StudyGroup

From Free Knowledge Institute

1 Context
2 Objectives of the Group
3 Methodology
4 Initial members
5 Study Agenda
- 5.1 Michel Bauwens

[edit] Context

In recent years we are beginning to notice an amazing phenomenon. A new model of production has taken root; one that should not be there, at least according to our most widely held beliefs about economic behaviour. The peer production model, or "commons-based peer production", as some call it. This phenomenon of social production is reshaping markets while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse and justice. Software production is one of the primary examples. The emergence of Free Software, which has entered in major sectors of the software market, ensures the freedoms of usage, study, sharing, production and competition. In the same line, collaborative projects like Wikipedia, in which more than 50.000 editors are voluntarily building together the biggest online encyclopedia, demonstrate the solidity of these relatively new forms of social, or collaborative production.

However, this new model encounters serious opposition from the powers that be. A systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of todays networked information environment. While more and more people engage in the culture of sharing and collaborative production, the entertainment and software industries is waging a war against people sharing digital forms of knowledge. In international organisations like the WIPO and the WTO, legal frameworks are being implemented to stop the adoption of this new model - but instead to facilitate the privatisation of public information and knowledge.

[edit] Objectives of the Group

To critically explore the new model of commons-based peer production of information and knowledge, including its legal, economical and social aspects.
To critically explore the opposition against these forms of social innovation, like the 'international governance of copyright and patents': who set the rules and the agenda, the role of International Organisations (such as the WIPO, the WTO), the role of TNCs and powerful states, etc.
To analize the dominant legal frameworks from the point of view of social justice and social rights. To identify the most sensitive issues / sectors: entertainment, medicines, software, technology transfer, biodiversity, etc.
To promote that social movements and radical NGOs introduce the problematic into their campaigns, their discourse and their political agenda. Possible targets: development NGOs, global justice movements, free software groups, etc.
To disseminate arguments to refute the official discourse on "Intellectual Property", as well as to disseminate alternative proposals.