In the second part of the Digital Hero Book Project series, Steve explores the use of digital storytelling for advocacy and as a democratising agent in a world where dominant media giants often portray only half the story. He speaks to Amy Hill, Director of Community Projects at the Center for Digital Storytelling, the birthplace of this modern twist on the age-old art of telling stories.

icommons.org: What do you do at the Center?
Amy: I oversee our various initiatives done in partnership with grassroots groups, nonprofit organizations, health and social services agencies ‘ all for purposes of integrating digital storytelling practices into efforts to promote individual and community health and well-being, and support campaigns for social, environmental, and economic justice. This involves developing collaborative relationships, (more…)

Wroclaw, a city in the South-West of Poland, is with every passing week becoming more saturated with Creative Commons music. Every Saturday in October and November, in a club called Fuzon, two local independent acts play at a “Creative Commons Party”.

The parties are an initiative of young researchers running a project called (r)ewolucja - (r)evolution (www.r-ewolucja.pl), who earlier organised one of the first conferences in Poland about the relationship between intellectual property law and culture. The parties are organised with the cooperation of Creative Commons Poland, cultural animation association “IQ” and a range of students’ local media: academic radio “Luz”, magazine “OK.NO” and web portal “e-Lama”. Malgorzata Burnecka from (r)ewolucja.pl explained more about the reason for starting these parties: (more…)

Storytelling is as old as humankind. The oldest stories, predating even oral history, were about great hunting feats. In his study of myths, Joseph Campbell describes the tales of animals killed and the afterworld to where their spirits departed, as ‘a cacophonous chorus’. Later, our ancestors would paint on cave walls, still using narratives to celebrate rituals and ceremonies. Stories recorded important events, expressed commonly held values and were used to pass on wisdom from elders to community members. Ultimately, storytelling was a way to record and make sense of the human experience.

Fast-forward a few thousand years to 1994 in the United States of America. A man is sitting on a log, next to a campfire under a full moon, telling stories to a (more…)

October 2006 was an important month in South Africa. We like to celebrate things here at the tip of Africa, and what better occasion to celebrate than the 75th birthday of one of our most famous leaders, Archbishop Desmond Tutu?

The Arch, as he’s fondly known, was a major figure in South Africa’s liberation struggle, and is a well-respected statesman and religious leader all over the world. Oh, and he won a Nobel Peace Prize. He’s a mover.

And all movers are online. Which is why a new project, launched earlier this month, is so exciting.

The Desmond Tutu Digital Archive project is a complete archive of all of the Arch’s personal papers and recordings, which will, ultimately, be available, free of change, online for students, journalists, theologians and others. The fully interactive archive will be accessible to people of all cultures, all ages and all (more…)

Bring together student journalists, media studies lecturers, editors of major South African magazines and online newspapers. Add their collective, yet varied experiences from practicing in the field of media. Mix in a touch of good advice and helpful hints. Stir in a pinch of passion for the profession. Attach a Creative Commons (CC) license ‘ and viola - you have Jo’s Toolkit, a recently launched website which provides resources and tools for journalism students and grassroots/media practitioners in the fields of writing, editing, design, photography, television, radio and new media.

‘Jo’s Toolkit came about in the hope of educating other journalists. We have access to lecturers, students and professionals with a wealth of experience and media knowledge and we wanted to pool these resources and make them available to others,’ says Jo’s Toolkit founders and editors, Rhodes University journalism students Carly Ritz and Gregor Rohrig.

And access these resources, they certainly did. The site hosts articles from South African Mail and Guardian Online editor Matthew Buckland, Student Life managing editor, James Simpson and (more…)

On September 23rd, Association Wikimedia Poland (the Polish affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation) and Creative Commons Poland organised a party to celebrate the 5th birthday of Polish Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales was our guest of honour and gave a talk as part of the monthly Creative Commons Salon meeting. He talked about Wikipedia and his new project Wikia, about what an encyclopedia should be (”radical”), about the promise of freely accessible knowledge that Wikipedia brings and the model of community production promoted by Wikipedians. Free culture activists know these stories well. Wikipedia is a marvel, in an error-laden, permanently-under-construction (more…)

Software Freedom Day (SFD) was held on Saturday 16 September and saw teams from across the world organizing activities and events to educate the public on the value of using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in every walk of life ‘ from education, to government, in business and at home.

We were curious about the different types of celebrations being held around the world, and so we gathered reports from three continents to give you first hand accounts of the sights, sounds and general happenings on the day the world is inspired by free (as in beer) software.

Nepal

Hempal Shrestha
FOSS Nepal

On 16 September, Yala Maya Kendra at Patan Dhoka became a melting pot for hundreds of like-minded FOSS enthusiasts as they celebrated Software Freedom Day for the second year in Nepal. The day was the ideal platform to showcase their creativity and explore new possibilities in the field of FOSS.

The event was organized by the FOSS Nepal community and supported by various organizations including BellaSAP and MPP. Around one thousand participants from different colleges, the private sector, government offices, civil society and media participated in the (more…)

The first ccSalon in South Africa proved to be less of a techno chat-fest and more of a learning experience for all involved.

You never really know what kind of people are going to turn up for a Creative Commons shindig.

It could be a collection of techno-experts (we don’t call them geeks in this community, thank you very much) who will baffle most people with discussions about Linux platforms and embedded systems.

Or you might run into the Cultural Freedom Fighters, who exist on the bleeding edge of the blogosphere and make culture like some people make money. Except, because they like to share their culture, a lot of the Cultural Freedom Fighters don’t make much money. But they do have nice (more…)

A comic promoting the value of a freer public domain and explaining the maze of copyright law history and intellectual property rights?

This may be an unexpected topic, but law professors Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins released their comic, ‘Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain’, a month ago, with resounding success.

According to co-author of the comic, James Boyle, the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School and member of the board of Creative Commons, there has been a ‘great response’ to the book.

‘We have had between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors to the comic website who have been reading the comic online, more than 2 million page views. And they have come from all over the world - about 30% from outside the US,’ he said.

Large batch orders of hard copies have also been bought for high schools, film schools and (more…)