The Political Economy of Social Remembering

"... the transformation from tangible or analog preservation to digitized cultural retrieval tends to result in partial and gradual privatization of society's memory institutions. Among other factors, copyright law functions as a focal element that stimulates and supports dynamics of privatization. It does so by making both the inputs and the outputs of networked memory institutions tradable goods--commodities. Copyright law is also responsible for the dynamics of evolutions that may gradually change the cultural DNA of traditional memory institutions while making them more inclined to adopt proprietary practices. Privatization of memory institutions thus marks a shift from the centrality of the political and civic spheres in the construction of cultural/social memories to the centrality of markets in this context."
Guy Pessach, '[Networked] Memory Institutions: Social Remembering, Privatization and its Discontents', 2008, p.73

Licences

Public domain

"The public domain is a range of abstract materials—commonly referred to as intellectual property—which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore 'public property', and available for anyone to use for any purpose. The public domain can be defined in contrast to several forms of intellectual property; the public domain in contrast to copyrighted works is different from the public domain in contrast to trademarks or patented works."

Creative Commons licenses


Copyleft
For example, the GNU Free Documentation License:

"The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document 'free' in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. This License is a kind of 'copyleft', which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software."

FairShare

Free content

The Open Publication License (non-copyleft, replacing the older copyleft Open Content License)

Science Commons

Digital Rights Management

"wealth is no longer reckoned in terms of physical assets alone. In fact, in the knowledge economy that characterises the twenty-first century, intellectual property, or the product of the mind, have become more important than physical wealth in the form of buildings and other physical assets."
Isaac N. Mazonde, Introduction to Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Intellectual Property in the Twenty-First Century: Perspectives from Southern Africa. CODESRIA, 2007, p.1

"Culture is an integral part of development efforts on the continent. Consequently, it is essential to protect and effectively utilise indigenous knowledge that represents a major dimension of the continent‘s culture, and to share this knowledge for the benefit of humankind. The New Partnership for Africa‘s Development will give special attention to the protection and nurturing of indigenous knowledge, which includes tradition-based literacy, artistic and scientific works, inventions, scientific discoveries, designs, marks, names and symbols, undisclosed information and all other tradition-based innovations and creations resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields. The term also includes genetic resources and associated knowledge.
The leadership of the New Partnership for Africa‘s Development will take urgent steps to ensure that indigenous knowledge in Africa is protected through appropriate legislation. They will also promote its protection at the international level, by working closely with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)."
The NEPAD Framework document, 2005

XrML

Readings & resources

Copyright Licences (Wikipedia category)

eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML)
» http://www.xrml.org

Lessig, L. (2005). Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN: 0143034650 [Amazon]

Pessach, G. (2008). '[Networked] Memory Institutions: Social Remembering, Privatization and its Discontents', Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Volume 26, Number 1. Pp.71-149. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1085267 [Accessed April 27, 2008].