful such as a knowledge base for sustainability that
>could use all manner of media. And a social networking system to attract
>such giving people and help them help each other find paid work. Here
>again Public Domain is essential.
>
>The Public Domain can also have an express ethical component which
>explains what is appropriate behavior under various conditions. For
>example, if you make money from content, then it's appropriate to give
>back to the content creators. But how exactly you do that and who
>exactly you give to isn't so important. And it's not a legal issue.
>Certainly for individuals and small businesses there is no recourse in
>civil law because of the expense and wasted energy and so the law is not
>a solution for the people who matter.
>
>I think it's also perfectly human to have ethics and laws which allow
>humans to use their best judgement but require institutions with limited
>liability, such as corporations, to be taxed for their use of content.
>Or, for example, it makes sense to have patents which allow humans
>unrestricted use but require corporations to negotiate with the patent
>holder.
>
>I think it's important to think of the Public Domain in a practical way
>and not make a legal parody of it. In practice, people can and do change
>their mind as to whether their work is in the Public Domain. And the
>common sense consequence is that this does not affect any copies already
>published but should affect any future copies to the extent that the
>publisher has been made or should be aware of the change of status. In
>which case the publisher should be prepared to negotiate or find a
>substitute. This makes for a world where sharing is much more voluntary
>and not based on force, and where investments are made accordingly.
>
>I'm interested to approach participants in the Creative Commons
>initiative who would like to see more emphasis on ethics rather than
>law. I believe that here in Europe we might succeed in developing an
>ethical European alternative ("respect these requests") to a legalistic
>American approach ("these rights reserved"). Especially as the network's
>major role can be to suggest European policy that leads to directives
>that lead to harmonized laws throughout the Union.
>
>Pamela McLean has agreed to host work on this proposal at her working
>group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningfromeachother/ Her key
>concept in life is "learning from each other" and she's especially
>interested in how we and ICT might support learning, especially in
>Africa, which is a wonderful land for thinking fresh. Paolo Pumilia is
>also active there. We invite all to join us, please send a blank message
>to learningfromeachother-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Roland, if you think
>this is a good idea, please ask people at your workshop to sign up for
>this group and get their permissions. This would be a great boost for us
>to help you! Also, the more openly that we write this proposal, the more
>partners, attention and good will we might attract.
>
>Roland, best wishes in your work!
>Please keep us posted!
>
>Andrius
>
>Andrius Kulikauskas
>Minciu Sodas
>http://www.ms.lt
>ms at ms.lt
>+370 (5) 264 5950
>+370 (699) 30003
>Vilnius, Lithuania
>
>
>Each letter sent to Learning From Each Other enters the PUBLIC DOMAIN unless it explicitly states otherwise http://www.ethicalpublicdomain.org Please be kind to our authors!
>
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