Free Culture Roadshow

CIS in association with different institutions across India invites you to join in the Free Culture Roadshow: A presentation on The Right to Share and The Promise of Open Video.

1. Co-Host: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
   Date: 07th December, 2009 from 10am to 2pm
   Venue – IIT-B, Mumbai
2. Co-Host: Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay
   Date: 07th December, 2009 from 4.30pm to 7pm
   Venue – TISS, Mumbai
3. Co-Host: Department of Media Sciences, CEGC, Anna University, Chennai
   Date: 08th December, 2009 from 9.30am
   Venue – Seminar Hall, Dept. Of Media Sciences, Anna University, Chennai
4. Co-Host: Dept. Of Management Studies, IIT-M, and BodhBridge Espl.
   Date: 09th December, 2009 from 9.30am to 01.30pm
   Venue – Central Lecture Theatre, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
5. Co-Host: Dept. Of Journalism, Mount Carmel College, Bangalore 
   Date: 14th December, 2009 from 10am to 01pm
   Venue – Golden Jubilee Hall, Bangalore
6. Co-Host: National Law School, Bangalore
   Date: 17th December, 2009 from 2.30pm onwards
   Venue – National Law School, Bangalore
7. Co-Host: Faculty of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad
   Date: 18th December, 2009 from 4pm to 7pm
   Venue – Auditorium, CEPT
8. Co- Host: Magic Lantern Foundation
   Date: 20th December, 2009 from 9am to 1pm
   Venue - Conference Room 2, India International Centre, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi
9. Co-Host: The Media Lab, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
   Date: 22nd December, 2009 from 11.30am to 3.30pm
   Venue – Jadavpur University, Kolkata

A Brief Abstract of the two discussions and the profile of the speakers are given below:

The Right to Share: What Does Copying Have to Do with Freedom?

The Internet has unleashed the potential to communicate and collaborate like never before, and the result has been an unprecedented flow of culture and information. Millions of individuals are now sharing and creating culture: copying, cutting, remixing, and participating in new and different ways.
Sometimes this activity is transformative. Sometimes it's straight copying. In either case, there is a clear connection between this sharing of culture and personal freedom.
This talk will explore how various conceptions of "freedom" have shaped the social movements for free software, free culture, and free knowledge, and how this ideology has manifested itself in real action. It will connect theory with practice, exploring the cultural innovations and political changes that have spawned forth from these movements. Lastly, it will make the case that the broad-based availability, accessibility, and abundance of culture is a good thing for our global society.

Speaker Profile:

Elizabeth Stark is a leader in the global free culture movement. She is a Fellow at the Yale Information Society Project and a Lecturer in Computer Science at Yale University.  A graduate of Harvard Law School, Stark founded the Harvard Free Culture Group and served on the board of directors of Students for Free Culture. While at Harvard, she was Editor-at-Large of the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, and worked on using new media to promote human rights with the Harvard Advocates for Human Rights.  Elizabeth has worked extensively with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and has taught courses in Cyberlaw, Digital Copyright, Technology and Politics, and Electronic Music. She recently produced the inaugural Open Video Conference in NYC, garnering over 8000 viewers across the web. Elizabeth regularly gives talks around the world on free culture, and has collaborated with myriad organizations on promoting shared knowledge and the open web.

The Revolution Will Be Recorded, Remixed, and Redistributed: The Promise of Open Video

Between news, cinema, television, and documentary film, we find ourselves swimming in a sea of moving images. This has been the story of the 20th century. Yet in this age, the tools for creating and sharing video are becoming widely distributed in the hands of millions of individuals. Desktop video editing software is pervasive; webcams and video-equipped mobile phones abound. Video now belongs to everyone. It is becoming a powerful medium for self-expression, a kind of cultural currency.
How will this phenomenon change the Internet? How will it change society? What questions persist for the architecture of the Internet, and how will public policy address this ultimately political transformation? This talk sets forth a vision of networked video as a truly participatory medium, one that will power the next 10 years of innovation on the web. Dean Jansen and Ben Moskowitz introduce some core technologies for open video, and the obstacles they face on the road to mass adoption.

Speaker Profiles:

Dean Jansen is a Free Culture activist and guerrilla artist based in New York. He attended Harvard University and was a leader in the Harvard Free Culture Group. Dean assisted in teaching media studies and law courses at MIT and Harvard, and has organized numerous academic conferences.
He currently serves as outreach director at the non-profit Participatory Culture Foundation, makers of the Miro internet TV player. His art projects can be viewed at www.notthemessiah.net.

Ben Moskowitz is general coordinator at the Open Video Alliance, a coalition to democratize the moving image. Ben co-founded the UC Berkeley chapter of Students for Free Culture and taught a seminar on the politics of piracy at Berkeley's School of Information.
He currently serves on the board of directors of the international organization Students for Free Culture, dedicated to promoting access to knowledge, technological freedom, and participatory culture.