Economy of the Commons II Conference Summary

(Editors note: here is the link to some videos of the conference described below.)

If you read this blog, then you know I have a passion for the current issues surrounding intellectual property and the relationship this configures between the user and the production of culture.  Recently a conference entitled 'Economies of the Commons II' held in Amsterdam a few weeks ago tackled various subjects relating to the newly emerging digitization of culture and the impacts this change has on our consumption and production of cultural artifacts.  Here is a trailer for the conference: 



While there were several presenters (all of whom were covered on the website linked above) I have chosen a few that were of particular interest to me for summary and coverage.  If you are interested in what you see, I highly recommend checking out the Economies of the Commons website and exploring from there.  

Notable Presentations

Collaborative Tools for videos on Wikipedia by Michael Dale.  An excerpt from the page:

The Video on Wikipedia project aims for HTML players embedded on the Wikipedia pages to enhance the information with the moving image. In order to achieve this the Wikimedia foundation is working on tools which support users to collaborate on video editing, transcribing content in multiple languages, and to allow for more complex search queries by connecting related videos and metadata. As an example he uses Metavid.org, of which he is a co-founder, that contains a database of US Congress videos, which are searchable by the speaker’s name, the spoken text, the date, and metadata from outside sources.

Many times I have wished for such a robust online editing tool just so I could create a nice 'clip' dvd for lectures or presentations.  Collaborative tools such as this is one exciting development in the increasing digitization of culture.

Active Archives by Michael Murtaugh.  Here is an excerpt from the Active Archives Video Wiki:

Constant started the Active Archives project in 2006 with the observation that most digital archives fall into the traditional model of "we" (the institution) transmitting information to "you" (the visitor). They recreate the physical archivists' box, prioritizing preservation and integrity of the single object over the link-ability and potential for multiplication through sharing that digital collections could thrive on. They are certainly not presented as a means for creating derivative works.

If we understand the web not simply as a means of distribution, but a space for (collaborative) writing, prototyping, and development of ideas, how can archives take part in this active net-nature? How can archives be active beyond preservation and access? What would it take to give material away and receive it transformed? How would files be enriched by different connections, contexts and contradictions?

The Active Archives Video Wiki inverts the paradigm of uploading resources into a centralized server and instead allows resources to remain "active", in-place and online. Caching and proxy functionality allow (light-weight) copies of resources to be manipulated and preserved even as the original sources change or become (temporarily) unavailable. Strategically, the project aims to clarify some of the "cloudy" aspects of Web 2.0 regarding issues of licensing, sharing, ownership, access, and longevity of online material. Designed to break open the "black box" of online video, users are encouraged to write with video, creating new compositions made from collages of disparate (online) elements.

Very interesting stuff on the wiki and in the presentation.

Public Debate: The Future of the Public Domain in Europe a panel of Paul Keller, James Boyle, Bas Savenije, Lucie Guibault, and Simona Levi with responses from Charlotte Hess and Marieitje Schaake.  This is really a good read- wort a minute to just look over the various speakers positions.  Here is a bit from the James Boyle presentation:

Meanwhile, with e-culture rapidly growing and researchers looking less and less at off-line sources, the pyramid of knowledge seems to have been inversed: books have become the realm of the inaccessible. While spatial distance rendered inaccessibility before, actors such as Google now redefined access as immediate and disconnected from spatial fixation of cultural expressions.

This is similar to the idea I expressed in my post on the Geocities Archive, namely that digital archives and sources threaten the 'certified' legitimacy professional access to archives in the past entailed due mostly to their increased online accessibility.  Archives are no longer isolated islands- they can now be opened to all.   

Peter Kaufman on Appreciating Audiovisual Value by, you guessed it, Peter Kaufman on the need to integrate big business in the process of making content like Video accessible, re-mixable, and easily searchable for future viewing/use.  

This was just a few of the sessions held at the conference.  Very cool ideas circulating here, with lots of impact for the study of History, particularly in the increasing presence of Digital Humanities work.