Copyleft - enclosing

the commons

LIASA-FAIFE Workshop Bloemfontein

29 September 2009

Eve Gray

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The aim - African knowledge, for

Africa, from Africa, widely accessible...

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... but this is not the case

now...

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Texthttp://www.worldmapper.org © Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

http://www.worldmapper.org © Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

Books Books publishedpublished

Unequal global knowledge relations•Africa produces around 3% of

books published, but consumes around 12%.

•Africa produced 0.4% of online content in 2002 – if South Africa is excluded, 0.02%.

•Does this really mean that African research has nothing to say?

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Science Research - articles Science Research - articles publishedpublishedhttp://www.worldmapper.org

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

... What we do have a lot of is

poverty

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http://www.worldmapper.org © Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

Human povertyHuman poverty

Why are we not more effective in getting African

knowledge to work for our own needs?

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The context The context is a scarcity is a scarcity model...print model...print

books...books...

In the wake of the growth of the

knowledge economy, post

WWII...

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Commercialisation of publishing....

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... and massive media

consolidation

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... leading to profit-seeking companies as

big as some countries... The Top 200

corporations' combined sales are

bigger than the combined economies of all countries minus

the biggest 10.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/59/corporate-power-facts-and-stats

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...seeking ever-...seeking ever-stronger IP to stronger IP to ensure their ensure their control over control over content for content for

maximum profits..maximum profits...

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Developing Developing countries countries

pushed to the pushed to the margins...margins...

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“Over the last few decades, some things have not changed. There’s been no significant break in relations of knowledge production between the colonial and post-colonial eras. African universities are essentially consumers of knowledge produced in developed countries.”“Over the last few decades, some things have not changed. There’s been no significant break in relations of knowledge production between the colonial and post-colonial eras. African universities are essentially consumers of knowledge produced in developed countries.”Blade Nzimande, UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education 2009

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Can Creative

Commons licences

help?

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•Builds on collaboration and a tradition of collegiality Depends upon sharing rather than proprietorship, access rather than protection Efficiencies and economies of collaborative development Networked rather than hierarchical structures

•Networked rather than hierarchical structures

The ethos of OA

Advantages of Open Access•Substantial increase in reach and

impact, particularly for developing country publications

•Openness decreases the risk of duplication, removal of competition makes science less wasteful

•Science made faster, speeds up the solution of urgent development needs

•Wider reach of research, better returns for research investment

•Better monitoring, assessment and management of research

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This approach has proved very effective in

profiling HSRC research

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Eve Gray Centre for Educational

TechnologyUniversity of Cape Town

http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/gray-area

Eve Gray Centre for Educational

TechnologyUniversity of Cape Town

http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/gray-area