Centre for Internet & Society

A seminar for GLAM institutions (GLAM stands for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) will be held in Bangalore on February 25, 2013, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The program is supported by Wikimedia, Creative Commons and the Centre for Internet & Society.

Sponsors

This program is sponsored by:

  1. Wikimedia Chapter, (WMIN), Bengaluru, a non profit society and the India Chapter of Wikimedia Foundation,
  2. Center for Internet and Studies, (CIS), Bengaluru, an independent NGO, operating the Access to Knowledge program for Wikimedia Foundation,
  3. Creative Commons, USA, a nonprofit organization that enables people to share their knowledge and creativity through free legal tools,
    in partnership with
  4. College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, Bengaluru, an autonomous institution promoting Art, and Education. Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath was first established as “Chitrakala Vidyalaya”, under the aegis of Chitrakala Parishath in 1964. The founder secretary Late Prof. M.S. Nanjunda Rao was instrumental in establishing and developing the institute, which has grown to the current international status. The Institution offers Post- Graduate and Post- Diploma courses, and proposes to begin a PhD programme [Research Centre] in the near future. Presently the Institution has been accredited and functioning as an Autonomous Institution as set by the U.G.C. and Bangalore University.

What is GLAM and what does it have to do with Wikimedia and Creative Commons?

GLAM is an acronym for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. It also incorporates other cultural institutions such as theatres, zoos, botanical gardens, public broadcasters, etc.

The GLAM-WIKI project supports GLAMs and other institutions who want to work with Wikimedia to produce open-access, freely-reusable content for the public.

Why contribute?

Every cultural institution has an abundance of resources to share. A partnership with Wikimedia is a low cost, high-impact way for them to disseminate their resources to a global audience.

How to contribute?

  • Wikipedia - Contributions can include article creation or expansion, reference correction and expansion, and institutional research/text donations.
  • Wikimedia Commons - Contributions can include images, video, and other media as well as descriptions and metadata for already-existing files in the repository.
  • Wikisource - As a collection of free and open content texts of original sources, appropriate contributions include out-of-copyright books and documents.

How does it help the GLAM institution?

Here are a few reasons:

  • It fits in closely with the core mission of the cultural institution of preserving heritage and history.
  • It step jumps the GLAM institution’s reach by increasing potential audiences.
  • Footfalls to the GLAM institution are likely to increase through greater awareness of the institute’s collection and knowledge.
  • It will provide a well-tested platform for the digitization efforts of the GLAM institution. Staff will find it satisfying given its global reach and impact.
  • There is a strong likelihood of higher public relations coverage of the GLAM institute because of Wikipedia’s goodwill.
  • Wikimedia Foundation and Creative Commons are nonprofit organizations.

Different GLAMs have different needs and goals for their projects, and this seminar will educate the audience on how GLAM-WIKI fits these with Wikimedia's goals of free knowledge. From existing partnership programs Wikimedia India will present a few global projects, and examples on how they've worked in practice and benefited every one including the GLAM institutions.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables users to share their knowledge and creativity through free legal tools. They develop, support, and steward legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.

Copyright laws were developed in a previous era where in protection was given to artists, authors, and other creators as a default. In this situation sharing requires a deliberate prior permission. In the internet era, so much of sharing of digital media is happening online, and these require tools that ensure prior permission, and control the level of use. The legal tools of Creative Commons enable controlled sharing.

Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable users to modify their copyright terms to best suit their needs.

What will users learn?

In this part of the seminar users will learn about:

  • Creative Commons as an organization
  • How the Creative Commons licenses work
  • How they relate to Open GLAM, and Wikimedia
  • What are the tools? How to choose them and use them
  • How can people selectively retain rights, while releasing some of it for free public use
  • Examples of how GLAM institutions are using CC
  • New business models and online communities
  • Other applications of CC

The speakers from Creative Commons have a long experience of discussing CC with GLAM institutions.

CC licensing also works for many other applications such as music, video, writing, and many other creative works. Open Education Resources, and Public Data are also some of the domains. The focus of the presentation will be on GLAM. However, people interested in other applications may also be able to take the opportunity to have discussions after the main presentation.

Who should attend the seminar?

The seminar would be of interests to:

  • Administrators of Public policy
  • Administrators of GLAM institutions
  • Art historians, Artists, Photographers, and Sculptors
  • Legal professionals
  • Bloggers, Authors, Editors, and Publishers.

Admission:

Admission is free to the public who register. Please bring a print copy of this registration page for admission.