Phlow Magazine Releases “Nivel del Mar”, Free CC-Licensed Netlabel Compilation

Cameron Parkins, October 3rd, 2008

Phlow Magazine, a weblog about netlabel music culture, recently celebrated their one year anniversary by releasing Nivel del Mar, a free compilation of CC BY-NC-ND licensed tracks from various netlabels. Clocking in at one hour, 22 minutes, and 55 seconds (epic), Nivel del Mar is described as a ‘chill out compilation’ that aims to feature the the best sounds of netlabel culture. You can download it here for free.

Outside of reporting on netlabel culture, Phlow Magazine produces a podcast and has a huge archive of CC-licensed tunes available on their site.

CC Salon NYC Followup

Fred Benenson, October 2nd, 2008

Dean Jansen of the Miro Project

Thanks to everyone who came out to September’s CC Salon NYC, and to the wonderful TOPP for hosting us again. We had an even bigger turn out this time (perhaps because Time Out New York wrote us up), but just as much fun. Keep an eye out for December’s event!

International OER Community Update

Jane Park, October 1st, 2008

The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement is a global movement. Education is an issue that crosses borders and spans continents; open education—the creation and distribution of OER—empowers people in a global dialogue. However, the mere promotion of OER is not sufficient for the success of this international effort, as many issues and barriers to open education are country- and culture-specific. In this sense, the international OER community has some significant differences to bridge, and we must somehow synthesize the diverse range of projects and perspectives into clear and tangible objectives.

The UNESCO OER Community exemplifies progress made on this front, with currently 700+ members from 105 countries. Although North America and Western Europe account for about half of the participants, the community is still represented by 72 developing countries. One of the most compelling components of the community is its case studies project, “stories - of how institutions and individuals have developed or used OER,” based in various countries. These case studies—including those from Canada, Rwanda, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, the Netherlands and more—explore OER against the background of their heterogeneous contexts. What works? What doesn’t work? What did the organization or persons involved do or must they now do in order to overcome obstacles—either due to institutional bureaucracy, lack of resources, or otherwise? These stories are windows of insight into different ways of progressing globally.

In addition to case studies, the international community is developing an OER toolkit, templates for ease of sharing more stories (from community members, academics creating and using OER, and learners using OER), and discussion surrounding such issues as access to technology, copyright, best practices, learning psychology of OER, and more. The OER toolkit will prove especially useful in addressing the issues raised by case studies, as it targets any persons interested in becoming involved with OER, either as creators or users, and those wishing to integrate OER into their institutions or organizations.

eLearning Papers, a journal that “promotes the use of ICT for lifelong learning in Europe,” recently examined similar issues surrounding OER and the international community in its September installment, “Open Educational Resources.” From the editorial,

“This issue of eLearning Papers is dedicated to the thriving work around Open Educational Resources (OER) by committed individuals, institutions and user communities. Five selected papers by the guest editors investigate the organisational, social, cultural, pedagogical and technical aspects of implementing OER…

We have two papers that investigate how higher education institutions work OER into their policies and practices. “Open Educational Resources for Management Education: Lessons from experience” elaborates on a French faculty which created a digital distribution place to share and disseminate university courses. The initial resistance of the faculty members evaporated as they started receiving positive feedback on their courses, as well as international interest in their French content. On the other hand, “Reflections on sustaining Open Educational Resources: an institutional case study” shows how first gaining high level policy support within the institution for the initiative of OER was turned into a sustainable institutional practice.”

The journal is licensed CC BY-NC-ND, while the UNESCO OER Community site is open for re-use and adaptation under CC BY-SA. It is also hosted on a wiki which means anyone is free to contribute to the OER case studies and OER toolkit. The UNESCO OER Community has been funded by one of our avid supporters, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, since its inception in 2005.

9th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival: Call For Entries

Cameron Parkins, October 1st, 2008

Arts Engine, a non-profit that creates social-issue documentaries, just released a call for entries for their 9th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival. The films produced for the MTMFF are short form, focus on social issues, and made mostly by young filmmakers. 

Following a New York City Premiere, Awards Ceremony and industry networking event in June 2009, films submitted will take part in the Media That Matters international, multi-platform campaign with “DVD distribution, broadcasts, streaming and hundreds of screenings across the globe.” After the festival has been completed, the films will be released under a CC BY-NC-ND license. From MTMFF:

The Media That Matters Film Festival is the premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action.

From gay rights to global warming, the jury-selected collection represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers, many of whom are under 21. The films are equally diverse in style and content, with documentaries, music videos, animations, experimental work and everything else in between. What all the films have in common is that they spark debate and action in 12 minutes or less.

You can check out entries from previous MTMFF here, here, and here. Details on how to enter below:

Short Films: Keep it short! Under 12 minutes is good, but under 8 is even better.

All Genres: Documentary, animation, PSA, narrative, music videos - be creative! 

Social Issues: Any and all. This year we are looking for films on Media Literacy, Human Rights, Elections & Democracy, Sustainability, Sexual Identity—but all social issues are accepted. Youth produced projects are encouraged.

Cash Prize: $1,000 per film.

Submission Fee: $25 for general submissions; $10 for students over 18 (with valid student ID); free for youth 18 and under (with valid ID).

Deadline: All submission materials must be postmarked by January 9th, 2009.

Check website for more details: submit.

Arts Engine also sells region-free unencrypted CC licensed DVDs of all the films that can be shown in any non-commercial setting.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s “The Concert” Podcast Reaches Over 1 Million Downloads

Cameron Parkins, October 1st, 2008

“The Concert” is a classical music podcast produced by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which is released under our Music Sharing license. Here is what we had to say back in 2006 when the podcast first launched:

The podcast features unreleased live performances by master musicians and talented young artists recorded from the museum’s Sunday Concert Series. “The Concert” includes music by Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and Chopin for solo piano, orchestra, string quartet, and voice. A new podcast will be posted on the 1st and 15th of every month; users can subscribe to receive free, automatic updates delivered directly to their computers or mp3 players. With “The Concert,” the Gardner Museum becomes the first art museum to encourage sharing and free distribution of its online programming by using a Creative Commons license. 

“The Concert” is now on episode 54 and has reached over 1 million downloads, bringing classical chamber music to people across the globe in an unprecedented fashion. While the content of the podcast - lush arrangements of beautiful compositions recorded by experts - is at the heart of why “The Concert” has done so well, the Music Sharing license employed by ISGM has made that content more immediately sharable, stripping away legal hurdles that might inhibit casual listeners while protecting ISGM’s commercial rights.

Eric Steuer, CC’s Creative Director, Interviewed on Epic FU

Cameron Parkins, October 1st, 2008

Epic FU, the web-based art/tech/music/culture show we recentlly profiled as a Featured Commoner, just posted a great episode that includes an interview with CC’s Creative Director Eric Steuer. For those who are familiar with CC there isn’t a ton of new information on what we do but for those who are new to CC, the interview acts as an awesome primer. The episode is released under a CC BY-NC-SA license and Steve Woolf, one of Epic FU’s founders, posted a related entry about CC on the Epic FU blog to complement the piece.

Calling Software Engineers

Jennifer Yip, October 1st, 2008

Creative Commons needs to expand our tech team! Please check out our new contractor posting. If you have the skills and interest in joining the CC team, please submit your resume and cover letter asap!

CC Salon Paris on October 15

Michelle Thorne, October 1st, 2008

CC France is organizing the first CC Salon in Paris on October 15, 2008, in partnership with La Cantine by Silicon Sentier.

At a moment where copyright laws are becoming always more restrictive, in particular in France with the HADOPI initiative, this event will give the opportunity to the Creative Commons community to reaffirm its commitment to openness, sharing and freedom.

A round-table will open the discussions with pioneers and old-time users of the CC licenses in France: music platforms Dogmazik and Jamendo, book publisher In Libro Veritas, the local government of Brest and public TV/radio Arte Radio.

The CC Salon Paris will feature a debate on “Creative Commons licenses today and after” followed drinks, music, project, and file sharing. More information is available on the CC France website. You can also register for the Salon on Facebook.

CC Jordan: First Arabic Version 3.0 License Draft in Public Discussion

Michelle Thorne, October 1st, 2008

Jordanian legal experts are making major strides in the Creative Commons license porting process by producing the first Version 3.0 CC license draft in Arabic. Adapted to Jordanian law, the license draft is being discussed on CC Jordan’s mailing list, along with the license’s English re-translation and an explanation of its substantial legal changes.

With the support of the reputable Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP), CC Jordan Project Leads Ziad Maraqa and Rami Olwan have committed much time and expertise in developing the Jordanian license draft. Hala Essalmawi (CC Egypt) and Anas Tawileh (initiator of Arab Commons) contribute to CC Jordan’s efforts as well as conduct local outreach to further Creative Commons’ mission. Individuals and organizations interested in beginning a local Creative Commons project in their jurisdiction or in helping raise awareness about Creative Commons in the Arab World, please contact Creative Commons International and CC Arab Media Consultant Donnatella della Ratta.

On behalf of CC Jordan, we warmly welcome you to join in the public discussion of the license draft. Congratulations to CC Jordan and the Arab Commons team, and we are looking forward to your feedback!

ccLearn’s COSL Open Ed ‘08 download

Jane Park, September 30th, 2008

Although we’ve already had a weekend plus a Monday to digest COSL’s Open Ed ‘08, the events from the conference and general good feeling inspired by speakers and individual conversations still drives us forward into the week and the beginning of next month. This year’s conference featured several notable speakers; the keynotes themselves were given by WikiEducator’s Wayne Mackintosh, Magnatune’s Teresa Malango, and MITE’s (Monterey Institute for Technology and Education) Gary Lopez . Personally, I attended all three keynotes plus a few other sessions from which I extracted some thought-provoking facts and ideas.

WikiEducator, Commonwealth of Learning: Wayne broke the news that WikiEducator will be moving to the awe-inspiring Dunedin, New Zealand, home to not only breathtaking landscapes but also Otago Polytechnic, the first ever university to have a default CC BY licensing policy. See my interview with Leigh Blackall in April. He also shed light on why many educators use WikiEducator. Surprisingly (or not, depending on your presumptions), the number one reason people go to the site is “to explore new ideas and trends”. I found this encouraging; educators are seeking to innovate, to learn in order to innovate. Case in point: the second reason was “to learn wiki skills”. Now we’ve just got to help them do it. Wayne also mentioned catering to different knowledge levels when it came to open source and sharing. He described what he called “capability phases”. The phases go something like this: personal teaching resources → WikiEducator featured resource → WikiEducator featured collaboration → peer-reviewed resource. Teachers begin by sharing their personal educational resources developed primarily for their own classroom; then they realize they can create resources on WikiEducator; furthermore, in collaboration with other educators!; finally, they ensure quality by reviewing each other’s work and constantly making changes to better place the work in context.

Magnatune - a history: Teresa’s presentation provided an outside viewpoint regarding possible business and sustainability models for openly licensed resources. She described how Magnatune was founded with a few core principles around which the business models had to be developed. The principles included respect and fair compensation for the artists, engagement with the consumers, and transparency in all that they do. Much of the conference focused on issues of sustainability and mechanisms for leveraging the value of OER, so her presentation served as a useful lesson regarding such issues from a different domain. Many of the key tools and technologies developed by Creative Commons, such as the CC Plus protocol, are core elements of the Magnatune site. What possibilties lie ahead for OER?

Financial sustainability is still an issue, but if we go back to Wayne’s presentation: what about commercial activities that would support OER? There are distribution channels; for example, we’ve already got sites like Lulu.com, and Flat World Knowledge is another big open textbook initiative set to launch next year. We’ve also got to think about incentive systems to get educators, researchers, and commercially employed persons to contribute beyond their full-time jobs. And finally, the most important statement that, I think, reiterates David’s sentiment: in the development of OER, quality is more about the process than it is about the product. Quality is a very different thing in one country’s context than it is in the next. But the process of producing OER, of gaining those critical thinking and analytic skills (remember why some of us went to college?) yields a quality process that can be integrated universally.