Free Culture Forum
Encyclopedia
The Free Culture Forum is an international encounter of civic society actors on free culture
, digital rights
and access to knowledge. It took place in Barcelona
for the first time from October 30 to November 1, 2009 and second time from the 28th to the 31st of October 2010. It took place jointly with the oXcars
, a free culture festival.
, Mayo Fuster Morell, Networked politics and the Free Knowledge Institute
.
The Forum 2009 ended up with the definition of the Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge. The Charter has been disseminated and implemented worldwide, including the 26th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin and the Free Culture X Conference.
Official observers from the European Community's Commission for Culture and Education (Valerie Panis), the European Community's Commission for Consumer Protection (Katrine Thomsen) and Government of Brazil (through its Department of Digital Culture) (José Murilo) were present.
, Mayo Fuster Morell and Yproductions, and the advise of Felix Stalder. It resulted on a Declaration and How to Manual on sostenibility of creativity on the digital era. The declaration was signed by more than 80 organizations and personalities of the free culture scene, such as Richard Stallman
.
and peer production and distribution is not incompatible with market strategies and commercial distribution. The How-To Manual sets out a series of alternative commercial and non-profit models. It insists that the Internet must remain free and open in order to allow online collaboration models to develop, and it must be recognised as a tool that promotes contact between creators and the public. The manual offers an overview of new models that are already operating in a variety of fields, such as freemium
, crowdfunding and micropayment
systems in which users make small financial contributions to projects that are looking for seed funding through platforms such as Kickstarter
and lanzanos.com or to existing initiatives that are given money depending on the number of users who vote for them (such as Flattr
, created by Peter Sunde
and Linus Olsson
). It also claims that the creators of commercial cooperative platforms should share their profits with the creators of the content they publish.
1. Sustainable models for creativity in the digital era
This section included a panel on film supply and distribution on the Internet, with the participation of Álex de la Iglesia
, Juan Carlos Tous, Amparo Peiró, Euduald Doménech and Josep Jover. Other participants included Yproducciones, Kayros Transmedia, Daniel Granados, Kolector, Flattr
, Goteo and Verkami, who explored a series of sustainable alternatives for creation.
2. Challenges and tools for the defense of the Internet and of sharing
This section began by focusing on the current situation of the Net in the global framework, with La Quadrature du Net
, Geraldine Juárez and John Perry Barlow
, followed by #Redada, with David Bravo, Hacktivistas and Antonio Delgado.
This second section was deeply influenced by the centrality of the #15M movement
in regards to tools for communication, self-organisation and defence, in the framework of #globalrevolution. It focused on projects by Lorea such as n-1, infrastructures for online self-organisation, which are crucial to digital autonomy.
Then came a panel on hacker strategies and tools that allow a qualitative leap in collective, communicative activities, with presentations of projects such as Kune, Alabs and 15hack. This session was rounded off with a presentation by Richard Stallman
.
Free Culture
Free Culture may refer to:* Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig* Free culture movement, a social movement for free culture...
, digital rights
Digital rights
The term digital rights describes the permissions of individuals legitimately to perform actions involving the use of a computer, any electronic device, or a communications network...
and access to knowledge. It took place in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
for the first time from October 30 to November 1, 2009 and second time from the 28th to the 31st of October 2010. It took place jointly with the oXcars
Oxcars
The oXcars are a non-competitive awards ceremony held at Sala Apolo in Barcelona, Spain, in October each year. They are a public showcase that puts the spotlight on cultural creation and distribution carried out under the paradigms of shared culture....
, a free culture festival.
What is the Fcforum
The Fcforum is a major international meeting of the most relevant organizations and individuals working on the international scene, who are engaged in reflecting on the social and economic challenges of the dissemination of culture and knowledge in the digital age.FCForum 2009
The main objectives of the Forum 2009 were, on the one hand, building networks to optimize the efforts of the different groups and setting common demands against the proposals from industry and governments in their eagerness to control culture and information; and on the other hand reinforcing the self-organization of tools and infrastructures to support free culture. The first edition of the Forum was organised by eXgae (now La-EX), Simona LeviSimona Levi
Simona Levi is an Italian multidisciplinary artist and activist based in Barcelona, Spain, since 1990. She is a prominent activist in European social movements that support the free circulation of knowledge, and has actively participated in movements in defense of the right to housing and the use...
, Mayo Fuster Morell, Networked politics and the Free Knowledge Institute
Free Knowledge Institute
The Free Knowledge Institute is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2006 in The Netherlands. Inspired by the Free Software movement, the FKI fosters the free exchange of knowledge in all areas of society by promoting freedom of use, modification, copying and distribution of knowledge in four...
.
The Forum 2009 ended up with the definition of the Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge. The Charter has been disseminated and implemented worldwide, including the 26th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin and the Free Culture X Conference.
Official observers from the European Community's Commission for Culture and Education (Valerie Panis), the European Community's Commission for Consumer Protection (Katrine Thomsen) and Government of Brazil (through its Department of Digital Culture) (José Murilo) were present.
Main thematics of the Fcforum 2009
The working program was on five working lines:- Education and Access to Knowledge
- Organizational Logic and Political Implications of Free Culture
- Free Software and Open Standards: Knowledge Sharing Hacker Philosophy and Action Technical Ware
- Economies, New P2p Models and Sustainable Distribution
- Legal Perspectives and User Access
List of participants Fcforum 2009
- Legal perspective and users access: Consumers InternationalConsumers InternationalConsumers International is the world federation of consumer groups that serves as the only independent and authoritative global voice for consumers...
/ Jeremy Malcolm, Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
, La-EX, La Quadrature du NetLa Quadrature du NetLa Quadrature du Net is a French advocacy group that promotes the digital rights and freedoms of citizens. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge...
, Pirate Party, Knowledge Ecology International / James LoveJames LoveJames Packard Love is the director of Knowledge Ecology International, formerly known as the Consumer Project on Technology, a non-governmental organization with offices in Washington, D.C...
, European Digital RightsEuropean Digital RightsEuropean Digital Rights is an international advocacy group headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. EDRi was founded in June 2002 in Berlin by ten NGOs from seven countries....
, Franziska Heine, Scambioetico, Fundación Karisma, Carlos Sanchez Almeida, Hispalinux, Asociación de Internautas / Javier Cuchi, David Maeztu, ASACC / Carmen Zapata, Spanish Network of Music Schools / Lluis Cabrera, Josep Jover, Patricia Vila, Javier Candeira, IT-Political Association, Open Standards Alliance, ScriptumLibre, David HammersteinDavid Hammerstein MintzDavid Hammerstein Mintz is a Spanish politician and former Member of the European Parliament for Los Verdes, part of the European Greens...
. Moderators: Simona Levi (La-EX), Jeremie Zimmermann (La Quadrature du NetLa Quadrature du NetLa Quadrature du Net is a French advocacy group that promotes the digital rights and freedoms of citizens. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge...
), Paolo Brini (Scambioetico) y Maddish Falzoni (La-EX).
- Economies, New P2P models and sustainable distribution: Jeremy RifkinJeremy RifkinJeremy Rifkin is an American economist, writer, public speaker, political advisor and activist. He is the founder and president of the Foundation On Economic Trends...
(Videoconference), John HowkinsJohn HowkinsJohn Anthony Howkins is a widely-cited British author and frequent international keynote speaker on the Creative Industries with particular expertise in the development of this economic sector in China...
, P2P Foundation / Michel BauwensMichel BauwensMichel Bauwens is a Belgian Peer-to-Peer theorist and an active writer, researcher and conference speaker on the subject of technology, culture and business innovation.-Biography:...
, Koleman Strumpf (Videoconference), Joost Smiers, Dmytri Kleiner, Safe Creative, Traficantes de Sueños, Platoniq, Yproductions. Moderators: Elena Fraj (La-EX), Olivier Schulbaum (Platoniq), Ignacio Castro.
- Education and Access to Knowledge: Anne Ostergaard, Students for Free Culture, FLOSS ManualsFloss manualsThe FLOSS Manuals is a non-profit foundation founded in 2006 and based in the Netherlands. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software....
, CommuniaCommuniaCOMMUNIA is a thematic project funded by the European Commission within the eContentplus framework addressing theoretical analysis and strategic policy discussion of existing and emerging issues concerning the public domain in the digital environment - as well as related topics, including, but not...
, Maria Paula Meneses, Kim Tucker, Open Knowledge FoundationOpen Knowledge FoundationThe Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that promotes open knowledge, including open content and open data. It was founded 24 May 2004 in Cambridge, UK...
, Free Knowledge InstituteFree Knowledge InstituteThe Free Knowledge Institute is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2006 in The Netherlands. Inspired by the Free Software movement, the FKI fosters the free exchange of knowledge in all areas of society by promoting freedom of use, modification, copying and distribution of knowledge in four...
, Creative Commons España / Ignasi Labastida, Alqua, Wikimedia / Frank Schulenburg, Epidemia / Pablo Ortellado, La Casa Invisible / Florencio Cabello, Universidad Nómada. Moderators: Wouter Tebbens (Free Knowledge InstituteFree Knowledge InstituteThe Free Knowledge Institute is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2006 in The Netherlands. Inspired by the Free Software movement, the FKI fosters the free exchange of knowledge in all areas of society by promoting freedom of use, modification, copying and distribution of knowledge in four...
), David Jacovkis (Free Knowledge InstituteFree Knowledge InstituteThe Free Knowledge Institute is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2006 in The Netherlands. Inspired by the Free Software movement, the FKI fosters the free exchange of knowledge in all areas of society by promoting freedom of use, modification, copying and distribution of knowledge in four...
), Maja Kalogera (Center for Synergy of Digital and Visual Arts).
- Free SoftwareFree softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
and Open Standards: Knowledge Sharing, Hacker Philosophy and Action Technical Ware: Richard StallmanRichard StallmanRichard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
(Videoconference), Pirate Bay + piratbyran.orgPiratbyrånPiratbyrån was a Swedish organization established to support people opposed to current ideas about intellectual property — by freely sharing information and culture...
, Miro / Participatory Culture FoundationParticipatory Culture FoundationThe Participatory Culture Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization whose mission is to “enable and support independent, non-corporate creativity and political engagement.”...
, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science EducationHomi Bhabha Centre for Science EducationHomi Bhabha Centre for Science Education is a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research , Mumbai, India. The broad goals of the Centre are to promote equity and excellence in science and mathematics education from primary school to undergraduate college level, and encourage the...
/ Nagarjuna G.Nagarjuna G.Nagarjuna G. works in the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. His major research interests include Science Education, Cognitive Science, History and Philosophy of Science and Structure and Dynamics of Knowledge...
(Videoconference), Foundation for a Free Information InfrastructureFoundation for a Free Information InfrastructureThe Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure or FFII is a non-profit organisation based in Munich, Germany, dedicated to establishing a free market in information technology, by the removal of barriers to competition...
/ Alberto Barrionuevo, Dyne / Jaromil, Hackmeeting, Margarita Padilla, Guifi.netGuifi.netguifi.net is a free, open and neutral, mostly wireless telecommunications community network, with over 21.400 nodes, of which more than 14.000 are operational, about 18.400 km of wireless links. The majority of these nodes are located in Catalonia but the network is growing in other parts of the...
, Isaac Hacksimov. Moderators: Josianito Llorente (La-EX) and Isaac Hacksimov.
- Organizational Logic and Political Implications of Free Culture: David BollierDavid BollierDavid Bollier is an American activist, writer, and policy strategist. He is co-founder of the , Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, and writes technology-related reports for the Aspen Institute...
, Hilary WainwrightHilary WainwrightHilary Wainwright is a British socialist and feminist, best known for being editor of Red Pepper magazine.-Personal life:Hilary Wainwright's father was the Liberal MP Richard Wainwright, and her brother, Martin, is the Northern Editor of The Guardian, to which she occasionally contributes.She...
, Felix Stalder, David Evan Harris, Jamie King, Networked Politics / Mayo Fuster, Vittorio Bertola, Joan Subirats, Marco Berlinguer, Exit. Moderators: Mayo Fuster Morell (Networked Politics)
FCForum 2010
The second FCForum was held in Barcelona from October 28 to 31, 2010 and focused on economical models. It was organised by La-EX, Simona LeviSimona Levi
Simona Levi is an Italian multidisciplinary artist and activist based in Barcelona, Spain, since 1990. She is a prominent activist in European social movements that support the free circulation of knowledge, and has actively participated in movements in defense of the right to housing and the use...
, Mayo Fuster Morell and Yproductions, and the advise of Felix Stalder. It resulted on a Declaration and How to Manual on sostenibility of creativity on the digital era. The declaration was signed by more than 80 organizations and personalities of the free culture scene, such as Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
.
Topics
Participants in the FCForum split into working groups focusing on the following topics:- Economic Sustainability and Governance of Open Online Collaboration
- New models of sustainability for the creative sector
- Tools for politiy reformers
- Open public sector information
Sustainable models for creativity in the digital age
In February 2011, two documents drafted by FCForum participants were released: Sustainable Models for Creativity and the How-To Manual for Sustainable creativity, addressed at political reformers, citizens and free culture activists. Both documents are based on an understanding that current royalties management and cultural distribution systems have become obsolete in the digital age, and the conviction that free softwareFree software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
and peer production and distribution is not incompatible with market strategies and commercial distribution. The How-To Manual sets out a series of alternative commercial and non-profit models. It insists that the Internet must remain free and open in order to allow online collaboration models to develop, and it must be recognised as a tool that promotes contact between creators and the public. The manual offers an overview of new models that are already operating in a variety of fields, such as freemium
Freemium
Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...
, crowdfunding and micropayment
Micropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...
systems in which users make small financial contributions to projects that are looking for seed funding through platforms such as Kickstarter
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors, ranging from indie film and music to journalism, solar energy technology and food-related projects.-Model:...
and lanzanos.com or to existing initiatives that are given money depending on the number of users who vote for them (such as Flattr
Flattr
Flattr is a microdonation system that launched in March 2010 on an invite-only basis and then opened to the public on 12 August of the same year.Flattr is a project started by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson...
, created by Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi is an IT expert with Norwegian and Finnish roots. He is best known for being a co-founder and the spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent tracker site.-Personal life:...
and Linus Olsson
Linus Olsson
Linus Olsson is a Swedish football player who currently plays for Landskrona BoIS. He has also played for Borstahusens BK.- External links :* - Player stats* - Player stats...
). It also claims that the creators of commercial cooperative platforms should share their profits with the creators of the content they publish.
FCForum 2011
The third annual FCForum was held in Barcelona on October 29 and 30, 2011. Under the title “Networks for a R-evolution”, the FcForum2011 was split into two core areas:1. Sustainable models for creativity in the digital era
This section included a panel on film supply and distribution on the Internet, with the participation of Álex de la Iglesia
Álex de la Iglesia
Alejandro "Álex" de la Iglesia Mendoza is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, film producer and former comic book artist.Most of De La Iglesia's films reached cult status due to their weird sense of humour.- Biography :...
, Juan Carlos Tous, Amparo Peiró, Euduald Doménech and Josep Jover. Other participants included Yproducciones, Kayros Transmedia, Daniel Granados, Kolector, Flattr
Flattr
Flattr is a microdonation system that launched in March 2010 on an invite-only basis and then opened to the public on 12 August of the same year.Flattr is a project started by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson...
, Goteo and Verkami, who explored a series of sustainable alternatives for creation.
2. Challenges and tools for the defense of the Internet and of sharing
This section began by focusing on the current situation of the Net in the global framework, with La Quadrature du Net
La Quadrature du Net
La Quadrature du Net is a French advocacy group that promotes the digital rights and freedoms of citizens. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge...
, Geraldine Juárez and John Perry Barlow
John Perry Barlow
John Perry Barlow is an American poet and essayist, a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, and a cyberlibertarian political activist who has been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He is also a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a founding member of the Electronic...
, followed by #Redada, with David Bravo, Hacktivistas and Antonio Delgado.
This second section was deeply influenced by the centrality of the #15M movement
2011 Spanish protests
The 2011 Spanish protests, also referred to as the 15-M Movement and the Indignants movement, are a series of ongoing demonstrations in Spain whose origin can be traced to social networks and Real Democracy NOW among other civilian digital platforms and 200 other small associations...
in regards to tools for communication, self-organisation and defence, in the framework of #globalrevolution. It focused on projects by Lorea such as n-1, infrastructures for online self-organisation, which are crucial to digital autonomy.
Then came a panel on hacker strategies and tools that allow a qualitative leap in collective, communicative activities, with presentations of projects such as Kune, Alabs and 15hack. This session was rounded off with a presentation by Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
.
See also
- La-EX
- CopyrightCopyrightCopyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
- Open source licenses
- Free softwareFree softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
- Private copying levyPrivate copying levyA private copying levy is a government-mandated scheme in which a special tax or levy is charged on purchases of recordable media. Such taxes are in place in various countries and the income is typically allocated to the developers of "content"...
- Net neutrality
- Telecoms PackageTelecoms PackageThe Telecoms Reform Package is a law of the European Union, aimed at updating the EU Telecoms Rules of 2002 and unifying Europe's tele-communications market for all 27 EU member states...
- Public domainPublic domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
- P2PP2PP2P, P-2-P, P2p and P-to-P may refer to*Peer-to-peer, a computing or networking distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers*Peer-to-peer...
External links
- FCForum official website
- Declaration and How to Manual on sostenibility of creativity on the digital era.
- Video: FCForum 2009
- http://wiki.creativecommons.org/International_Forum_on_Free_Culture_and_Knowledge
- Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge
- The 2011 FCFORUM: Networks for a R-evolution. What the Internet has done for us, and what we can now do for it
- Mayo Fuster Morell personal website: http://www.onlinecreation.info
- La-EX: http://la-ex.net/
- Networked Politics: Collaborative research on new forms of organizing http://www.networked-politics.info
- p2p Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/profiles/blogs/international-forum-on-free
- ScambioEtico: http://blog.tntvillage.scambioetico.org/?p=4279
- http://bandaancha.eu/articulo/6914/carta-innovacion-creatividad-acceso-conocimiento (es)
- http://www.guiasinformaticas.es/archives/1606 (es)