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This month I put Cynthia and Oscar's minds at ease by answering their questions about the best way to communicate on icommons.org, and the uses of Creative Commons licences in the face of high rates of piracy in the developing world. Never fear when Gogo is near.
Question: There are a few people that don’t have the “receive messages” turned on in their iCommons accounts, so I have had to invite them to join our project node through email, which means they might not respond. Is there a way to invite these people through iCommons even though they have “receive messages” turned off? From Cynthia Jimes, ISKME
Gogo replies:
Dear Cynthia, if I had used my curling irons this morning (which I didn’t), I would most certainly take my hat off to you for this important question. But I’m afraid the answer is a short story with an unhappy ending. The ending
is: No. There is no way to invite people to join your project through the iCommons website if they don’t have the receive message turned on in their account.
But because Gogo hates to be the bearer of bad tidings, so she hopped onto icommons.org to look a little more closely at the situation. Now, surprisingly, quite a lot of people do not have their receive messages turned on, which means they didn’t tick the option: “It’s ok for me to receive projects
participation invitations through my profile page at iCommons.org (your address will only be shown to users you reply to)” when setting up their profiles. The big question is: WHY?
Gogo is of the opinion that people who do a lot of online subscribing to various sites, including commercial sites, automatically refrain from asking to receive messages because past experience has shown that this opens up...well, a spam of worms! Now this is where icommons.org is different. Having your receive messages on means that you are one degree closer to your community; people will only contact you if they wish you to participate in their node or to discuss relevant issues, and they will only want you in their node if they believe you have something to offer.
For example: no one who knows Gogo is going to invite her to the Document Format Policy node, but they might invite her to Heather and Jimmy’s 50 great parties club (hint, hint). In other words, it won’t be spam; it will be specific and targeted communication. The ending here is a happy one: you can edit your profile, so rethink what it is you want to gain from having a profile on icommons.org - you might just see that receiving messages is a good thing!
Question: Gogo, what do you envision as the future of Creative Commons in developing countries? On one side, I heard someone say that CC lacks sense in countries with high rates of piracy as pirates would have easier access to works that allow many uses (as CC licences do). On the other side I heard that CC could indeed help to civilise the system and decrease rates of piracy. From Oscar Montezuma, CC Peru
Gogo replies:
Dear Oscar. Well, Gogo packed up her knitting with speed, hopped into a taxi and was down to the iCommons HQ faster than you can say, “developing countries”. I burst into the office and stated, “I need advice!” Kerryn was Skyping, JC had his headphones on, Rebecca said, “I’m interviewing Mark
Shuttleworth”, Daniela said, “I’m editing the newsletter”, Wendy said, “Ask
Heather” and Heather said, “I’m in Japan.” It’s not that they don’t love Gogo. So it was with a huge sigh that I sat down and thought carefully about your question, Oscar.
This is the situation according to Gogo: Creative Commons is the future for developing countries. For example, in our fine land, South Africa, there are 11 official languages and automatic permission to translate texts for educational purposes should be the default. Piracy is a response to a need: the need for materials and information that is not accessible to many under the constraints of copyright. People do not indulge in piracy for the sake of being criminals; as the adverts would have us believe. Piracy is finding ways to move freely where authority has forbidden access; of finding the opportunities that the status quo doesn’t allow for. Creative Commons is one of the ways to rebalance the status quo. But, Gogo does also believe that there will always be piracy in some form or another as there will always be those who have and those who have not, and those who wish to have. Gogo suggests that if you want to read more and debate more about this topic, read Prashant Iyengar’s article I-Pyrate and Allison Fish’s The Asian Privateer on icommons.org.
Do you have a question for Gogo Hleba? Please send questions to askgogo ‘AT’ icommons ‘DOT’ org before 1 September, to be included in the next newsletter and on the website. Questions can range from the insane and ridiculous to intelligent and serious. In other words, we welcome real queries that we can debate, as well as those that are merely good for a giggle. To avoid disappointment, be sure to read the Ask Gogo policy.
tags: johannesburg south africa education askgogo agony-aunt community how-to icommonsorg piracy
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