Communia Related

The first day of the conference covered the relevant history and traditions of universities, move through the current state of play, and focus on the emerging landscape of universities, articulating both their changing role in society, the significant challenges these institutions are facing for the future and, more specifically, their role vis a vis the increasing commons of knowledge facilitated by the Internet. This day provided intellectual scaffolding for the primary ideas and tracks explored. The opening keynote, focused on "Universities as Knowledge Institutions", laid the foundation for integrative plenaries on university responsibilities on day 2. The three track sessions, "Digital Natives", "Information Infrastructure", and "Physical/Spatial Infrastructure", explored the pressing questions universities face in these areas, and provided the basis for working groups on subsequent days.

The second day attempted cross-sectional reorientation, by examining universities’ emerging responsibilities as ‘horizontal’ themes, especially as they intersect with future challenges described in the first day’s ‘vertical’ tracks.  The day begun with interactive breakout sessions exploring each of the priority areas (or verticals) covered the previous day. The balance of the day concentrated on “the Civic Role of Universities” (Universities as Civic Actors or Institutions), “Educating Students” (Universities as Platforms for Learning), and Research (Universities as Knowledge Creators). These plenary sessions served to contextualize the tracks within broader institutional roles, offering provocations and driving us toward innovative and holistic responses.

The third day consciously combined the three tracks and the cross-sectional issues with an orientation towards solutions and next steps. The day begun with a high level keynote intended to inform, provoke and energize the participants for the integration of the substance and the generation of actionable insights. This was accomplished in the final working session of the tracks and in the final roundtable session envisioning potential futures.[09jul10]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

UPDATE: Presentations and papers are available on the workshop webpage.

Since many people were unable to reach Istanbul due to the present flight disruption over Europe, the workshop has been limited to Monday 19 April only and a video streaming service has been set up.

Most importantly, since live streaming has become an almost crucial need, we have changed the event venue: the Sozbir Hotel internet connection has been deemed not reliable enough.

The workshop is being held at the Ozyegin University, on the Asian side. A map with directions is available here.

The video stream is currently online at: http://www.elluminate.com/trial/p.go?pk=1T3RCNeJj0n6N5ag

Please be aware that simultaneous connection is limited to 25 users and you need to have the latest version of java installed on your PC.

Here you can test your java installation and, if needed, upgrade it: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp [19apr10]

Digital Policies: the Public Domain and Alternative Compensation Systems

Under the title "Digital Policies: the Public Domain and Alternative Compensation Systems", the 7th COMMUNIA Workshop will take place at the National Library of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg, on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd February 2010.

Presentations slides, abstracts, policy recommendations, as well as for some speakers transcripts or papers, are available from this website download section and also from each of the titles in the programme below. A programme document available here collects abstracts and initial position statements submitted by chairpersons and speakers before the workshop.

[11feb10]

While New Year's Day is an occasion for great celebrations worldwide, we shouldn't forget another special reason to celebrate January 1st: Public Domain Day! In several countries, this day marks the expiration of copyright protection terms on creative works produced by authors who died several decades earlier (1939, for this 01/01/2010). Therefore such works enter the Public Domain, and their content is no longer owned or controlled by anyone but it rather becomes available for anyone to freely use for any purpose. In other words, on each year's January 1st an impressive wealth of knowledge, information and beauty becomes freely available to humankind.

To celebrate this occasion, COMMUNIA is promoting a new website devoted to Public Domain Day: http://www.publicdomainday.org. This project aims at increasing the public awareness of this celebration and educating about the Public Domain concept and its potentialities for spreading culture and knowledge worldwide. The website is particularly focused on this Public Domain Day 2010, providing useful resources (Countries' copyright terms, Public Domain calculators, related sites and databases, etc.) and a detailed list of authors and artists who died in 1939 and now enter the Public Domain (only in certain countries, since copyright regulations differ in the various countries and often require a lawyer opinion). Among the over 600 names included in that list, at least in selected jurisdictions, there are Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis; William Butler Yeats, one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature; Alphonse Maria Mucha, a renowned Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist.

Unfortunately in the US there is little to celebrate because no published works will be entering the public domain until 2019. But the Center for the Study of Public Domain at Duke University (a COMMUNIA member) published a very informative website to mark the event. Other initiatives to celebrate Public Domain Day are planned in Poland and in Switzerland. And here is a COMMUNIA Press Release (in PDF format) for further distribution. [31dec09]

The Second COMMUNIA International Conference 2009 is scheduled for Sunday 28, Monday 29 & Tuesday 30 June 2009 in Torino, Italy.

The conference will address the conceptual foundations and practical feasibilities of contractually constructed “commons” and related bottom-up public domain initiatives (joint policy guidelines, common standards, institutional policies, etc.) capable of offering shared access to a variety of research resources, identifying effective models and salient needs and opportunities for effective initiatives across a diverse range of research areas.

Also available are detailed procedures for hotel bookings (at special rates) and instructions on how to reach the conference venue at the Rettorato on Sunday and at Collegio Carlo Alberto the following days.

Take a look at the programme of the conference.

A report of the conference is available here, and slides as well as summaries of some sessions can be accessed from the download section of the website as well as directly below in the programme [27oct09]

Accessing, Using, Reusing Public Sector Content and Data

The 5th COMMUNIA workshop, co-organised on 26-27 March by the Open Knowledge Foundation and London School of Economics, focused on how we can unlock the huge potential of public sector material. It also examined the current obstacles to doing this -- legal, technological and social -- as well as how they can be overcome. In particular, much of the value of public sector material can only be realized if it is reused and interlinked -- both activities that are currently difficult for a variety of legal and technological reasons.

Across the world there is a growing recognition of the social and commercial value of public sector content and data: be that the text of laws, the holdings of public museums, or the geospatial and environmental information collected by government agencies. Moreover, it is likely that better access to and use of such information is central to improving governance and increasing democratic participation. Therefore, the event focused around the claim that, wherever possible: Public sector content and data should be made available, both legally and technically, for public re-use.

A range of presentations and policy recommendations from researchers, policy-makers, stakeholders and representatives from Europe, the United States and Australia is available from the download section and by clicking on the presentations titles in the agenda below. Policy recommendations and abstracts are also available as two separated downloadable documents and a full report can be accessed here.
[13apr09]