Brian Fitzgerald by Joi Ito / CC BY

Many of you may be familiar with Brian, who has been the legal lead of CC Australia since 2004 and has made an outstanding contribution to the CC and broader open access communities. The adoption of CC licenses by the Australian government, in which he was critically involved, continues to be a leading example of CC implementation, particularly as data management becomes a more and more prominent issue in open access debates.

Brian is Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. He holds postgraduate qualifications in law from Oxford University and Harvard University and is acknowledged as a leading scholar in the areas of Intellectual Property and Internet Law. From 1998-2002 he was Head of the School of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University in New South Wales, Australia and from January 2002 – January 2007 was appointed as Head of the School of Law at QUT in Brisbane, Australia. Brian is currently a specialist Research Professor at QUT and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation.

Brian’s appointment is a product of the first Affiliate Recommendation Process for Board Candidates, which petitioned members of its Affiliate network to recommend new members of the Board of Directors. Having supervised law students from over 30 different countries in his role as director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic at Queensland University of Technology and beyond, Brian brings to the Board not only his own formidable expertise but also that of a significant international network.

Brian was formally elected to the Board on Friday, September 16, and his appointment was announced publicly at the Creative Commons Global Summit.

We thank the Affiliates and especially the nominees for their willingness to undertake the recommendation process and to contribute even further to the future of Creative Commons.

Regarding the Gov 2.0 Recommendations 6.3-6.6, which state that Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) should be the default licence for PSI, the report provides “agreement in principle,” undertaking that the IP Guidelines will not “impede the default open licensing position proposed in recommendation 6.3.”

Since then, Australia has released three major government publications under Creative Commons licenses, the latest being their national budget under CC BY.

In fact, the last week has seen the release of three major Federal Government reports – the Budget, the Gov 2.0 response and the NBN Implementation Study – all under CC licences. This seems to be a great indicator that the government really means what it says – open access is going to be the default position for the Australian Federal Government from now on.

This marks an exciting time for the Australian government, as they move towards fulfilling their commitment to openness. For more information, see CC Australia’s post on the matter.

There’s about a week left to enter CC Australia’s Pooling Ideas competition before it closes on March 23. They’re giving away cool prizes, including an internship with ABC Radio National to co-produce The Night Air and mountains of CC gear.

Contestants are invited to creatively interpret the theme We are what we share, and upload their creation to Pool. It’s free, and there are no time limits or format requirements. Just tag your work we are what we share when you upload.

You can already check out the first few entries: a poem, a story and a picture (with some great accompanying text). So what are you waiting for? Grab your camera, pen, computer and get creative!

A couple of days ago the [Australian Broadcasting Corporation's] excellent collaborative media site, Pool, posted a recording of genetics professor Steve Jones talking about Darwin’s life and work under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial licence. As far as we’re aware, this is the very first time material from the ABC archives has been released under a Creative Commons licence.

And this is just the beginning. Pool plans to release a whole series of ABC archival materials for remixing as part of its its Gene Pool project.

We’re all very excited here at CCau. The ABC has, almost without question, the largest historical audiovisual archive in Australia. Just think what we can do with it.

We’re excited as well. Last year we conducted a round-up of broadcasters implementing CC, and twelve months later, with exemplary license usage by Al Jazeera and now ABC’s Pool project, it seems the broadcasting world is poised for more. Stay tuned and enjoy exploring the remixable, high-quality material.

CC Birthday Party in Manila

The globe lit up last week to celebrate the birthday of a community and organization now in its sixth year. Creative Commons, as demonstrated by these events, is about more than just free legal tools — it’s a powerful idea that has spread the world over.

In Chennai the CC Birthday Party merged with the launch of the Wikipedia Academy on Dec. 12, coinciding with a visit from Jimmy Wales and Sue Gardener from the Wikimedia Foundation. Chennai’s Free Culture House, a co-working space founded by party planner Kiruba Shankar, hosted the celebration. Seoul joined in with a Birthday Party on the same day, organized by CC Korea.

An award ceremony for the second CC photography contest impressed guests at the Beijing party on Dec. 14, featuring a live remix of the photos. The next day Belgrade conducted a panel on the legal framework of Free Culture with presentations by CC Serbia, Wikimedia Serbia, and Free Software groups.

Entry for 2nd CC Photography Contest in Mainland China

On Dec. 16, seven cities held CC Birthday Parties. In Guatemala writers released a special gift: 10 Christmas stories compiled in Aguinaldo Narrable, which will be illustrated by six award-winning photographs from CC Guatemala‘s Fiesta Callejera Contest.

Ann Arbor, Michigan organized a CC Birthday Happy Hour at a local bar, and guests at the party in Washington, D.C. contributed to a CC multimedia potluck coordinated by Public Knowledge.

The first anniversary of the ported 3.0 Licenses in the Philippines was commemorated in Manila, following a planning meeting for the upcoming CC Asia Pacific Conference. In Yuletide tradition and CC’s spirit of sharing, CC Philippines concluded the day by walking through Manila’s streets and sharing food and gifts to children.

CC Australia screened CC films and raised contributions for our annual fundraising campaign at the Brisbane CC Christmas Birthday Movie Night. New York City recounts that Happy Birthday may or may not have been sung at their Dec. 16 party in FYI, and Los Angeles teamed up LA’s Geek Dinner for an evening of free culture and internets in uWink.

Berlin‘s Content Sprint & Birthday Party invited guests to vie for a Goopymart T-shirt in a competition to document CC Case Studies in Germany.

California hosted the last CC Birthday Parties of the year, with co-housing and co-working community organizers initiating a round of discussions about Free Culture, free speech, and sustainable communities in Berkeley.

San Francisco wrapped up the global parties in 111 Minna Gallery with music by Ripley and Kid Kameleon and an improv performance from dublab as part of the Into Infinity installation.

With 14 host cities and a stellar range of events, the CC community is demonstrating tremendous support for Creative Commons. A heartfelt thank you to all the party planners and guests!

Please take a moment and help make another year of CC possible!

Images: (Ann Arbor) “Long table full of revellers” and “Garin, Ted, and CC swag” by mollyali under CC BY NC; (Chennai) “121220082360” and “121220082330” by Kiruba Shankar under CC NC SA; (Beijing) 舞在山乡 优秀奖 under 作者：秦启胜  CC BY ; (Manila) “CC-PH Technical/Documentation / AUSL-ITC“ and “Outreach / Sharing” by CC Philippines under CC BY NC; (DC) “CC 6th birthday party Washington DC” by tvol under CC BY; (Education Network Australia) “Sparklers and cake to celebrate“ by edna-photos under CC NC; (CC Cupcakes) “P1070155“ by creativecommoners under CC BY; (LA) “Happy 6th Birthday Creative Commons!“ posted by felicity redwell from netZoo/revolute under CC NC ND; (Guatemala) “MBosque” by Renata Avila under CC BY.

Shift, a new exhibition by CC-using Australian artist Chris Denaro, recently launched at Brisbane’s Metro Arts. From ccAU:

Shift, which showcases the work of CC artist Chris Denaro, focuses on the theme of ‘motion’ and is the culmination of a 10 month residency in which Chris worked with found material and other local artists.

Those of you who made it to CCau’s conference and ccSalon in June will no doubt remember Chris’s animations, which were screened on the big screen and plasmas in the venue throughout the day. Chris draws on CC-licensed material (primarily Flickr photos) and uses programming, design and animation techniques to turn it into completely new works. For example, the works from his ‘prototypes’ project (which were showcased on the CC conference) use looping motion to turn the original photos into moving, morphing creatures that look like they stepped straight out of the Matrix. The animations in turn are licensed under CC, so that others can use and build upon them.

But probably most importantly of all, Chris’s work shows us how creative and original remixed art can be. It’s the perfect antidote to the claim that remix is just ‘rehashing’ other people’s work. No one could argue that Chris’s works aren’t completely unique, innovative and, most of all, beautiful.

You can learn more about Chris Denaro in our case studies database. Similarly, don’t forget to check out all the cool news coming out of ccAU these days, including their most recent feature on Australian national TV.

Delia Browne will be presenting on behalf of CCau, along with David Noakes from the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) and Scot Morris from the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA). Details below:

When: 6pm – 8pm, Monday 29 September 2008
Where: Australia Council: 372 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills
How: RSVP by 9/25 to Janelle Prescott – info AT samag DOT org – or (02) 8250 5722 (msg only)
Cost: FREE ENTRY for 2008 SAMAG Members / $10 for non-members / $5 for students

iTWire has learnt that Mia Garlick, an Australian lawyer who was most recently product counsel for YouTube, has been appointed to head the Australian Government’s drive for the digital economy future, as assistant secretary in the Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy (BCDE)

Her appointment is linked to communications minister Stephen Conroy’s announcement this week of plans to prepare Australia for the future ‘digital economy’. In preparation for this initiative the department advertised in May for “a talented and highly motivated senior manager to lead the Digital Economy Branch within the Department…[to provide] leadership and strategic direction to a branch with responsibility for the development of the digital economy in Australia.”

While at CC, Mia led development of the CC version 3.0 licenses and nearly every other project we undertook during her tenure, in addition to undertaking regular speaking engagements worldwide. Her intelligence, energy, and wit are certainly just what the Australian digital economy needs. Good luck!

It’s also worth noting that Creative Commons Australia has long been a leading CC jurisdiction project, especially in the field of public sector information. Just in the last week the National Innovation Review recommended CC and a minister immediately endorsed the recommendation.

Appropriately enough, a photo of Mia Garlick (far right) visiting Brian Fitzgerald, Stuart Cunningham, and Jessica Coates at CC Australia in 2006. Nic Suzor / CC BY-SA

Those interested in open access to public sector information will be excited to see the results of a recently released Australian Federal Government Review of the National Innovation System, http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview.

The final report, titled VenturousAustralia, was prepared for Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, by consultants Culter and Co, headed up by industry consultant and strategy adviser Dr Terry Cutler. It places a strong emphasis on open innovation, stating in the introduction:

“Today innovation is understood to involve much more than the transmission of knowledge down the pipeline of production from research to development to application. In the age of the internet, with the opportunities for collaboration which it opens up, open innovation is increasingly important.”

Most importantly from an open access point of view, it was Recommendation 7.8 which is most exciting:

“Australian governments should adopt international standards of open publishing as far as possible. Material released for public information by Australian governments should be released under a creative commons licence.”

The full report is available at http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Documents/NIS-review-web.pdf.

As Pool’s Executive Producer, Sherre Delys, puts it in this interview with Radio National’s The Media Report, the CC licensing means that “POOL starts to be a place where you can connect with others, and so for some that will take the form of online mentoring and skill-sharing; for others it’s a collaborative work space, they can download each other’s work, re-mix and re-use, and it also includes collaboration between ABC producers and audiences, and I think that’s really critical.” And in a first for the national broadcaster, Sherre also talks about Pool’s intention to release ABC archival footage for remix by it’s audience, sometime in the near future.