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'umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu’. "We believe in Africa 's role in the information society of today and tomorrow, and we see Creative Commons and open content initiatives as one way to give voice to the vast creativity and knowledge that exists in Africa.”
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'umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu’ "We believe in Africa 's role in the information society of today and tomorrow, and we see Creative Commons and open content initiatives as one way to give voice to the vast creativity and knowledge that exists in Africa.” Statement read in over 20 languages at the Commons Sense conference, May 2005
Creative Commons in Africa:a glocal approach Heather Ford Creative Commons South Africa iCommons Summit – June, 2005
The spread of cc “The (grey) are countries where the project has launched. The yellow are close. The red is yet to be liberated.” Lessig blog – June 8
+ Nigeria + Ghana + Egypt Failure?
A phased approach • Community building • Initiating debate • Launching a local licence • Building partnerships • Supporting licence networks • Building applications • Affecting policy
South Africa • 43 million population • 4 million online • 18.7 million mobile users • Educational challenges • 11 official languages • Apartheid legacy • ICTs in schools
“Do you want to port the cc licences to your local jurisdiction? Process Sign up to volunteer here”
Mechanism: (Free) online discussion forum
Vehicle: (Free) public interest lawyers who are already aware
Incentives: An interested public and media with a stake in the outcomes of the debate
Online discussion forum Exactly 3 replies: from Andrew and myself to each other Face-to-face discussions were critical to ensure legitimacy
Public interest IP lawyers Virtually no public interest IP lawyersTurn to academics and policy practitioners instead
An interested public with a stake in the outcomes of the debate The public’s awareness of IP is limited to issues of “piracy” and the image of the “pirate” has not yet moved from the criminal to the ordinary person
Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons 2005 A glocal event • Map the commons • Build community • Enable implementation
June, 2004 3/4 licensors
And now… • Almost every major website involved in educational technology for development • A growing number of ngos and non-profits • University departments, major research • A cartoonist, local artists, musicians and multimedia students • Donors and interest from government
cc is critical piece of a puzzle 1. Enlivening and empowering African voices on the internet2. Improving access to quality materials for effective education
The possibilities we want to enable • Students learning about apartheid propaganda by remixing scenes from the SABC in the 1980s • Access to the forgotten black writers of the last century
Partnershipsglobal, regional and local • ‘Developing a southern perspective of IP, media and culture in the 21st century’ cc Brazil, Ford – case studies – models • Science Commons: End-to-end publishing platforms with partners in the South • Regional legal and community-building support • Music sharing and the ‘freedom toaster’
Coordinating sector campaigns • Development information – the APC • Academic publishing – UKZN Patrick Bond • Education online – Thutong, • Donors – TSF, Osisa, • Digital repositories – SASLI, UCT • Multimedia archives – SABC, National Film Archives, SAHA • Indigenous knowledge databases
Local policy work • Local public domain • Indigenous Knowledge Bill • Access to Information Act
The spread of cc “The (grey) are countries where the project has launched. The yellow are close. The red is yet to be liberated.” Lessig blog – June 8
Interoperability ? ? • Licence development • Application development • 2. Corporate partnerships