An update from Heather Ford: looking to 2008
Daniela Faris · Johannesburg (South Africa) · 22/2/2008 01:41
This year marks the third year of operation at iCommons and the first on our own – separate from Creative Commons – as membership in iCommons by CC is diluted and other members are welcomed to the iCommons family.
We’ve come a long way in the last three years. Starting with two staff members sitting around a trestle table in a very small back office, the team has grown to a complement of six fulltime and five part time staff members operating in a well-equipped office in Johannesburg.
2008 also marks the start of a five-year grant by two new trusts: Kusuma Trust and IETSI (International Electronic Trade and Services Initiative) that have made an endowment to iCommons of $1 million over a period of five years. The power of this core grant cannot be overemphasised. Anyone working in the non-profit field will recognise how difficult it is to raise core funds, and as a young organisation based in the developing world, iCommons is extremely grateful for this opportunity to consolidate and build an organisation that will have considerable impact into the future.
2008 is also a year of focus and consolidation for iCommons – a year where we articulate our vision of an organisation dedicated to bringing people from around the world together to celebrate, debate and, most importantly, work together on projects that demonstrate the power of global peer production and a shared digital commons.
With this focus comes an important reality check that some might find difficult to grasp. iCommons is not, as some have said, a movement. The movement to re-think intellectual property regimes and to accommodate a development and innovation agenda in local and global policies is already underway. It is a diverse and loose connection between organisations, communities and individuals around the world who are envisioning a new way for independent cultural and scientific development.
iCommons is an organisation – an organisation dedicated to serving that movement by bringing people together to model the kind of global cultural sharing, cooperation and mentorship that only a face-to-face gathering can inspire. Once a year, we come together to recognise how widespread this change is, how much a part of a global community we are, how we can learn so much about ourselves by learning from others, and most importantly: how we are in this together.
We face many important challenges in the twenty-first century and for the first time in human history we have recognised how important it is to act together – in spite of our differences – and to leave no one out as we chart a new course for global cooperation on a scale never before achieved.
Wide-scale peer production, shared scientific study and global open education initiatives are models for the kind of collaborative problem solving that could be used to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. Imagine a massive global volunteer project to solve the global warming crisis, or to support new nations’ emergence into democracy or to bring whole regions out of poverty. The possibilities are endless, but they require this movement to mobilise and to start thinking much more globally.
Think global, act local. It’s a well-used phrase but do we really grasp the extent of this challenge?
Thinking globally requires us to recognise that people from other local contexts who might be approaching a problem differently still share our same goals and principles. Thinking globally requires the humility to reach out to others to help solve our problems rather than thinking that we can do it all ourselves. Thinking globally requires a degree of trust that defies deep-seated fears about ‘the other’ that are still very prevalent – even in this community.
As the iSummit moves to different countries and continents every year, we recognise how much of the Creative Commons, A2K, Wikipedia and other projects are essentially exercises in global cooperation, mutual respect and tolerance. We need to retain these features, celebrate them and face the challenge head on if we are to show the world a new way.
Best wishes,
Heather
We’ve come a long way in the last three years. Starting with two staff members sitting around a trestle table in a very small back office, the team has grown to a complement of six fulltime and five part time staff members operating in a well-equipped office in Johannesburg.
2008 also marks the start of a five-year grant by two new trusts: Kusuma Trust and IETSI (International Electronic Trade and Services Initiative) that have made an endowment to iCommons of $1 million over a period of five years. The power of this core grant cannot be overemphasised. Anyone working in the non-profit field will recognise how difficult it is to raise core funds, and as a young organisation based in the developing world, iCommons is extremely grateful for this opportunity to consolidate and build an organisation that will have considerable impact into the future.
2008 is also a year of focus and consolidation for iCommons – a year where we articulate our vision of an organisation dedicated to bringing people from around the world together to celebrate, debate and, most importantly, work together on projects that demonstrate the power of global peer production and a shared digital commons.
With this focus comes an important reality check that some might find difficult to grasp. iCommons is not, as some have said, a movement. The movement to re-think intellectual property regimes and to accommodate a development and innovation agenda in local and global policies is already underway. It is a diverse and loose connection between organisations, communities and individuals around the world who are envisioning a new way for independent cultural and scientific development.
iCommons is an organisation – an organisation dedicated to serving that movement by bringing people together to model the kind of global cultural sharing, cooperation and mentorship that only a face-to-face gathering can inspire. Once a year, we come together to recognise how widespread this change is, how much a part of a global community we are, how we can learn so much about ourselves by learning from others, and most importantly: how we are in this together.
We face many important challenges in the twenty-first century and for the first time in human history we have recognised how important it is to act together – in spite of our differences – and to leave no one out as we chart a new course for global cooperation on a scale never before achieved.
Wide-scale peer production, shared scientific study and global open education initiatives are models for the kind of collaborative problem solving that could be used to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. Imagine a massive global volunteer project to solve the global warming crisis, or to support new nations’ emergence into democracy or to bring whole regions out of poverty. The possibilities are endless, but they require this movement to mobilise and to start thinking much more globally.
Think global, act local. It’s a well-used phrase but do we really grasp the extent of this challenge?
Thinking globally requires us to recognise that people from other local contexts who might be approaching a problem differently still share our same goals and principles. Thinking globally requires the humility to reach out to others to help solve our problems rather than thinking that we can do it all ourselves. Thinking globally requires a degree of trust that defies deep-seated fears about ‘the other’ that are still very prevalent – even in this community.
As the iSummit moves to different countries and continents every year, we recognise how much of the Creative Commons, A2K, Wikipedia and other projects are essentially exercises in global cooperation, mutual respect and tolerance. We need to retain these features, celebrate them and face the challenge head on if we are to show the world a new way.
Best wishes,
Heather
tags: culture letter update letter-from-the-ed think-local-act-global organisation
extracted from:Creative Commons
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