Dear all,
It is with great pleasure that I announce
the third in a series of events exploring academic research perspectives on
Free Culture. After Sapporo and Boston, this year we’re moving to Berlin,
and expanding to a 2-day conference! Please see below for the details and click
on the links for more information. Of course it goes without saying that we’d
love to receive some contributions from you and would appreciate your help in spreading
the word.
Please bookmark this page: http://wikis.fu-berlin.de/display/fcrc/Home
Call for Papers - Abstract
Deadline: June 7, 2010
The 3rd Free Culture
Research Conference (FCRC)
Free Culture between Commons and Markets:
Approaching the Hybrid Economy?
The Free Culture Research Conference presents a unique opportunity for
scholars whose work contributes to the promotion, study or criticism of a Free
Culture, to engage with a multidisciplinary group of academic peers and
practitioners, identify the most important research opportunities and
challenges, and attempt to chart the future of Free Culture. This event builds
upon the successful workshop held in 2009 at the Berkman Center for Internet
and Society at Harvard University, organized and attended by renowned scholars
and research institutions from the US, Europe and Asia. The first event was
held in Sapporo, Japan, in 2008, in conjunction with the 4th iCommons Summit.
This year's event is larger in ambition and scope, to provide more time for
interaction in joint as well as break-out sessions. It is hosted jointly by the
Free University of Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of
Societies and will take place at October 8-9, 2010 at the Free
University Campus in Berlin, in collaboration with COMMUNIA, the European
Network on the digital public domain. Funding and support is also provided by
the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Given this year's theme and the generous support of the Free University's
School of Business and Economics, we encourage submissions at the interface of
Free Culture and business, although we welcome submissions from any relevant
discipline, will be inclusive and will maintain the interdisciplinary nature of
the event, as in previous years. Enabled by new Internet technologies and
innovative legal solutions, Free Culture prospers in the form of new business
models and via commons-based peer production, thereby both challenging and
complementing classic market institutions. Alongside business perspectives, we
expect that perspectives from law, IT, the social sciences and humanities will
help us develop a better understanding of the challenges at hand, for
individuals, business, law, the economy, and society at large. Topics of
interest include:
- Studies on the use and growth of open/free
licensing models
- Critical analyses of the role of Creative Commons
or similar models
- The role of Free Culture in markets,
industry, government, or the non-profit sector
- Technical, legal or business solutions towards a
hybrid economy
- Incentives, innovation and community dynamics in
open collaborative peer production
- Economic models for the sustainability of commons-based
production
- The economic value of the public domain
- Business models and the public domain
- Successes and failures of open licensing
- Analyses of policies, court rulings or industry
moves that influence the future of Free Culture
- Regional studies of Free Culture with global
lessons
- Best practices from open/free licensing, and the
application of different business and organizational models by specific
communities or individuals
- Definitions of openness and freedom for different
media types, users and communities
- Broader economic, sociopolitical, legal or
cultural implications of Free Culture initiatives and peer production
practices
- Methodological concerns in the study of Free
Culture
This is the first time the event will be held in Europe, the home of many
past supporters and participants of the Free Culture workshops and also home to
millions of individual and institutional adopters of open licensing models. We
will therefore strive to promote and connect European scholars working in
relevant spheres, while also representing the global diversity of the field.
For more information see:
Giorgos
(on behalf of the FCRC 2010 organizing committee)