Monday, May 30, 2005
New initiative to promote content creation in South Africa
By Wairagala Wakabi
JOHANNESBURG-- The LINK Centre at Wits University in South Africa and the Centre for Technology and Society of Brazil have announced a collaborative project to boost production of local content in countries of the South.With funding from the Ford Foundation, the "Building the Southern dialogue on intellectual property, media and culture" project which begins in June 2005 will over the next year, engage several stakeholders in creating content relevant to the South.
Ronaldo Ramos, the director of the Centre for Technology and Society, said on Friday that they would work with Southern communities to raise awareness about the need to protect intellectual property but also to relax copyright laws with a view to encouraging the generation of content in the South.
"It is clear how intellectual property rights make us poor in terms of culture, so we will raise awareness about how to engage in creating culture," he said. "We shall have a website on media and culture, but we shall also be pro-active and work with various communities affected by intellectual property laws. We shall work with radio and television, but also show people how they can bypass traditional channels to express themselves," Ramos told HANA.
The partnership was announced on the closing day of the "Towards an African Digital Information Commons" conference at Wits University in Johannesburg. The LINK Centre organised the event to promote awareness bout alternative approaches to copyright and content-sharing. New digital technologies have made it possible for developing countries to encourage innovation and enhance education.The South African chapter of Creative Commons (ccSA) – the global movement that seeks to encourage easier access to and fair use of intellectual property - was launched at the conference.
The launch of the partnership between the South African and Brazilian institutions comes amidst growing concerns that stringent copyright laws are hindering the South from creating and using local content, by forcing them to rely on the fruit of intellectual property generated in rich countries.
Creative Commons supporters at the LINK Centre say the notion of copyright has always been particularly controversial in Africa as indigenous expressions of knowledge and culture have often been misappropriated. This was based on the argument that these cultures and knowledge were in the public domain and could not be protected because they were oral and unwritten, and were owned by the community rather than a legally-recognised entity.
In Brazil, there is a growing movement to improve local participation in the creation of art, music and other forms of cultural works. Ramos said four record companies have 85 percent of the Brazilian market, yet the music they produce is "not representative at all of how rich our culture is".
Similarly, 93 percent of the movies that show in Brazilian cinemas - which are predominantly owned by the giant movie studios - are made in Hollywood. "These things make us wonder how Brazilian culture will be handed from one generation to another," Ramos said.Lawrence Liang of Creative Commons India said people in the South also need to have access to infrastructure to be able to participate in the production of culture.
JOHANNESBURG-- The LINK Centre at Wits University in South Africa and the Centre for Technology and Society of Brazil have announced a collaborative project to boost production of local content in countries of the South.With funding from the Ford Foundation, the "Building the Southern dialogue on intellectual property, media and culture" project which begins in June 2005 will over the next year, engage several stakeholders in creating content relevant to the South.
Ronaldo Ramos, the director of the Centre for Technology and Society, said on Friday that they would work with Southern communities to raise awareness about the need to protect intellectual property but also to relax copyright laws with a view to encouraging the generation of content in the South.
"It is clear how intellectual property rights make us poor in terms of culture, so we will raise awareness about how to engage in creating culture," he said. "We shall have a website on media and culture, but we shall also be pro-active and work with various communities affected by intellectual property laws. We shall work with radio and television, but also show people how they can bypass traditional channels to express themselves," Ramos told HANA.
The partnership was announced on the closing day of the "Towards an African Digital Information Commons" conference at Wits University in Johannesburg. The LINK Centre organised the event to promote awareness bout alternative approaches to copyright and content-sharing. New digital technologies have made it possible for developing countries to encourage innovation and enhance education.The South African chapter of Creative Commons (ccSA) – the global movement that seeks to encourage easier access to and fair use of intellectual property - was launched at the conference.
The launch of the partnership between the South African and Brazilian institutions comes amidst growing concerns that stringent copyright laws are hindering the South from creating and using local content, by forcing them to rely on the fruit of intellectual property generated in rich countries.
Creative Commons supporters at the LINK Centre say the notion of copyright has always been particularly controversial in Africa as indigenous expressions of knowledge and culture have often been misappropriated. This was based on the argument that these cultures and knowledge were in the public domain and could not be protected because they were oral and unwritten, and were owned by the community rather than a legally-recognised entity.
In Brazil, there is a growing movement to improve local participation in the creation of art, music and other forms of cultural works. Ramos said four record companies have 85 percent of the Brazilian market, yet the music they produce is "not representative at all of how rich our culture is".
Similarly, 93 percent of the movies that show in Brazilian cinemas - which are predominantly owned by the giant movie studios - are made in Hollywood. "These things make us wonder how Brazilian culture will be handed from one generation to another," Ramos said.Lawrence Liang of Creative Commons India said people in the South also need to have access to infrastructure to be able to participate in the production of culture.
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