apc.au blog

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is conducting an “End of Term Evaluation” covering the period 2004-2008 so they are asking all members to provide a story about the most significant change the APC has produced during that period. As members of APC, we were invited to include our perspective on the most significant achievement of that period.

Where to begin? During this time, staff & members of APC have been key drivers in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the establishment of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the globalisation of ICANN. To me, this was pretty big stuff as I’m a big believer in the Internet being a global enterprise with equal input required from “we the people” as well as corporate & governmental groups.

Of course, there was much more than that to consider. Over the four year period in question APC has also been achieving great results connecting people in the “Global South” to online information that helps them improve their lives. There has been great work on Gender Issues (including the Gender Evaluation Methodology and GenderIT.org) and the ItrainOnline initiative.

With so much work being done by APC and its members in so many areas, which one thing would we select as being the most significant to us? Well, we actually chose two as they were both fundamental to the work we do.

Here is our submission to APC regarding what we believe was their most significant achievement for 2004 to 2008:

From apc.au’s perspective, perhaps the most significant aspect of APC’s work from 2004 to 2008 has been the publication of resource materials, produced largely in collaboration with contracted members and associates, that members can employ in their own work.

Of specific interest to apc.au has been the development of the APC Internet Rights Charter. Since our beginning in 1997, we have worked towards the goals of equality, freedom and empowerment in the online world. The fundamental concepts expressed in the Internet Rights Charter are a framework that neatly encapsulates the foundations of our work.

Access to knowledge and sharing what we learn are key aspects of the projects we take on and the content we produce. We are frequently recognised as leading the way in the promotion and application of open and flexible content licenses (eg: Creative Commons) and free and open source software. We work within our sector to leverage ICTs to empower people online. All of this is driven by our adherence to the concepts so succinctly captured in the Internet Rights Charter.

The APC Internet Rights Charter, particularly relevant to APC’s strategic planning outcomes for 2004-2008, provides us with a tangible product that expresses our core, fundamental beliefs, our organisational DNA. This allows external groups to understand our motivations and provides us with a measure we can assess our activities against.

In addition to the Internet Rights charter, APC’s engagement with international ICT Policy processes during 2004-2008 has supported our own efforts in Australia, particularly in fostering a broader participation in the early WSIS. Additionally, materials produced through WSIS, such as the ICT Policy Handbook, have greatly assisted in the ease in which complex issues are translated.

The Handbook formed the basis of the “Your Rights Online Forum” events we ran in association with the Arts Law Consortium. These forums gathered representatives from the Australian Creative Commons Clinic, the Australian Performing Right Association, media groups and a number of artists themselves for discussions and debate about what rights artists actually have in an increasingly digital world.

These activities, and the promotion of participation in ICT policy processes was in part a trigger for the co-founding of Open Spectrum Australia with independent and community media representatives.

One recommendation apc.au would like to make, given it’s knowledge of APC’s strategic priorities during the ETA period, from both the perspective of a long-time member and our participation on its Board of Directors, is ensured capacity within APC programs to work consultatively with individual members on their own initiatives. This may not be the case with many members from developing countries, who often enjoy greater participation with APC programs, and so they should, but it ought be far more widespread without taxing the resources of management and staff.

It has been, and continues to be a rewarding expression of solidarity within the APC, both in our relationships with other members and the long-standing engagements with APC’s steady growth, reach and influence.

Grant McHerron & Andrew Garton
Directors, apc.au

Many of you may have seen reports that the Australian government wants to establish an Internet filter system to protect Australians from harmful sites. Akin to the Great Firewall of China, this system introduces moral and legal issues as well as slowing down the Internet within Australia, breaking existing systems and simply not working as intended. It will also bring Australia down to the level of China, Iran, Cuba and other regimes that fear the openness and freedoms of information the Internet can bring.

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, is pushing hard to establish this latest step in protecting us from terrorists and the dangers of the Internet. Many comments are being aired related to protecting the children and that anyone who is against such a filter is supporting child pornography. In a chilling indication of the misuse a filtering system could lead to, Senator Conroy’s department has even tried to suppress technical reports critical of the plan.

This proposed system is flawed on three major levels:

• Technical: It slows down the feed, it breaks some applications and it is possible to bypass it
• Legal: If the ISPs are filtering content without laws to support them, they are open to wrongful disconnection and/or wrongful blocking cases
• Ethical: By what standard is content being filtered? Differing religious beliefs and political leanings frequently result in varying moral codes – that which is offensive to me may be perfectly acceptable for you

apc.au believes that this proposed system is an invalid solution to the problem areas of the Internet. Australia should be enhancing existing methods of tracking down illegal content and online criminals rather than trying to find ways to block them. Australia should also be implementing improved education programmes to teach people how to safely make the best use of the freedoms and information the Internet provides rather than attempting to further protect us from ourselves.

We recommend that anyone concerned about the implications of an Australian Internet filtering system should immediately take action about it. In addition to following the issue on the Electronic Frontiers Australia site, an excellent site about the filter is No Clean Feed where they have a great summary of the steps you can take to voice your concerns. Actions range from an online petition to writing a letter to your representatives and calling Senator Conroy. There is also the Australian Web Industry Association’s site called Keep Your Filter Off Our Internet. For further reference to what’s happening in our government, the Open Australia site is a wonderful source of information about your representatives and how to contact them.

If you are concerned about any erosion of the freedoms that the Internet can provide, act now. Don’t just sit around complaining about it or getting upset, tell your representatives what you think.

Unaware I was being video-taped, I was amused to find my talk at the DIY Video track at iSummit up on YouTube… this piece includes other presentations which were all quite amazing in fact!

Asking the question, what is the commons? A random selection of iSummit 2008 participants, Sapporo, Japan. Two short samplers from the forth-coming micro-doc, Nailing The Commons.

Identifying the Information Commons #01 from andrew garton on Vimeo.

Nailing the Commons #02 from andrew garton on Vimeo.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia licence.

That I would blog, or prepare a report at this time, when there are several people dedicated to recording the iSummit is likely an exhausting prospect. Thus, this article, a sampling of articles and reports on the sessions I’d been involved with. Three for now… let’s see how many more turn up before the close of the summit.

Fair and legal reuse of video

Composed by Simon Dingle covering the DIY video session, 31 July, this was a kind of roundtable sharing experiences in the use of CC rights management in various film / screen initiatives.

Grokking the Asia Commons

Simon covers the Asia Commons session, 30 July, that resulted in the following:

• developing case models/studies on the commons
• building a distribution network for asia (e.g. for multimedia contents)
• how to share presentations
• sharing strategies on advocacy

Live Blog: Asia Commons Meeting

I’ve arrived in Sapporo with Sarawak still heavy on my mind. Feeling good though… and optimistic despite the challenges ahead.

I’m here to produce the joint iCommons and APC micro doc, Identifying The Commons. Here’s a brief description:

The notion of what constitutes the commons has broad interpretations. So to does the information commons. This video will enquire into what is considered an information/knowledge commons through a series of short interviews conducted at the 2008 iSummit in Sapporo Japan.

The end result is a video resource for the iCommons and APC, additionally supporting the APC Strategic Priority Scoping paper, Growing the Global Information Commons.

For more information on this project, refer to our uber wiki!

At the 2007 APC Council Meeting Frédéric Dubois (APC Communications Team) and I shot a random selection of Council Members (those who we could find in between meetings) to provide us with a 30 second snapshop of what APC meant to them.

Here’s a rough cut that’s yet to be further trimmed, titled, etc.

Talking APC [Draft] from andrew garton on Vimeo.

From 1988, a small community of computer engineers, software developers, writers, poets, unionists and community workers fanned out across South Asia, South East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe with modems in their back-packs and dial-up software in their pockets. It was perhaps the single most intensive effort to get people online since the establishment of ARPANET, and certainly prior to the broad scale uptake of the World Wide Web.

Read more…

I’m making plans for Kenya now that I have a line of contact through to the UNHCR in Geneva and their officers in Nairobi. It will be interesting to see how much of the trip from here on in can be organised remotely, particularly flights. Given my replacement credit card will only work at point of sale, not via the net nor phone, I’m having to rely entirely on our travel agent to make all my bookings.

Here’s the proposed travel schedule that should see me leaving Cape Town on the morning of Monday, 10 March.

• 10 Mar: Cape Town to J’burg, late morning.
• 11 Mar: J’burg to Nairobi
• 13 Mar: Nairobi to Lokichoggio, Kenya (leaves from Wilson Airport, Nairobi)
• 16 Mar: Lokichoggio to Nairobi
• 16 Mar: Nairobi to J’burg

I’m working on the basis that I wouldn’t need to spend more than 2 -3 days in Kakuma covering traveling time and other unforeseen logistics.

I hope to travel with Peter Mabouch, a young Sudanese refugee who had been in the Kakuma Refugee Camp since 1992. He’s been briefed by Archangelo N. Madut, or Nyuol as we’ve got to know him, a counselor/advocate based at Foundation House. Peter is keen play the role of identifying participants to the project in the camp, or alternatively, recruit others in Nairobi should we find too many limitations hindering involvement of participants in Kakuma.

At the outset of this research project for Home Lands we’d planned to look at the Thailand end of the project. With the problems in Kenya and subsequent uncertainties, it seemed unfeasible. However, being as I was in South Africa, if there were to be any possibility that I could get there, and if my colleagues back in Melbourne approved, I’d head in.

It was during the Home Lands presentation I’d made at the APC Eboard, staff and management meeting in Ithala, South Africa, that the first step to Kakuma had been taken. Not only were APC people enthusiastic about the possibility of having me there, Karen Banks and Anriette Esterhuysen were confident that our contacts through to UNHCR in Geneva would help to pin point the right people to get the necessary protocols for my visit seen to.

They were right! Karen asked me to prepare a briefing paper and after it had been sent, it was only a matter of days before we had a contact in Geneva who subsequently put me directly in touch with his colleagues in Nairobi, asking them to assist in making the necessary arrangements for my visit to Kakuma. The first thing I had to do was just get to Nairobi to ensure their support for the Home Lands project, my research trip and the logistics required to get me in and out of there.

I’ve also been in touch with James Nguo, Regional Director of the Arid Lands Information Network-Eastern Africa (ALIN) and Tony Roberts from Computer Aid, a frequent visitor to Nairobi. Given that ALIN are APC members, working with James has been entirely necessary as he’s provided views to the political situation in Kenya that are not widely known, at least not in my circles. Tony has joined the Home Lands team as part of the growing reference committee and will be an invaluable resource as I take my first steps on Kenyan soil.