This past weekend was the first, of what will hopefully be an annual event: the iCommons Summit. Gathering Creative Commons project leads from around the world (around eighty in all) at Harvard Law School, the conference had several objectives including reporting and sharing ideas on past successes and challenges in the license porting process, developing strategies for furthing the Creative Commons mission around the world, and building consensus on what a truly international and distributed Creative Commons would look like. I also can’t forget to mention a few GREAT parties (thank you Professor Nesson for hosting), one in which our Chairman and CEO was unfortunately (or fortunately) thrown into the swimming pool (it’s never a great party until someone goes in). See pictures from the whole event here.

Collecting a large group of people who have been working together, virtually, towards the same goal over the past two years, is truly something to see. The energy of the conference was amazing. Great ideas were produced and shared throughout the meeting, and it is hoped that together we can build an organization that meets the diverse needs of a highly committed volunteer base, while furthering the mission of a “some rights reserved” approach to copyright.

Big thanks are in order for Christiane Asschenfeldt, iCommons Executive Director, who in large part, made all of this happen. Also, a great thanks to Elaine Adolfo, Tessi Rieber, Francesca Rodriquez, Diane Cabell, and Wendy Koslow who made the conference go off without a hitch. An extra special thanks to the Berkman Center, who were generous enough to host us, and Professors Jonathan Zittrain, William Fisher, and Charlie Nesson, who lent their thoughtful perspectives in leading our dialogues. Finally, a big thanks to the incredible group of participants who make this movement as groundbreaking as it is.