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From projects to develop Wikipedia in African languages, to models for free textbooks; from projects to encourage public sector policies built on open content, to the development of volunteer translation tools for community websites: the iCommons Incubator is an incubator of ideas about where the Internet is heading, how it can serve more sustainable business models, and how new copyright rules and production by a network of global ‘peers’ can change the face of work, creativity and education in the Information Age.

It all started with a Summit in the Northern Summer of 2005.

From the very first of our annual gatherings, we realized that connecting people who were passionate about the power of openness – the openness of textbooks for re-printing and translating, the openness of governments in making the knowledge that they produce accessible, the openness of music, film and photographs for re-use and remixing, and the openness of science for the advancement of human knowledge – was an important and critical task.

Perhaps as important, we realized, was the need to keep those connections going throughout the year – to create a welcoming place where the pioneers who were charting new territory, testing out new business models, and building the knowledge commons could connect with one another and move beyond their own working environment to a place where innovation, experimentation and mentorship was rewarded and encouraged. In the ecosystem of ‘open culture’ where tool builders, aggregators and creators often work in isolation, the need to build the capacity of people to practice ‘openness’ collaboratively was now important and necessary.

iCommons started with work to fill this gap. Our goal was to enable people to come together to work and share perhaps the most important, but most often ignored type of knowledge that can make or break a company, organization or project: the ‘how’. How do you design a project to encourage small Wikipedia communities? How do you teach students how Creative Commons works? How do you connect real Wikipedians and Creative Commoners in cities around the world? And so iCommons launched the beta of the iCommons Incubator in June this year to develop, launch and track nodes (projects) aimed at furthering the sharing of knowledge and creativity around the world.

Since then we’ve been testing the software and refining the process. In this period, almost 50 nodes have started using the platform to manage projects, attract volunteers and participants, debate project design and methodology, and share resources (like posters, invitations, letters and documents) that can be re-worked and added to by similar nodes in other countries.

Now you can help

Now we’re inviting organizations, companies and individuals who want to see the kind of mentorship that will see the global commons thriving, to sponsor a particular theme on icommons.org.

This ‘nurturing’ of node incubators will enable projects to:

• experiment with new business models,
• collaborate with the iCommons community,
• find volunteers and sponsors,
• share their successes and challenges, and
• track the progress and popularity of their projects.

The following node incubators are available:

Education.
Open education incubator: $30,000 per year

Research.
Open research incubator: $30,000 per year

Culture.
Free culture incubator: $30,000 per year

Business.
Open business incubator: $30,000 per year

Media.
Social media incubator: $30,000 per year

Law and policy.
Commons law and policy incubator: $30,000 per year

Science.
Open science incubator: $30,000 per year

‘Nurturing’ includes the following:

Reporting.
A ‘node reporter’ who covers the progress of node projects, interviews them on challenges and successes and keeps information flowing between nodes – both on the website and in the iCommons Annual;

Tools support.
The maintenance and ongoing development of tools used by nodes to track the popularity and success of their projects, and to manage workflow and peer production;

Collaboration.
Assistance for key node leaders to attend the annual iCommons Summit to share successes and challenges, and to learn new skills;

Peer investment support.
Ongoing development of tools that enable distributed investment networking capabilities within the node incubator to sustain and develop new nodes.

What do nodes do?

The nodes currently on iCommons.org cover a range of topics, from e-commerce to science and open access publishing. The node system allows anyone to join a node, and participate and share information with the other node participants.

Local Context, Global Commons

This node was developed as part of a larger project with the overall aim of building and expanding a global knowledge-sharing community, focusing on capacity building of global South-based perspectives on the commons (funded by the Ford Foundation).

The members – who hail from Brazil, India, South Africa and the United States – all contribute two articles with multimedia resources per month on pre-agreed themes that interrogate and explore issues around the Commons including piracy, translation, public vs. private, patents, media and medicine. In this node, the forum space is particularly active, as the participants use it as their primary discussion space, and debate and discuss the issues that inform their writing. Stories, links and articles are also uploaded into the node blog and scrapbook so that participants can share resources.

iHeritage

This node is an excellent example of the template functionality of nodes. In September 2007, the iCommons team in Johannesburg decided to hold a heritage event – collecting heritage artefacts from South Africans in the form of audio, photos and text for Wikimedia Commons.
The process of conceptualising, organising, publicising and follow-up of the event was recorded in the node, and the node was also used as a space where other members of the community, who were not necessarily involved in the node, could donate material and find instructions on how to upload their own content.

By documenting every step of the project, the iHeritage node has become a blueprint for other groups who would want to host their own heritage event. It’s also a space where, should there be second and third phases to the project, the event can continue to grow.

Open Education Resources Case Study Project

This node was born out of the successful Open Education Track at the iSummit 07 in Dubrovnik. In this track, representatives from a range of organisations that are actively involved in the development of open educational content came together and started to develop ideas on how to collaboratively assess and share practices and learnings so others can benefit.

In the OER Case Study Project node, the two phases of the project are detailed and tracked, and monthly report-backs are uploaded into the node blog, so that members of the node (and the wider community) are able to follow the progress of the project.

With members from countries as diverse as the USA, Peru, South Africa and Canada, using the node to exchange ideas and share experiences, the project also has the benefit of participants who have a huge range of experience and expertise. Using the node space, these participants are able to share information not just with each other but also with the rest of the iCommons community.

In Short

This virtual greenhouse for the development of new ideas in how to practice openness and sharing is absolutely vital to the development of an Internet that will advance human knowledge and creativity. It is vital to the mentorship, learning, inspiration and support of the people who have made openness an almost-global movement. We now need to take the opportunity to invest in these people and propel them to even greater heights.

Sponsorships

Each sponsor will get a banner ad on each of the node pages dedicated to their chosen theme. They will also receive two free admissions to the iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan from the 30th of July to the 1st of August, 2007, as well as entry into the annual Sponsor’s Dinner on the night of the 30th of July.

icommons.org is a popular website for analysts, bloggers and journalists tracking global Internet trends and is supported by the world’s leaders in Internet technology including Google, IBM, ISOC and Nokia.

If you’re willing to help iCommons in our vision, please contact iCommons Executive Director, Heather Ford, about sponsorship opportunities.

Email: heather AT icommons.org
Phone: +27 11 327 3155