[cc-community] European Union Public Domain thematic network
Andrius Kulikauskas
ms at ms.lt
Mon Sep 18 18:12:02 EDT 2006
Paul Keller, Andrea Glorioso, Mia Garlick,
Yes, I and our Minciu Sodas laboratory based in Lithuania are interested
to participate as partners. I share my thoughts below.
Paolo Pumilia in Milan, Italy is also very interested. He has organized
a series of conferences on Open Content including
http://www.openculture.org and is now creating a Permanent Committee.
Do you have a public online venue for pursuing work on this proposal,
including reaching out to others? We'd like to host such work at our
working group Learning From Each Other
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningfromeachother/ led by Pamela
McLean of the UK. Her general interest is in the use of ICT to support
self-learning with special attention to the wide open situation in
Africa. She has agreed to host Paolo's work towards a Permanent
Committee for open content conferences. Roland Alton who hosted the
recent workshop is also here. Please send a blank message to
learningfromeachother-subscribe at yahoogroups.com to subscribe!
Andrius
Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
ms at ms.lt
+370 (5) 264 5950
+370 (699) 30003
Vilnius, Lithuania
Paul Keller wrote:
> dear Andrius,
>
> thank you for your mail and sorry for the delayed answer. i was not
> able to keep up with my mail because of the bad connectivity at
> wizards of so. as you might now we have had a meeting at WOS on
> thursday to select a lead organisation for the TN proposal. We have
> chosen the politechnico de torino as lead and i have copied Andrea
> Glorioso from the Politechnico in this mail. if you wnat to join the
> project at this stage you should get in touch with him as soon as
> possible as he is coordinating the efforts to select the consortium
> partners at this moment.
> all the best from amsterdam,
>
> paul keller (CC-NL)
>
> On Sep 14, 2006, at 11:07 PM, Andrius Kulikauskas wrote:
>
>> Sorry! I forgot to add this. Andrius, http://www.ms.lt
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 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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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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>
> --
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> e: paul at waag.org | t: +31 20 557 9898 | f: +31 20 557 9880
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