[Commons-sense] Reminder: Open Business Models discussion: 8 February, 5.30-7pm, Wits University

"The future of open business, and its significance for entrepreneurs:
A presentation and discussion of practical examples from the United
Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa"

=3D=3D  Wednesday, 8 February 2006: 17h30 - 19h00, Wits University Public
and Development Management Campus, Parktown, Johannesburg =3D=3D

Entrepreneurs, artists and creators of intellectual work often have
limited means of getting their intellectual outputs published.
Invariably the needs of the creator are secondary to those of the
large, corporate publisher who relies on a business model that takes a
sizeable cut of the profits, and endeavours to hold all the rights to
the intellectual work.

Within this business model there is little scope for creators who
would like to not only make a living from their work but would also
wish to provide their audiences and target markets with greater
freedom to sample, copy, share or build upon their works in order to
develop a useful and sustainable pool of resources for the community.
In this sense OpenBusiness entrepreneurs are realizing that
collaboration, sharing, and giving can be economic activities, while
they are at the same time a cultural and social form of interaction.

However, any of these creators who wishes to move away from the
traditional publishing business model that strictly controls the
rights, dissemination and profits of the work, often have to rely on
their own intuition.  There is no well structured overview of how
creative entrepreneurs can integrate into their business models,
open-content licences which offer both the user a variety of freedoms
and the creator a number of protections.

A collaborative research project entitled OpenBusiness
(http://www.openbusiness.cc) is currently being compiled by academic
institutions based in Brazil (FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro), the
United Kingdom (Oxford University, London School of Economics and
Michael Young Foundation) and South Africa (LINK Centre, at the
University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg), to provide
entrepreneurs, artists and creators with practical guides about how to
incorporate Creative Commons open-content licences and other
open-content licences into their business models.

The team involved in the OpenBusiness project will be presenting the
OpenBusiness concept and findings to date on the 8th February 2006.
The presentation will include:

=A7       an introduction to the project
=A7       objectives and outcomes of OpenBusiness
=A7       country-specific examples of successful OpenBusiness projects
from the UK, Brazil and South Africa
=A7       the future of OpenBusiness, and
=A7       general discussion and debate.

DATE:
Wednesday, 8 February 2006

TIME:
17h30 - 19h00

VENUE:
Classroom 9, The Donald Gordon Building, Wits P&DM

ADDRESS:
2 St David's Place, Parktown, Johannesburg
light snacks will be served

RSVP:
Tumi Molefe, on (011) 717 3913 or via email at Mol...@pd...

Biographies

Christian Ahlert:
Christian Ahlert is a public project lead of Creative Commons England
and Wales. He is a fellow at the Michael Young Foundation, where he is
establishing an organization to support and protect the cultural and
intellectual commons in a sustainable way. He is Research Associate of
the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, where he is also a
Senior Research Associate of the Centre for Brazilian Studies.
Previously, he worked at the Programme in Comparative Media Law and
Policy at Oxford. In addition he managed a number of European
Commission projects in the area of internet and media policy, as well
as international development and technical assistance projects.

Ronaldo Lemos:
Ronaldo Lemos is the director of the Center for Technology & Society
at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) Law School in Rio de Janeiro.
He is the project lead for the Creative Commons project in Brazil, and
a member of the International Commons Board. He is an LL.B. and an
LL.D. from the University of Sao Paulo, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law
School. He is one of the founders of the collaborative site
www.overmundo.com.br.

Carolina Rossini:
Carolina Rossini is a member of the Center for Technology & Society at
the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) Law School in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. She coordinates the the regional Open Business project in
Brazil, which includes actions in two other Latin American countries
and also in Nigeria. She earned an MBA in E-Business from the
Instituto de Empresas de Madri, Spain, and a Master Degree in
International Negotiation from the joint program offered by
UNICAMP/UNESP/PUCSP, S=E3o Paulo, Brazil. Carolina is a lawyer graduated
from Universidade de S=E3o Paulo (USP) and studied International
Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo (PUC).
She worked for 6 years as the legal counsel for the Telefonica Group
in Brazil.

Heather Ford:
Heather Ford is the public project lead for Creative Commons South
Africa. She has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Rhodes University
and a certificate in Telecommunications Policy, Law and Management
from the University of the Witwatersrand Link Centre. She worked with
Creative Commons when she was a fellow at the Reuters Digital Vision
Fellowship Program at Stanford University, California and is now
running Creative Commons South Africa and a programme entitled
'Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons'
(www.commons-sense.org). The programme focuses on encouraging access
to and development of accessible educational content on the internet;
developing case studies of open content business models; and engaging
in the local cultural 'commons' in order to encourage local content in
the film, music and creative industries.

Andrew Rens:
Andrew Rens is the legal lead for Creative Commons South Africa. He
studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg where he
read for the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (BA), and of Law (LLB). After
qualifying as an attorney he researched Intellectual Property Issues
on the Internet for the Master of Laws degree again at Wits Law
School. At Wits he subsequently taught Intellectual Property,
Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Space and Satellite, and Media Law
and pioneered a course in Information Technology Law. He is currently
a fellow of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, researching
access to knowledge and alternative copyright issues.

Kerryn McKay:
Kerryn McKay is currently employed as a researcher at the LINK Centre
at the University of the Witwatersrand. Kerryn holds a Bachelor of
Journalism from Rhodes University, majoring in Journalism & Media
Studies and English. She has worked for a number of years in the
advertising and marketing industries, and was most recently the
marketing director at a commercial property consultancy which
specialises in education and training for both the public and private
sectors, and the undertaking of property audit reviews and due
diligences.

--
Heather Ford
Phone: +27 11 717 3914
Cell: +27 82 872 7374

IM:
queenbea878: AOL
243161375: ICQ
heatherford: skype

Creative Commons South Africa
http://za.creativecommons.org

Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons
http://www.commons-sense.org


--
Heather Ford
Phone: +27 11 717 3914
Cell: +27 82 872 7374

IM:
queenbea878: AOL
243161375: ICQ
heatherford: skype

Creative Commons South Africa
http://za.creativecommons.org

Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons
http://www.commons-sense.org