Tena koutou
Last night went well, considering that that no publicity was done
beyond sending out an invitation to the email lists of local groups
like DSpace (our Maker Space), the Dunedin Linux Users Groups,
CodeCrafters, and the Copyright Community of Practice, as well as a
few countrywide discussion fora such as CC-NZ, and NZOSS OpenChat.
Due to technical difficulties, we were only able to watch the trailer
of 'Free the Network', but that turned out to be for the best, as the
1 hour duration of 'Us Now' proved overlong for some attendees. Most
of those present seemed far more interested in the opportunity for
'realtime chat', and engaged ethusiastically in informal conversation
before the film, and in the group discussion afterwards. It seems
there is substantial support for creating space on campus to explore
the common threads running through various "free" and "open" social
innovations, which is encouraging.
About half of those who attended were staff, and of those students who
attended most were post-grads, so in relation to our stated goal of
creating an OUSA-affiliated 'Students for Free Culture Otago' group,
it was a mixed success. It may also be that we need to take a
different approach to attract more students, perhaps screening
something more provocative like 'Steal this Film' or 'Rip: A Remix
Manifesto' and doing more publicity (posters etc), or promote an event
where we give away free music, films etc (of CC licensed works of
course ;) It may also be that 'Free Culture Otago' is a more
appropriate moniker, and that we could pursue a hybrid organisation
potentially affiliated to both OUSA/OPSA and the uni and poly staff
unions. Either way, it occurs to me that monthly 'Copynight' style
gatherings at a friendly cafe/bar could be an opportunity for ongoing
realtime chat around the challenges and opportunities of online
collaboration and social media, from which more organisational ideas
could emerge:
http://copynight.org/
I try to avoid sending a lot of tofu through email lists, but I will
continue to send one-off event invitation to local email lists, if
that's ok.If you weren't able to make it last night, but you would
like to be informed of further events around these themes, please
contact me and I will add you to the contact list collected last
night.
Stry...@disintermedia.net.nz
021 11 77 578
One upcoming event mentioned during last night's discussion was the
NetHui South, currently being organised by InternetNZ for late
November of this year, here in Otepoti:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!forum/nethui-south-plan...
Another upcoming date for which there could be a local event is the
10th birthday of CreativeCommons in December. If you have any ideas
for this, or even better would like to get involved, please get in
touch.
He mihi nui
--
Danyl Strype
Community Developer
Disintermedia.net.nz/strype
"Geeks are those who partake in our culture."
- .ISOcrates
"Uncomfortable alliances are not just necessary; they reflect and
speak to the tremendous possibility of our political moment."
- Harmony Goldberg and Joshua Kahn Russell
http://www.nationofchange.org/new-radical-alliances-new-era-1337004193
"Both Marxists and Chicago-school libertarian economists can agree
that free software is the best model."
- Keith C Curtis
http://keithcu.com/wordpress/?page_id=407
