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Open Content

The Information Society Open School

The Information Society Open School is a collaborative learning environment on issues relevant to human development and information and communication technologies.

Modeled after the open source model, all training materials and courses are free of charge, can be downloaded, copied, distributed, modified and enhanced by anyone. Community members can contribute back to the material with their enhancements.

Furthermore, local stakeholders are welcome and encouraged to download courses material and prepare their own real life workshops and even charge for them if they like.

Media Streaming Servers: Open Source and Proprietary

A friend recently consulted me about streaming media and video-on-demand solutions available to satisfy the requirements of a distant learning initiative to be implemented by one of his customers.

Benefits of Providing Equal Access to Global and Local Content

There is a unique opportunity to improve people's awareness of their own culture, strengthening their identity and valuation of themselves and their communities in a non-discriminating way. Through equal access to both local and global content and culture in different places and enabling communication and interaction among such experiences, people's identity could be built at the same time as their appreciation and acceptance of other cultures and values, thus promoting a true global culture of tolerance enhanced and enriched by local values and elements.

On the Nature of Inventions and Intellectual Property

Below is an interesting excerpt from Thomas Jefferson in 1813, as quoted by Stanford Law professor Larry Lessig (creator of the Creative Commons license) in his book the Future of Ideas... Keep in mind that this was written 23 years after the creation of the US Patent Office, which was founded in part on the principles and guidance of Thomas Jefferson himself, who did not believe that ideas should be patented, but only physical inventions and who insisted on patent applications to include models.

Blogging and War II: Democratic reports and ethic journalism

A few days ago when I blogged on "Blogging and War: Can Technology change Social Processes?", I chose not to address the issue of ethics involved in journalism and the unbiased report of happenings from the field.

The issue has turned up a lot earlier than what I expected with the recent scandal involving the distribution by Reuters to the global media of doctored photos from a freelance photographer.

Domesday: Cashing in on Content 1,000 years old

Heading image of the Domesday book. A thousand years after its publication, the UK government hopes to cash in on one of its earliest and oldest surviving public records. The Domesday Book, published in 1086 is considered the foundation of the UK's National Archives.

Its text and images are now on-line, catalogued and indexed, fully searchable by anyone from anywhere around the world for free. Should you want a printed copy of the 1,000 year old document that describes the county where you were born or the village where you spend your honeymoon, a mere 3.5 pounds will do.

Cultural and historical knowledge is promoted, awareness on the value of National Archives is achieved and revenue for sustainability is generated.

All through open content, free access to information and charging for value added services.

Blogging and War: Can Technology change Social Processes?

There's been a recent hype around the use of mobile technologies to "empower" people to submit reports "from the field", take action and change the course of society...

Somehow, just like we were promised that TV would educate people and that the Internet would free us all, we've heard it all before, yet we have to see it happen.

Can blogging about war, sharing experiences "from the field" stop a war? Before thinking about technology, we need to ask the questions: "where do wars start?" and "where do they end?", and most important: "can wars be stopped at a different place from where they start?". Wars do not start because of public opinion and it is very unlikely that any war will stop because of public opinion. In any case, deployment of technology does not equate, or even necessarily facilitate, social processes and structures that enable social engagement and civil participation in the making of decisions regarding matters of state and national and international security. Even in the USA, with decades of a strong Civil Rights movement and wide media coverage of constant activism and protests, it took years for the government to pull out of Vietnam.

Intellectual Property Legislation

The Purpose of Regulatory Legislation: To Maximize Total Social Wealth

The purpose of any regulatory Law is to ensure that the markets or activities it regulates maximize society value under the current (and preferably future) conditions of society, not to guarantee special benefits to a reduced group of society members or to perpetuate regulations that no longer respond to current society conditions.

Society Has Changed

Markets in Transition

We are in a transition period, where markets are adjusting and legislation and regulatory frameworks have to evolve and adapt to these new conditions. Insisting on perpetuating and extending regulation conditions that respond to the past (as the media corporations successfully lobbying for) is not viable in the mid and long term and not in the best interest of society. In his book Free Culture (available on-line at www.free-culture.cc), Lawrence Lessig insists on the dangers of trying to regulate through restrictive legislation a changing market and social environment.

The End of Piracy

It is most likely that in the next few years, content piracy will become obsolete thanks to the advances of technology and networks. There will be no need to illegally download songs or movies when they can listened or watched at any time on demand from cell phones, interactive radios and TV sets, game consoles, Personal Computers or any other device connected to the network. The only difference is that in that not so distant future, the telecommunications companies will get a cut of the content royalties by providing access to it and the authors will be compensated. It is even likely that the cost of accessing this content on demand will be part of a bulk service package with limited or unlimited access to content.

Evolving Markets respond and adapt

Cable companies in developed countries are starting to offer "on demand" service packages (such as HBO on demand) that allow subscribers to watch specific movies and programs at any time.

Internet and Libraries: A Provocative Analogy

It is entirely acceptable and common practice to go to a local library and borrow a book (or a movie, audio recording or video game in modern libraries) and have full access to it and even take it home without paying anything. It is common practice for many libraries to allow people to borrow books via the traditional postal service. The only expense involved is the postage fees. Why would that be different from legally allowing us to skip the 2 weeks wait for the book to arrive and browse it instantly through the Internet?