Articles
COMMUNIA: The European Thematic Network on the Public Domain in the Digital Age.
The European Commission has launched a new three-year project called COMMUNIA. Its state aim is to position itself as the European point of reference for policy on issues concerning the public domain in the digital world, informing high level policy discussions and strategic actions. It will also deal with related issues such as alternative forms of licensing for creative materials (including but not limited to, Creative Commons licences; open access to scientific and research results as well as management of works whose authors are unknown (i.e. orphan works).
The kick off meeting was held in Torino on the 28th of September where representatives from 36 organisations met to discuss the structure of the project and how it will be administered. It is expected that another 14 organisations will be invited to become members and participate in the workshops and conferences. The Politcnico di Torino leads the project.
COMMUNIA intends to set up five working groups. They are:
1. Education and scientific research
2. Technology issues
3. Libraries and archives
4. Economic analysis and new business paradigms
5. The public sphere
While the funding is one million Euros, most of this will cover travel and costs of convening the meetings – nine workshops and three conferences. The Commission expects to draw on research that is already under way rather than commissioning any new research for the project. However, it hopes that one of the outputs will be a book and is also looking into the feasibility of starting an on-line peer reviewed journal on public domain issues.
While focusing on European policy the project will be looking more widely and drawing in best practices from other countries and hopes to engage wherever discussions on public domain matters are taking place.
Catharina Maracke represented CC International and Frances Pinter stood in for Heather Ford for iCommons. Many attendees such as Tomislav Medak came representing other organisations but also wear CC hats.
The kick off meeting was held in Torino on the 28th of September where representatives from 36 organisations met to discuss the structure of the project and how it will be administered. It is expected that another 14 organisations will be invited to become members and participate in the workshops and conferences. The Politcnico di Torino leads the project.
COMMUNIA intends to set up five working groups. They are:
1. Education and scientific research
2. Technology issues
3. Libraries and archives
4. Economic analysis and new business paradigms
5. The public sphere
While the funding is one million Euros, most of this will cover travel and costs of convening the meetings – nine workshops and three conferences. The Commission expects to draw on research that is already under way rather than commissioning any new research for the project. However, it hopes that one of the outputs will be a book and is also looking into the feasibility of starting an on-line peer reviewed journal on public domain issues.
While focusing on European policy the project will be looking more widely and drawing in best practices from other countries and hopes to engage wherever discussions on public domain matters are taking place.
Catharina Maracke represented CC International and Frances Pinter stood in for Heather Ford for iCommons. Many attendees such as Tomislav Medak came representing other organisations but also wear CC hats.
tags: torino Italy policy-law public-domain meeting communia
extracted from:Creative Commons
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