Project Archive

Research and Publications

Local context, global commons (2006-2009)

A project, funded by the Ford Foundation, to develop leadership by countries in the South (Brazil, South Africa and India) to better understand and report on relevant issues around intellectual property in the developing country context.

BISA Copyright Review (2009)

As part of the Ford Foundation funded project Local Contexts, Global Commons, a trio of intrepid academics immersed themselves in the local copyright acts of their countries, to compile a copyright review that encompasses the current status of copyright in Brazil, India and South Africa.s three pivotal developing nations, it was important to see what the impact has been on areas such as education, culture, traditional knowledge, research and access to knowledge.

The iCommons Annual (2007 & 2008)

Each year, in preparation for the iSummit, iCommons created the iCommons Annual, a collection of articles, interviews, reviews and other writings about the Commons and how the movement has developed over the years. This is a fantastic resource which analyses the intersection of intellectual property issues with education, media, science and more, and how openness in these fields is opening a whole new world of collaboration, translation, and sharing. You can download the 2007 Annual here, and the 2008 Annual here.

Campaigns and Advocacy

Stop! the Regulations (2009)

This campaign, by the African Commons Project and our partners, aimed to create a critical, thoughtful and constructive submission to Parliament on the Draft Intellectual Property Rights From Publicly Funded Research Development Regulations. The submission was sent to the Minister of Science and Technology on 29 May along with a petition that gathered 65 signatures from our community.

iHeritage: South African Heritage online (2009)

As part of the Local Contexts Global Commons, this project developed and fostered a community within the heritage and digitisation sector, with the aim of getting our shared South African heritage digitised and freely available online. The project consisted of training in community-building for heritage organisations, research on the challenges of copyright digitisation and access in South Africa, and seminars to get players in the field sharing their experiences.

The Wikipedia Academy (2007)

The Wikipedia Academy was an initiative to stimulate awareness and foster a community around local language Wikipedias in South Africa. The first Academy was held on 10 November, where students participated in workshops to learn how to edit Wikipedia. The workshops were attended by founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, and was run by a group of dedicated enthusiasts who are active in building the Swahili, German and Afrikaans language Wikipedias.

Watch a video of the event

iHeritage Pilot (2007)

An online and real world campaign to build a repository of free cultural heritage resources around South Africa’s Heritage Day celebrations.

The results: 18 WikiMedia uploads, 15 audio interviews and 380 Flickr photos! We heard some amazing stories that reflected the diversity of South Africa: about practising Zulu traditions in the city of Jozi, about the history of a Johannesburg street in 1950 that is now a bustling business centre, and about the adjustments of a Dutch immigrant family in South Africa.

SA Free Culture Tour (2007)

This event was a celebration of free culture in South Africa at a Cape Town live music venue to get students and young people to become more aware of the importance of copyright policies in culture, cultural heritage and the cultural economy. Jimmy Wales and Larry Lessig were special guests at this event. Also featured were the winners of the South African ccMixter’s SAfro-Brazil remix competition.

Watch a video of the event

Events

The iSummits (2006-2008)

The African Commons Project team were the organisers of the iCommons iSummit: an annual global event that brought together leaders of the Creative Commons, free software, open education and access to knowledge communities to debate their vision for the future and discuss strategies for building a free global culture. We were responsible for every aspect of the event: fundraising, logistics, programme development, and documentation.

In 2008, the iSummit was hosted in Sapporo, Japan – a city that is recognised for its modern, creative, technology-orientated approach to business and public initiatives.

Watch a video of the event
In 2007, the iSummit was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia – a city that has redefined freedom and independence throughout history.
In 2006, the iSummit was hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – a country breaking new ground in the development of digital cultural production as a sustainable community resource.

The Innovation Series (2007)

This is a series of addresses by world-class digital innovators who share their leading insights into the ways that the Internet is being leveraged to affect social change – from within the board room, the classroom or the virtual meeting room.

Watch a video of the event

ccSalon Johannesburg ‘Remix Nation’ (2006)

This event was a celebration of the pioneering local artists who are pushing the boundaries of the digital world and recognising how important legal remixing is to building a vibrant creative industry in South Africa.