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cc-nz - [Cc-nz] reportback from IRGO unConference

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Subject: Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand discussion

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  • From: "Danyl Strype" <strypey AT riseup.net>
  • To: cc-nz <cc-nz AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Cc-nz] reportback from IRGO unConference
  • Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:13:12 +1300

Kia ora koutou

The IRGO unConference produced some stimulating discussion about the future of internet usage and the angles that researchers from various academic disciplines are taking towards it. I had to travel down to Otepoti on Monday morning, so unfortunately I missed the keynote address by Professor Greg Hearn (of QUT, where some of the Oz CC team are based), and the first few sessions.

I arrived in time to attend two of the afternoon panels. The first, Building Communities Online, was focussed mainly on how to make money out of online communities, whereas I would rather have heard more about how and why people gather in online communities and what useful purposes they serve beyond the financial. The second, about Mobile Internet, revealed that although kiwi users have a high level of internet adoption overall, we are behind in our adoption of mobile internet. This may be because of the availability of cabled services, and the (perceived) high cost of mobile services. Many developing countries have limited cable infrastructure, meaning cell phone use is more ubiquitous and mobile internet more intuitive.

The panel I put forward, Copy Rights, Copyleft, and the CreativeCommons, was the first session on Tuesday morning, and with no other panel up against it, we had good numbers, and an enthusiastic discussion. Thanks again to my fellow panelists; Pam McKinley, an arts teacher at Otago Polytech, and Alan Toy, a law lecturer at Otago University.

I showed the 2min video 'Wanna Work Together', which explains briefly how CC works, and answered some questions about the different license conditions. One or two baffling questions came up. For example, how are CC licenses are affected by different copyright durations across jurisdictions? If something is licensed under a NZ CC license, and goes into the public domain, can the license conditions still be enforced in the US, where a copyright last longer? I have to admit I think of a CC license as part of a conversation between artist and audience, and I haven't thought much about enforcement. The next session, on Digital Content, followed on nicely.

One aspect of the unConference format was the 'flashmeets', spaces for spontaneous discussions arising out of the pre-arranged panels. I participated in one flashmeet where we explored the question of whether open source represents a break with the political economy of capitalism, or a reform within it. My observation is that libre/ open licensing (and the collaborative, participatory productions models that seem to go with it) attracts people who would support each of those options. One can find examples of both flat, post-capitalist management structures and the strict bearaucratic heirarchy of traditional corporates contributing to libre development, sometimes working on the same libre project. The participation of IBM and Novell in Linux development is one such example. Certainly free software also attracts anti-corporate advocates like myself, but an across-the-board adoption of libre licensing of software and media would not necessarily require or precipitate an anti-capitalist revolution, although it would be a social revolution of a sort. There was also some discussion of levels of female participation, which is apparently around 20% in open source development, but higher in proprietary development.

The programme concluded with a discussion on the potential for future unConferences, and a keynote by Brett Telfer from Telecom, who was quizzed about how Telecom is planning to add various new cable and wireless services to Telecom's traditional landline, cell, and internet offerings.

As always with such events, some of the most productive conversations happened during the breaks, and over drinks after the days sessions were over. One project that we cooked up was a research page on existing business models for online media distribution that aspire to make it possible for artists to make a living from their art, while incorporating CC licensing. Potentially this could be hosted on the CC.org wiki.

I also spoke to Jordan Carter from InternetNZ about a conference on defending the open internet, which he wants to hold in Poneke in 2010. This could be an opportunity to hold another discussion on copyright in the era of online distribution, and bring together some people who are keen to work on promoting and educating about CC to do some brainstorming.

Overall, the internet unConference was a great idea, and successfully executed. It's a shame that KiwiCon is on in Poneke so soon after, I'd like to have held a session on CC there as well. If anyone is going, please see if there is any opportunity to bring CC into the programme.

RnB
Danyl

--
"A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular."
- Adlai E. Stevenson Jr

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and
those who matter don't mind."
- Dr Suess

http://strypey.orconhosting.net.nz/contacts.html




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