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Download the guide below:
FRENCH, .doc
FRENCH, .PDF
ENGLISH, .doc
ENGLISH, .PDF
One of the goals of the Commons-sense Project is to conduct research that helps equip African activists and decision-makers with the information they need to develop cutting-edge, relevant intellectual property policies and practices.
We decided to begin with a map - a map that hopefully presents a broad picture of how far we've already come in Africa towards the goal of achieving a "digital information commons", as well as providing some sense of how to grow it further. We have tried to chart the international, regional and national policies, players and movements that to some extent dictate the scope of the commons in Africa, and at the same time to outline some of the creative responses from people on the ground working towards the expansion of the commons in some way.
Because we wanted to get as extensive a picture as possible of who is already involved in digital commons activities throughout the continent, we decided to try to get people in Africa to represent themselves in the Guide . The technology we used was an online "wiki" which anyone, anywhere in the world could edit, amend, build on and improve. This Guide , then, is the offline version of a living "wiki" built by the people living and working on these issues in Africa.
We are hoping that the offline publishing of this Guide can become an annual event, where we take stock of how far we've come, how issues, policies and laws have changed, which new projects have begun, and what the impact has been on the ground and on the net - in terms of the growth of the African Digital Commons.
In time, we're hoping that the Guide will be used in classrooms and offices, by policy-makers and activists, educators and students, to raise awareness around the value of the commons to African innovation, education and creativity.
One last word of thanks must go to our colleagues at the LINK Centre for their support and advice, to Wits University Copyright Librarian Denise Nicholson for innumerable leads and contacts, to A2LM in Southern Africa project leader Achal Prabhala for editorial support, to the IDRC - especially Heloise Emdon and Steve Song - for their ongoing encouragement, and finally to the hard-working builders of the African Digital Commons who, in the face of many challenges, continue to inspire with their vision of a continent that is turning the corner in many ways.
tags: johannesburg South Africa media-events non-fiction
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Common-sense
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wd
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Jan 14th, 2008 |
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5149 KB · 158 downloads |
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