Icommons.org

Sangomas, scientists, brave pioneers, exotic secrets from the deep jungle, noble savages - the field of traditional knowledge and genetic resources is rife with contested stereotypes. There is enough discourse about discourses, colonial, post colonial and neo-colonial to make any theorist happy. Sometimes the analysis is so thick it tends to obscure some (obvious) observations. Observations which may prove critical to the A2K movement’s understanding of traditional knowledge.
The first is that indigenous societies are different from one another, and diverse in themselves. The second is that colonialism, so integral to the modern project, has not left pristine traditional communities but has operated by processes of exploitation, appropriation and disruption. Traditional knowledge systems, have as a result, been disrupted. These systems were never static but were changing through histories of trading and migration, and have been further complicated by colonialism’s relocation of indigenous communities, for instance through slavery, foods, medicines, being transplanted across the globe.

Currently traditional knowledge and genetic resources has been regarded as a developing country problem. But is it? (more…)

The iCommons staff are back in their green-walled office in Jozi after a whirlwind SA Free Culture tour in Cape Town last week. In honour of Larry and Jimmy’s visit, the iCommons worker bees took a break from the Skype meetings, the e-mail back-and-forths and the iSummit registration system, and swapped our monitor tan for the real deal. Yes, for a short while we stepped away from our laptops and our ‘virtual’ community with whom we interact everyday, and took to the streets of Cape Town, to find a very different kind of community, but none the less ‘ a community, that we could talk to, laugh with, and party with, in real life, without having to press an ‘enter’ button.

Now this is not to say our online interactions are not appreciated ‘ without our community and the technology that glues us together, we would not be able to do even half of what we do - but let’s face the fact that at the end of the day, meeting in person is a type of ‘Prodigal Son’ experience. I suppose this is why the iCommons Summit is the highlight of our commons efforts every year. In fact ‘community’ is what we here at iCommons, are all about. That’s why the presentations at the Digital Freedom Expo were of such interest to us ‘ we could find out more about the workings of other communities around the world. (more…)

Applying open source collaboration models to other creative endeavours

OK Folks,

Schmatler and Waldhead are back again with some more words of wisdom on why we think people contribute to open source software projects and whether we can take lessons from this and apply it to other forms of creativity. In case you missed our introduction you can check it out here.

Now, why, you might ask, are we spending our valuable time writing about why people freely give away the fruits of their hard work, and then give away the fruits of our hard work to - you? One of the main reasons is that we dig it - it’s fun to sit down, debate, discuss, disagree, and go through the whole process of producing these articles. It’s not really work - it’s more like a hobby for us.

And that’s exactly what writing software feels like for many of the geeks who share their code in open source software projects. In fact, Waldhead is one of them, and he will sit in front of that machine for hours and hours on a beautiful late summer Sunday evening like yesterday (just a hypothetical example, of course), simply because he enjoys it so much. The pay-off for him lies in the process itself, not in the compensation he receives for the result of his work - in this case the
software he is working on. (more…)

Producing and distributing creative content under Creative Commons is an amazing means to facilitate access to human culture and promote sharing and creative development by ’standing on the shoulders of giants.’ The Creative Commons philosophy counters the increasingly powerful copyright regimes and legislation that is restricting access to intellectual and artistic content. It should be noted, however, that the phase shift between the introduction of the two concepts (CC and traditional copyright) played an important role in favour of the older, more restrictive system. This difference has enabled media producers and distributors to develop appropriate business models that align with the copyright requirements at the time.

Over time, many models were conceived, adapted, modified and maybe abandoned altogether until the models most fit to match the applicable copyright regimes (and physical distributions limitations) were widely adopted. Because CC was introduced more recently, it has to tackle the challenge of developing viable business models that align well with its underpinning philosophy, while at the same time provide an acceptable alternative to traditional models.

The Western approach to create, market and distribute content was largely influenced by the mass production phenomena that dominated the rise of industrial nations in the previous century. This, in turn, has resulted in the creation of a hit culture where success is measured by the number of copies sold and where the labels exerted significant power over authors and artists. Consequently, profits were largely appropriated by the labels, and not by the original creators of the artistic works. In other parts of the world where these media supply chains (more…)

Beautiful Cape Town isn’t known as one of the best party spots in the world for nothing, you know. Fine beaches, a gorgeous mountain and great street art and indie music subcultures mean that it’s about the best place in the world to throw down. And on April 20th, the Independent Armchair Theatre in Observatory is going to host one of the best parties the Mother City will have seen all year.

See, Larry Lessig and Jimmy Wales, internet visionaries and all round party animals will be the guests of honour at a party that is kind of a salon, kind of a creative swap-meet, kind of a showcase. In South Africa we like to call these kinds of events ‘braais’. Which is like a barbecue, but with a lot more attitude and bigger flames. (more…)

Peter Barnes, author of Capitalism 3.0: a guide to reclaiming the commons, is a successful businessman who believes capitalism in its present form is gravely flawed, yet he does not look to the state for correction. He sees the first phase of capitalism as one of shortages where demands exceeded supply of goods. Around 1950 this changed and now we are in capitalism 2.0, a time of excess goods and a shortage of buyers. This phase is characterized as being global in scale, abundant in credit, ubiquitous with advertising, and marred by negative externalities (shifting true costs to future generations or other countries for polluting, to take one example). He discusses the influence that capital has on the political process and cites three pathologies that come from what he calls “the anachronistic software that governs capitalism”: destruction of nature, widening of inequality, and the (more…)

You’ve seen the cover illustrations of the iCommons Lab Report over the last three months, which reflect the hot topics, issues and events that are the talk-of-the-commons, in an exciting, colourful and varied way.

These illustrations are made possible thanks to an incredibly supportive company based in Japan, called Loftwork. Every month we work closely with a Loftwork illustrator, to conceptualise and create a cover that is eye-catching, yet thought provoking and relevant. These images are donated to the commons by Loftwork, under a CC Attribution licence, so please feel free to reuse and remix them.

So, while the name ‘Loftwork’ does ring a bell, we know they’re from Japan, and we know they provide iCommons with a fascinating front cover every month - but what is Loftwork actually about, and who drives this organisation? Well, this month we found out more about Chiaki Hayashi, a visionary businesswoman, commons supporter, and co-founder of Loftwork. (more…)

When Creative Commons saw that its ideas and licenses met with enthusiastic interest around the world, its international licensing project was set up in 2003. Since then, Creative Commons International (CCi) made many friends all over the globe. With Finland, Brazil and Japan being the first jurisdiction projects, volunteering experts around the globe started collaborating with Creative Commons to adapt the licenses to their local copyright. But what exactly is this all about?

Creative Commons Jurisdiction Projects
Creative Commons International works to ‘port’ the core Creative Commons licenses to different international jurisdictions. The aim of this project is to produce high (more…)

Whenever someone who is familiar with the beautiful history of South Asia hears the name of Lahore, a grand culture signified and coloured by a great history usually comes to mind. Lahore has always been the peaceful cultural capital of the Punjab province in Pakistan, home to beautiful Mughal gardens, historical buildings, mosques, libraries, museums, shrines, forts, towers and monuments dating back centuries to old civilizations and empires of great rulers. The city is inhabited by the lively and joyful Lahoris, people who are always in the mood for fun, games and cultural events spiced with great fiestas and delicious food.

My experience of this culture started when I accidentally walked into a meeting being held by the members of a group called Danka, while I was waiting for a friend at one of Lahore’s relaxed, artistic cafes, “Nai Rang”, owned by Pakistan’s famous architect Nayar Ali Dada, in the heart of Lahore.

(more…)

The European Union has been supporting an experiment in urban planning, in which several cities across Europe have removed all traffic signs from their streets.

In 2004, Wired reported on a Dutch town called Makkinga, which declared itself ‘Verkeersbordvrij‘'’free of traffic signs’. The theory behind this experiment is that excessive rules make people irresponsible. Once rules are removed, people become considerate. Lacking formal guidelines, they establish order intuitively - through gestures or eye contact.

The traffic system is a classic example of a common good. Experiments with rules-free traffic show that this system can be managed (more…)