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…)

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.

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In this, the first posting in a series called 10 of the Best, iCommons is taking a look at creators who are using open licensing and content to spread and encourage creativity.

This week, we decided to look at netlabels all over the world. We specifically decided not to look at remixing sites, which we think, are different creatures, with different goals. Besides, we’re saving the remixing sites for another article.

Some stuff, of course, is freer than other stuff. Different labels use open content differently, so you may come across licences that allow free access and usage of content, other sites use slightly more restrictive Attribution-Non-Commercial-No-Derivatives licences, which prevent remixing.

Canada
Panospria
Originally a collective of experimental musicians, founded in 2004, Panospria now features (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…)

Access to ICTs is one of the most important areas of development in countries like South Africa. ‘It’s vital for education’¦’ we’re told. ‘It will empower people’¦’ is another common refrain. But what that actually translates into, in a tangible way, is often left unsaid.

The Digital Hero Book Project is exactly that ‘ a tangible example of how ICT in African schools and communities can be used in conjunction with community projects to directly benefit the people involved.

Hero Books are not a new concept. Hero Booking is a process whereby a child or adult becomes the author, illustrator and editor of their own hero book. Hero Books are a form of memory work, a process of setting up a safe space for an individual to tell a story. This process of story telling can take place under a tree or in a community centre, or it can be made tangible by making a map, drawing pictures or writing the story down in a book, like a Hero Book. Memory work is important in helping people take control of their stories, empowering them (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…)

Over a hundred avatars flooded the Second Life (SL) concert venue, Menorca, at the start of the Jonathan Coulton’s (aka Yonathan Coulcliff) live performance on 14 September. Popular Science and Creative Commons joined efforts to present the in-world concert, which featured other known SL musicians including Melvin Took, Cylindrian Rutabaga, Kourosh Eusebio, Etherian Kamaboko, Jaycatt Nico and Frogg Marlowe. Audio streaming, provided by Mad Muse Radio, gave access to listeners who couldn’t enter the full sim.

In addition to hosting the concert on her sim, Slim Warrior was also gracious enough to perform despite the eight-hour time difference in the UK. Talents ranged from melodious vocals with acoustic guitar and/or piano accompaniment, folk rock, and ambient piano. Jonathan energized the crowd with his (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…)

The first Creative Commons Salon (ccSalon), held in Seoul on 19 August, was all about sharing and enjoying music.

Hosted by Creative Commons Korea (ccKorea), more than seventy people attended the event, including international guests Tyng-Ruey Chuang from Creative Commons Taiwan (ccTaiwan) and Naoki Iguchi from Creative Commons Japan (ccJapan). Local participants varied from digital artists, bloggers and podcasters to social scientists and commons activists.

At 18:30, the Salon was opened with a promotional video clip about (more…)

The movie ‘Steal This Film‘ offers an interesting view into the world of file sharing. The documentary shows a rarely depicted perspective from file sharers or so-called ‘pirates’, and focuses on the world’s most famous and notorious Bittorrent tracker ‘The Pirate Bay’ and the movement around it.

‘Steal This Film’ is interesting for two reasons: first it shows an insight into the ideas and thoughts of file sharers, from a variety of different backgrounds; from the average kid on the street to the people behind ‘The Pirate Bay’ and closely related initiatives. Secondly, the documentary was made on a shoestring budget (Openbusiness has written more about this here) and was created by people who felt that ‘old media’ was not doing justice to their views on file sharing, or as they state on their site: (more…)