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Build it! How to democratize AI by creating AI training commons and new alliances

Build it! How to democratize AI by creating AI training commons and new alliances

So I have been involved in an AI project since a while professionally (see https://toolkit-digitalisierung.de/en/fair-forward/). Also, this website is all about how to understand and how to foster knowledge commons and open knowledge peer production for human development. Therefore, I would like to present you here some thoughts on how we might be able to […]

How to build Open Source Software Systems in Development Cooperation Projects

How to build Open Source Software Systems in Development Cooperation Projects

So you would like to build a software system for a project of development cooperation and you consider using “Free and open source software (FOSS)”? Good choice, as going open source will offer you a highly sustainable and cost-effective way of developing these systems. See also my think-piece on the “why development cooperation should use […]

More repositories for commons-based peer production! – compendium updated

More repositories for commons-based peer production! – compendium updated

I just updated the “Compendium of hubs for commons-based peer production 4Dev”, which is hosted on this site. By adding the “Low-tech Lab”, I now count fourteen hubs and repositories. If you are aware of any other hub, please let me know. Check out the compendium here.

Emerging Schools of Thought on Commons-Based Peer Production – New Article Out

Emerging Schools of Thought on Commons-Based Peer Production – New Article Out

Researcher Evangelos Papadimitropoulos just published a cool article that sums up and puts into perspective some of the emerging schools of thought on commons-based peer production (cbpp). Fresh hot off the (virtual) press, it also presents a pretty comprehensive and up-to-date list of references. I recommend the article to everyone interested in getting beyond the basics […]

How can digital, open manufacturing help to cover basic needs in crisis situations?

How can digital, open manufacturing help to cover basic needs in crisis situations?

I report here about one of my favorite sessions at re:publica 2018, which was on „Crisis response makerspaces“. I finally had the opportunity to meet Susan Long, innovation adviser at Field Ready in Syria and Bahar Kumar, strategic adviser at Nepal Communitere. Both stressed the need to „be locally grounded“ and to build strong communities […]

What is Open Manufacturing?

What is Open Manufacturing?

What is “open manufacturing”? When I tried to look up the term in Wikipedia some months ago, I was surprised to find no entry on “open manufacturing”.  Nice opportunity to learn more about the term by writing the first stub with a group of people discussing the issue of “open manufacturing”… Now its your turn: […]

Why Africa needs a local 3D printing industry and an ‘appropriate tech maker movement’ – Interview with Roy Mwangi Ombatti  at re:publica 2015

Why Africa needs a local 3D printing industry and an ‘appropriate tech maker movement’ – Interview with Roy Mwangi Ombatti at re:publica 2015

Roy Mwangi Ombatti  started to tinker with 3D-printing in Nairobi, Kenya more than three years ago. He co-founded and led the Nairobi FabLab Robotics Outreach Program, he produces 3D printers from waste materials, became a Stanford Fablearn Fellow 2014 and he developed a successful low-cost solution to a pressing health problem (his project ‘Happy Feet’ […]

How to make money the open-source-way, but keep the commons alive? – Question 7 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

How to make money the open-source-way, but keep the commons alive? – Question 7 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

Open innovation – often based on open licensing and commons-approaches – is changing the business models of more and more businesses and social institutions. Before the advent of open innovation, innovation was kept within the boundaries of the firm (or research institution). In contrast, “Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and […]

Where to find free knowledge for open innovation in development? – Question 6 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

Where to find free knowledge for open innovation in development? – Question 6 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

In previous blog entries, I talked a lot about commons-based peer production and learning in areas crucial to development cooperation such as Energy, Health, Education etc. A key question then is where to find such “free knowledge” for open innovation and for peer-production in the different sectors of human development? I have collected an annotated compendium […]

Peer-producing knowledge: a game-changer for development cooperation? – Question 5 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

Peer-producing knowledge: a game-changer for development cooperation? – Question 5 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

Some critics argue that commons-based peer production and learning only apply in the digital, non-real world (“building websites”, “building online training material”). The concept, they say, is therefore less of interest to international and development cooperation, which focuses on non-digital environments and “hard” topics such as health, energy or agriculture. Jaime from Bolivia and John […]

What makes learning communities self-governed & fun? – Question 4 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

What makes learning communities self-governed & fun? – Question 4 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

Frank Tilugulilwa is an IT trainer in Tanzania. He teaches local IT companies how to build services and revenues around so-called “Free and Open Source Software”. Such software can be copied and modified by every company and every individual client. Frank has written a training manual with over 80 other IT trainers and experts throughout […]

How to build learning communities, that work peer-to-peer? – Question 3 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

How to build learning communities, that work peer-to-peer? – Question 3 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

In the field of online sharing and learning, the “Massive Open Online Course” (“MOOC”) has received a lot of attention. Many are enthusiastic about what elite universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Harvard are piloting. The two schools have offered joint online courses that have attracted well over 100,000 […]

What makes people share knowledge? – Question 2 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

What makes people share knowledge? – Question 2 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

Why do peers help peers to share and co-produce knowledge? Research suggests that there is a whole set of motivations that makes people share their knowledge, a mixture between altruistic and self-serving motives summed up in the following table: 14 Reasons Why Peers Help Peers to Learn: Why Do They Share Their Knowledge? (Table 1) […]

What is commons-based peer learning? – Question 1 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

What is commons-based peer learning? – Question 1 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’

The Internet and with it the rise of social networks have enabled a radically innovative way of producing knowledge-related goods. Software can now be jointly written by thousands of developers as the operating system ‘Linux’ shows. The encyclopedia Wikipedia is updated by roughly 1.7 million contributors worldwide. Law professor Yochai Benkler has coined the term […]

Let’s talk about “Learning by Sharing”

Let’s talk about “Learning by Sharing”

Today, I invite you to join the conversation on an article, which I just published on the issue of “Learning by sharing – how global communities cultivate skills and capacity through peer-production of knowledge“. I posit in this paper, that commons-based peer learning offers a trigger to enhance skills, competencies, connections, capacities, and the agency […]

Scientific books gone wild –new methods for co-producing books & science knowledge

Scientific books gone wild –new methods for co-producing books & science knowledge

Good news from re:publica 2014: Some scientists are moving from the “open access” paradigm (and battle) to the real paradigm shift (and real battle?):They now talk about “Books gone wild – how we write scientific books in an open, collaborative and continuous way”. In other words: they are moving from open access to open knowledge […]

Dirk Messner asks: How Can We Learn to Cooperate in a World of Nine Billion People?

Dirk Messner asks: How Can We Learn to Cooperate in a World of Nine Billion People?

  Last week, I took part in a webinar with Dirk Messner on “the enabling mechanisms of cooperation”. The lecture was part of the massive open online course “Leadership for Global Responsibility” of GIZ. My takeaway has the form of a hexagon, more precisely the “cooperation hexagon” (see picture).Messner (with co-researchers Guarin and Haun) managed […]

Knowledge sharing in the informal economy in Africa & the knowledge commons – who „owns“ knowledge? (part I)

Knowledge sharing in the informal economy in Africa & the knowledge commons – who „owns“ knowledge? (part I)

Here, I want to talk about one of the many interesting themes of the compendium „Innovation & Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa“, which was just released (see also this blog post): Knowledge sharing in the informal economy in Africa and the knowledge commons. [Both links above link to content within the Alumniportal Germany (register […]

Knowledge sharing & community-based innovation models in Africa: Which knowledge governance in the future? (part II)

Knowledge sharing & community-based innovation models in Africa: Which knowledge governance in the future? (part II)

In part II of this blog series, I will link the current reality of knowledge sharing in Africa with appropriate knowledge governance systems for the future. For the future, the Open African Innovation Research and Training network has worked on Three Scenarios for the Future of Knowledge & Innovation in Africa.The current reality is described […]

Just out: Practical knowledge on “Open African Innovation” and stunning examples of the knowledge commons in Africa

Just out: Practical knowledge on “Open African Innovation” and stunning examples of the knowledge commons in Africa

Great start of the long-awaited conference of the Open African Innovation Research and Training Network: We just launched two really interesting compendia on “Open African Innovation” packed with practical examples of the knowledge commons in Africa – and with a tool that allows policy advisors to discuss the future of knowledge governance in Africa in […]

New US bill wants to boost a knowledge commons for (English) college textbooks

New US bill wants to boost a knowledge commons for (English) college textbooks

Like it: Two US senators today introduced the Affordable College Textbook Act, which directs the Secretary of Education to fund the creation of college textbooks and materials to be made available under open licenses. I can only fully agree with the assessment by Creative Commons U.S.A. Director Michael Carrol: “This bill seizes the opportunity to […]

(How) can institutions deal with community-driven innovation? – EFF’ Carolina Rossini at the „Second global congress in Intellectual Property and the Public Interest“

(How) can institutions deal with community-driven innovation? – EFF’ Carolina Rossini at the „Second global congress in Intellectual Property and the Public Interest“

The „second global congress in Intellectual Property and the Public Interest“ that I am attending right now, is full of interesting talks and takes on the „public interest“ side of copyright and development (for more see the extensive twitter coverage at #gcongress). But a highlight was certainly yesterday’s „session on IP, Innovation and Development“.

ict@innovation featured in UNCTAD’s new Information Economy Report – Africa Launch with FOSSFA

ict@innovation featured in UNCTAD’s new Information Economy Report – Africa Launch with FOSSFA

Great news: Yesterday, UNCTAD launched its latest Information Economy Report. Free and Open Source Software is discussed extensively in this years’ edition, which has a focus on “The Software Industry and Developing Countries”. Also great news: the FOSSFA/GIZ capacity building programme ict@innovation is featured prominently, both in the report and at its Africa launch, which […]

Made in my backyard – by and for the world. third day of re:publica is starting

Made in my backyard – by and for the world. third day of re:publica is starting

  Bas van Abel, head of the design lab at waag society, Netherlands had a great session where he spoke about empowering people and fixing our economy by moving to open peer-to-peer production communities. He gave examples of concrete work with miners in Congo, and prosthesis-makers in Indonesia. Bas starts with a quote from Oscar […]

India, the (knowledge) commons and a plan for the future of democracy

India, the (knowledge) commons and a plan for the future of democracy

It is rare these days to see high-level government thinkers talk about the commons. Here is one: Arun Maira of Indias Planning Commission makes the point that commons-based models are important tools to plan for the future of democracy worldwide. Here is the summary: “The world is full of complex problems, but humanity’s main organizational […]

ict@innovation programme moves to West Africa: Balthas Seibold opens training in Abuja, Nigeria

ict@innovation programme moves to West Africa: Balthas Seibold opens training in Abuja, Nigeria

“Free your IT Business in WEST Africa!” This was the motto of the first Training-of-Trainers of ict@innovation held in the West African region. Balthas Seibold and his colleagues Petra Hagemann & George Nyambuya officially welcomed more than 26 FOSS experts from Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal, who engaged in 10 intense days of peer-discussions […]

Open Educational Resources and Open Licensing for Capacity Building

Open Educational Resources and Open Licensing for Capacity Building

In a recent presentation for GIZ e-learning staff, Balthas Seibold gave an introduction to “Open Approaches to educational provision”, stressing the potential of Open Educational Resources and Open Licensing for Capacity Building. The presentation gives an overview of the changing educational landscape, introduces Open Education and Open Educational Services in practice (openSE, openEd 2.0 (UNU-Merit), […]

Just published: “Unleashing Open Innovation Systems”

Just published: “Unleashing Open Innovation Systems”

The working group on ‘Promoting Innovation Systems’ of Germany’s development cooperation just published a documentation on “Strengthening Innovation Systems in the Context of Development Cooperation”. An article by Balthas Seibold gives an overview of the potential of open innovation for developing countries. Taking the capacity building programme commons@ip as an example, the paper enumerates important […]

Regional Alumni Conference in Southeast Asia discusses Open Source for Healthcare, other topics

Regional Alumni Conference in Southeast Asia discusses Open Source for Healthcare, other topics

So this is me at InWEnt’s first regional Alumni Conference for Southeast Asia in Hanoi, Vietnam. At the conference, I was acting as a moderator of a Workshop on “open source for healthcare” (Link now to latest version of page on the Internet Archive. Here’s a gist of the workshop as summarized back then: Free […]

Silang – the Philippines: Asia Source 3 Meeting Reinforces Asian Free and Open Source Software Movement

Silang – the Philippines: Asia Source 3 Meeting Reinforces Asian Free and Open Source Software Movement

While most technology conferences happen as swanky, slick, and well-rehearsed events, the recently concluded Asia Source 3 took the opposite track and ran a camp that was spartan yet spontaneous. From November 7 to 12, 2009, Asia Source 3 gathered 150 representatives from Southeast Asia to discuss developments in open source. For those six days, […]

Drive for change! Balthas Seibold opens FOSS Bridge EU-Vietnam conferences in Hanoi

Drive for change! Balthas Seibold opens FOSS Bridge EU-Vietnam conferences in Hanoi

More than 80 IT experts gathered on 14 November 2008 at “Drive for change”, a conference on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) held at Horison Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam. Carried out as part of the FOSS-Bridge EU-Vietnam initiative, the event was organized by InWEnt of Germany, INRIA of France, and the Institute of Information […]

Empowering Co-operatives in Southeast Asia through Information Technology

Empowering Co-operatives in Southeast Asia through Information Technology

Staff of co-operatives from Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines who were trained as Information Technology (IT) Specialists by the “Information Technology for Southeast Asian Co-operatives (it@coops) Project” gathered together for the “Regional Forum on it@coops: Empowering Co-operatives through Information Technology” held November 19-21, 2007, Antipolo City, Philippines. The Project is implemented from 2004-2007 in co-ops affiliated […]

Over 40 IT-companies cross FOSS Bridge between Europe and Vietnam

Over 40 IT-companies cross FOSS Bridge between Europe and Vietnam

Hanoi: A total of 42 agreements of cooperation were reached between Vietnamese and European business partners at the end of the first matchmaking event of the project “FOSS Bridge EU-Vietnam” for small and medium-sized IT enterprises in Hanoi, Vietnam. Satisfied by the success of the very first twinning event in the field of open source, […]

Indonesian Minister supports training camp of BMZ/InWEnt/UNDP

Indonesian Minister supports training camp of BMZ/InWEnt/UNDP

Over 140 IT professionals of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from more than 27 countries gathered at Sukabumi, Indonesia for a nine-day Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) conference and training camp called “ASIA SOURCE II” from 22 to 30 January 2007. The Indonesian Minister for Research and Technology, Mr. Kusmayanto Kadiman showed […]

COSGov Vietnam – Building cooperation via open-source for eGovernance

COSGov Vietnam – Building cooperation via open-source for eGovernance

Open source software can boost economy, battle pirated software in Vietnam, concludes International Conference COSGov.The event was organized by InWEnt’s ICT team and opened by Balthas Seibold on 28 September 2005. More than 300 IT-Experts, governmental representatives and entrepreneurs had gathered in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi from 28-30 September 2005 for “COSGov Vietnam – Building cooperation […]

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    Call for Applications: Tactical Tech’s Info Activism Camp 2013, Deadline: Friday, April 19th

    Posted on April 17, 2013 in Freedom to innovate by Balthas

    I really recommend Tactical Tech’s Info Activism Camp for anyone who is in the business of evidence-based advocacy. More info below and on the website:

    Evidence is an activist’s most powerful asset. Used well, it can transform even the most difficult advocacy effort into an initiative that influences perceptions and actions around an important issue. Tactical Tech is organising the 2013 Info Activism Camp (camp2013.tacticaltech.org) to explore the ways in which digital technologies, data and visuals can be used to collect and present evidence to influence debates. Applications are open until 19th April! We’re seeking curious and creative individuals working with information to investigate, expose, monitor, challenge, and mobilise support around human rights issues. Join us for a week of discussion, debate and skill-share. Participants will have the opportunity to meet and build connections with people working across the world, in different practices, and build their knowledge and skills in evidence-based advocacy. The camp will run from 23-30 June at Centro d’Ompio, a beautiful retreat centre in Northern Italy (read more: https://camp2013.tacticaltech.org/location). Places are limited. We only have 80 spots and plenty of interest! So please do share this with suitable candidates. Full and partial grants are available for travel and stay, upon application. The application deadline for those who needed to apply for visas to come to Italy has closed. But it’s still open for those who do not need to apply for a visa. The new deadline is 19th April (24:00 CET). More application information and forms: https://camp2013.tacticaltech.org/content/important-information

    Link: camp2013.tacticaltech.org

    Posted in Freedom to innovate Tagged activist, advocacy, evidence-based advocacy, info activism, info activism camp, NGO, source camp, Tactical Tech, TTC, visual Leave a comment

    The School of open just opened: Learn open practices, discuss Open Educational Resources, Open Access and more

    Posted on March 18, 2013 in Freedom to learn by Balthas

    News on an open course on openness by our friends from p2pu. Reproduced below:

    Why “open”? Universal access to and participation in research, education, and culture is made possible by openness, but not enough people know what it means or how to take advantage of it. We hear about Open Source Software, Open Educational Resources, and Open Access… But what are these movements, who are their communities, and how do they work? Most importantly—how can they help me? A collaboration with the public. Courses are powered by mentors and learners like you. Whether you are an individual volunteer or organizational representative, we invite you to create or improve a course! The School of Open is coordinated by P2PU and Creative Commons, a globally focused nonprofit dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright. Learning about “open”. The School of Open offers courses on the meaning, application, and impact of “openness” in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, research, and beyond. We offer two types of courses: •Stand-alone courses that can be worked through at your own pace at any time, with or without others •Facilitated courses that run for a set period of weeks with an organizer that provides feedback and facilitates discussion Get involved. •Sign up for announcements. We just launched our first set of courses. Sign up to be notified of future launches. •Join the discussion. Help us build the School! Conceive, create, and test courses with your peers. •Learn more. Give feedback on core documents, attend an upcoming workshop, participate in our monthly working calls, and more.

    ——————————————————————————–

    Facilitated courses Sign up for these facilitated courses through Sunday, March 17. These courses will start the week of March 18. To sign up, simply click the “Start Course” button under the course’s menu navigation on the left. 1.Copyright 4 Educators (US) 2.Copyright 4 Educators (AUS) 3.Creative Commons for K-12 Educators 4.Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond

    Link to news on p2pu.org

    Posted in Freedom to learn Tagged collaboration, copyright, creative commons, intellectual property, OER, open access, Open Educational Resources, openness, P2PU, school of open, wikipedia Leave a comment

    Interesting OpEd by ICT association: ‘Should Industry Support LDCs’ Request For Unlimited Time To Implement The TRIPS Agreement? Absolutely

    Posted on March 4, 2013 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn, Open Source & Africa, Open Source IT business by Balthas

    Just found a good Opinion Editorial on ‘Intellectual Property Watch’ on the question, whether LDCs should have Unlimited Time To Implement The TRIPS Agreement: The ‘Computer and Communication Industry Association (CCIA)’ thinks so and has endorsed a bid by the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) to remove any specific deadline for full compliance with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. Read more in the opEd.

    Link to OpEd on http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/03/04/should-industry-support-ldcs-request-for-unlimited-time-to-implement-the-trips-agreement-absolutely/

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn, Open Source & Africa, Open Source IT business Tagged CCIA, intellectual property, IPR, IPRs, LDC, openness, Trade, TRIPS Leave a comment

    Learning Creative Learning – interesting new open online course by peer-to-peer university and the MIT Media Lab

    Posted on February 4, 2013 in Freedom to learn by Balthas

    The Peer-to-peer university (p2pu) has worked with GIZ’s Academy for international Cooperation (AIZ, where I work) last year on “Selbstlernen”. Now p2pu and the MIT Media Lab are experimenting with a new course approach on “Learning Creative Learning“. It’s being organized as a massive open online course, meaning everyone is invited to join. The organizers have asked to “tell your friends about it”. Which is what I do with pleasure, copying below the course announcement by p2pu. Cheers, Balthas Seibold

    “Learning Creative Learning is an online course for designers, developers and educators. Offered by the MIT Media Lab & yours truly, the folks at P2PU. It’s based on a course Mitch Resnick teaches at the Media Lab. And now it’s online for the first-time through a collaboration with P2PU. That’s pretty cool. You learn a whole lot about learning. And because learning (and learning about learning) is more fun with other people we’ll group you with other students, so you can share ideas, give each other feedback, and make new friends. Each week we’ll focus on a particular topic related to creative learning, such as “Interest-Based Learning” or “Powerful Ideas” or “Tinkering.” We’ll host a panel discussion, inviting some of the world’s best thinkers and builders to join us in person or online. You’ll be able to suggest questions beforehand and follow along live (or watch it later). We’ll also design a hands-on activity for each week that you can tackle on your own or in a group (more fun!). You’ll get a chance to experiment with lots of different technologies and projects. More information: http://info.p2pu.org/2013/01/29/medialabcourses-launches/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=medialabcourses-launches

    Posted in Freedom to learn Tagged creative learning, learning, Media Lab, MIT, MOOC, MOOCs, Open Educational Resources, open learning, P2P, P2PU, peer-to-peer Leave a comment

    (How) can institutions deal with community-driven innovation? – EFF’ Carolina Rossini at the „Second global congress in Intellectual Property and the Public Interest“

    Posted on December 17, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn by Balthas
    Copyright of this picture: http://www.global-congress.org/?goback=.gna_4517509.gde_4517509_member_196540076

    Copyright of this picture: http://www.global-congress.org/?goback=.gna_4517509.gde_4517509_member_196540076

    The „second global congress in Intellectual Property and the Public Interest“ that I am attending right now, is full of interesting talks and takes on the „public interest“ side of copyright and development (for more see the extensive twitter coverage at #gcongress). But a highlight was certainly yesterday’s „session on IP, Innovation and Development“.

    Continue reading →

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn Tagged Africa, collective action, commons-based peer production, gcongress, innovation, innovation system, intellectual property, interoperability, IP, knowledge, knowledge governance, open innovation, open innovation systems, open knowledge models, openness, peer production, public interest, transfer of knowledge Leave a comment

    Alumniportal Deutschland just started ‘Creative dialogue on social networking’

    Posted on December 11, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn, Work by Balthas

    The Alumniportal Deutschland just started an interesting discussion on the history and culture of social networks.

    Link to the discussion on the www.alumniportal-deutschland.org (register or login first).

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn, Work Tagged culture, network, networks, peer-to-peer, social media, social networking Leave a comment

    Creative Commons is turning 10 – Celebrate!

    Posted on December 7, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn by Balthas

    cc_celebrationCreative Commons is turning 10 this year. The chapters of CC will be hosting parties around the world and sharing party favors online for a ten-day delebration, December 7 to 16. Spread the word at 10.creativecommons.org.

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn Tagged CC, commons, creative commons, intellectual property, knowledge commons, openness Leave a comment

    Africa’s First 3.0 Licenses! – Creative Commons

    Posted on December 3, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn by Balthas

    Cool news from the friends from Creative Commons and from the CC Uganda team, which I am happy to relate here (of course duly under the required Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License ):

    Aurelia J. Schultz from CC reports on November 30th, 2012: “We are pleased to announce the launch of the Creative Commons 3.0 Uganda licenses. Since joining the Creative Commons family in March of 2011, the Ugandan team has been incredibly busy: hosting the African Regional Meeting, pulling together petitions for the Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization, and spreading the news about CC licenses. While doing all these great activities, they’ve also completed one of the last 3.0 ports.

    The licenses are available through the license chooser, and like all of our licenses, are intended for use anywhere in the world. The Uganda 3.0 licenses are important as the first 3.0 licenses in Africa and one of the last 3.0 ports before the launch of the new 4.0 licenses.

    Creative Commons would like to extend a huge thanks to the whole CC Uganda team; The National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU); the Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD); and especially to Primah Kwagala for leading the porting team.”

    Link: creativecommons.org

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn Tagged Africa, CC, CC Uganda, creative commons, intellectual property, licence, NABOTU, Open Licensing, openness, porting, Uganda Leave a comment

    ict@innovation featured in UNCTAD’s new Information Economy Report – Africa Launch with FOSSFA

    Posted on November 29, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, News on publications, Open Source & Africa, Open Source IT business by Balthas

    informationeconomyreportcover2012Great news: Yesterday, UNCTAD launched its latest Information Economy Report. Free and Open Source Software is discussed extensively in this years’ edition, which has a focus on “The Software Industry and Developing Countries”. Also great news: the FOSSFA/GIZ capacity building programme ict@innovation is featured prominently, both in the report and at its Africa launch, which was held yesterday at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis, at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The embargo has been lifted on the document and I recommend its reading to all FOSS activists and businesses.

    Congrats to everyone, who has been steering those processes in the past year! Cheers, Balthas

    Excerpts of the report and its press release, which I liked (among others):

    Continue reading →

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, News on publications, Open Source & Africa, Open Source IT business Tagged Africa, developing countries, FOSS, FOSSFA, Free and Open Source Software, Free Software, GIZ, ict@innovation, information economy report, IT industry, Open source software, UNCTAD Leave a comment

    Two Wikipedians in Residence for Africa – call for application

    Posted on November 12, 2012 in Freedom to learn by Balthas

    WikiAfrica has put out a call for two Wikipedians in Residence (WiR) for the African Continent. The first will facilitate the WikiAfrica Cameroon Project at doual’art in Cameroon. The other will be based with WikiAfrica at the Africa Centre in Cape Town, and will concentrate on assisting, training and supporting the content partners that are part of WikiAfrica’s Share Your Knowledge project. Wikipedian in Residence is an experienced Wikipedian who works with organisations and activates communities in order to share and open up cultural, arts and heritage content to the world through Wikipedia and related Wikimedia projects.

    I find this a very interesting initiative and approach, and I believe that Wikipedians in Residence is a cool tool, which has already moved quite some things in North America and Europe. For more info on the call for application, check the website http://www.wikiafrica.net/two-wikipedians-in-residence-for-africa/ . Please do not contact me, Balthas, as I do not have any extra info. Cheers.

    Posted in Freedom to learn Tagged Africa, commons, knowledge commons, knowledge sharing, wikimedia, wikipedia, Wikipedians in Residence, WiR Leave a comment

    „Amorphous action communities for commons-based peer production“ – some thoughts on networking in the future

    Posted on November 1, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn by Balthas

    seibold_future of global networking for international cooperationYesterday, I tried to put the future of „global networking for international cooperation“ in one slide –  looking five to ten years ahead. My first problem was to find a name for the future. I ended up with „Amorphous action communities for open innovation and [commons-based] peer production (globally connected, innovating locally)“.

    Then, I outlined some of intermediate steps in networking such as „Open networks of trust“ and „Communities of Practice“, which we are already seeing popping up. My final guess was on some of the driving forces, that will lead us from today’s networks all the way to the „amorphous action communities“.

    So here’s the picture, with the steps and the driving forces:

    Continue reading →

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn Tagged collective action, commons-based peer production, communities, knowledge sharing, learning, maker, maker-culture, meritocracy, open innovation, open network, open source, peer-to-peer, self-governance, trust, wiki-culture, wikinomics Leave a comment

    ‘GIZ global connect’ publishes compilation on ‘Global Knowledge Sharing’ through ICTs & quotes me

    Posted on September 14, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, News on publications by Balthas

    GIZ online journal Global Connect just published an article on Global Knowledge Sharing, which quotes me quite a bit. So I reproduce here some lines, the entire piece is online here.

    “… The example of Wikipedia gives us a taste of how we will likely generate our knowledge in the future: Radically different from the last 500 years, with an entirely new form of global networking and cooperation in areas such as culture, education, technology and business. The Internet plays a central role in this new form of knowledge generation. Anyone with access to the Internet, and who has language skills, can join the discussion on specific issues, plan, swap ideas and get together with like-minded people. It does not matter what social status, gender, age or ethnic background someone has, nor does their academic rank play any part. What matters is the input, and whether or not it holds up to the critical inspection of others and, in the end, works.

    Such “open model” global knowledge partnerships hold tremendous opportunities for development cooperation. How global knowledge sharing over the Internet is already being used for sustainable development is something that Balthas Seibold knows. He is project manager of the group “Global Knowledge Sharing & Alumni” at GIZ and, in recent years, has been dealing with the topic of “Open Knowledge Sharing through Open Innovation”. Seibold cites the example of GIZ in the field of renewable energies: “On the GIZ developed online platform energypedia.info energy experts from Rwanda were able to re-create a gas tank for biogas production that was originally developed in Bolivia.

    For more on how ICTs and the Internet can be drivers of open knowledge co-operation and a global knowledge commons , please check the following compilation of articles by GIZ Global Connect, which provides concrete examples and models such as energypedia and ict@innovation. The reporting was just released in three languages:

    – English: Global Knowledge Sharing – “The Wisdom of Crowds”
    – Spanish: La cooperación global en conocimientos como “la sabiduría de muchos”
    – German: Globale Wissenskooperationen als „Die Weisheit der Vielen”

    One word on ‘GIZ global connect’. This service addresses participants, alumni and partners of GIZ capacity development programmes. The website provides the GIZ community with information on alumni events, follow-up seminars, news, expert chats, network features, and a large community function enabling peer-to-peer networking though social networking tools. To join the community, check the registration info.

    Full Article on GIZ Global Connect.

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, News on publications Leave a comment

    Tackling global problems by pooling knowledge – highlights of the first international conference on the knowledge commons

    Posted on September 14, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn by Balthas
    Source: A. Diez Herrero | Flickr | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 siehe http://www.flickr.com/photos/21572939@N03/2090542246/sizes/m/in/photostream/

    Source: A. Diez Herrero | Flickr | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 siehe http://www.flickr.com/photos/21572939@N03/2090542246/sizes/m/in/photostream/

    What do the problems of climate change, global access to affordable medicine and software, food security, and crop availability for poor farmers have in common?

    In all of these fields, more and more people are looking at how a collective building and owning of key knowledge can help solve protracted global problems. A global core of these people just met in a tiny Belgium university town at the at the „First International Thematic Conference on the Knowledge commons“. (for more on the term, see wikipedias Knowlegde commons entry”).

    It is quite tough for me to sum up such an endeavor. I will still try and do so by picking some issues related to my own main interests, mainly „global knowledge cooperation“ and „harnessing the knowledge commons for open innovation“. I will complement that with a totally non-exhaustive and personal „list of quick links“ on how to save the climate, solve the food crisis, fight pandemics and increase food security with commons approaches.

    Continue reading →

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn Tagged biodiversity, Climate change, cloud, collaborative technology, common good, common pool resource management, commons, commons-based peer production, community, creative commons, design, digital commons, FOSS, healthcare, information commons, innovation, innovation commons, knowledge commons, open innovation, open source, openness, pandemics, self-governance, social capital, traditional knowlegdge Leave a comment

    Why open innovation helps to scale up development impact – Great new article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review

    Posted on September 6, 2012 in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn by Balthas
    Steel Wool Sparks on the Beach

    Now that is sparkling (innovation?) – Picture by: Evan Photo Extremist, licenced under CC BY-ND 2.0, source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thevlue/5813641070/sizes/z/in/photostream/

    The Stanford Social Innovation Review just published an article on “Open Innovation: A Muse for Scaling” – Good chances, that this paper will become my personal “favorite article of 2012”. Why?

    Well, the paper manages to explain in just two pages and in plain words, why open innovation has the potential to drastically increase the impact of development interventions. It is very prone to scale. As they sum it up: “Open innovation enables community participation, distributed accountability, and knowledge creation—all behaviors that provide the groundwork for scale”.

    So let us all work on getting the five tips right in our own work, which are:
    Tip 1: Turn beneficiaries into co-creators
    Tip 2: Move from enterprise to ecosystem
    Tip 3: Master the art of gifting
    Tip 4: Spark entrepreneurship inside and outside your organization
    Tip 5: Allow for mutability

    Very relevant stuff indeed for development cooperation and international cooperation. For more info (on two pages), check Open Innovation: A Muse for Scaling or here on the Alumniportal: APD-copy of Open Innovation: A Muse for Scaling [This is a link to content within the Alumniportal Germany (register or login first to access the link)]. Cheers, Balthas

    P.S. Thanks and Kudos to Jeremy de Beer who pointed me to the article.

    ____
    Note: This text was first published on the blog of Balthas Seibold at the Alumniportal Germany (www.alumniportal-deutschland.org/en/). Check the blog ( register or login first). All blog entries represent the personal views and ideas of Balthas Seibold.

    Posted in Freedom to innovate, Freedom to learn Tagged co-creation, commons, communities, community, development, ecosystem, entrepreneurship, gifting, impact, innovation commons, international cooperation, knowledge commons, open innovation, open innovation systems, openness, participation, scale Leave a comment

    Owning your social online network – the technology is getting there – are we as well?

    Posted on September 4, 2012 in Freedom to innovate by Balthas
    Copyright: makr.io

    Copyright: makr.io

    The makers of the open source social media platform “diaspora” have just launched another tool to get “ownership” back to the users of social media. See below for more info on makr.io . I get the feeling, that the technology is getting there  (give them some more months). However, I am not so sure that we as users of social online networks and as strategists on social media are putting such concepts as “ownership” at the centre of our strategy … Let me know, what you think.

    And check the news on “Makr.io” by the the Diaspora Team (Maxwell, Daniel, Rosanna and Kayla): “Makr.io was born, and we launched last week!  We wanted to spend some time on a unique problem we discovered while working on Diaspora* the past couple of years—the value of ownership.  Existing social networks do not encourage their users to feel like they have the power to MAKE things on the internet. Rather they are just “capturing” the ephemeral social actions that define social networks today.  With Makr, we are making creativity accessible to everyone, in the hopes it enables people to realize that what you post and create online is **worth** owning.  The idea is simple:  make a new post with words and photos, and then any other user can ‘remix’ your post, creating an endless collective conversation that can be inspiring or hilarious.  We put a lot of ourselves in Makr, and the result is something fun, silly, and collaborative, but also rooted in the same values as Diaspora* that we have championed since day one.  You can read more about our Makr mission here.

    ____
    Note: This text was first published on the blog of Balthas Seibold at the Alumniportal Germany (www.alumniportal-deutschland.org/en/). Check the blog ( register or login first). All blog entries represent the personal views and ideas of Balthas Seibold.

    Posted in Freedom to innovate Tagged makr.io, online social network, ownership, social network Leave a comment
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      1920: Prejudices: Second Series

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    1. pdai on Peer-producing knowledge: a game-changer for development cooperation? – Question 5 of 10 on ‚learning by sharing’31/10/2021

      Building that collaboration may be difficult for some people. so the project that will be built will be constrained at…

    2. Balthas on About24/09/2019

      Dear Wahdan, here ist the source of the Quote from the letter of Jefferson: http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12.html

    3. Balthas on Emerging Schools of Thought on Commons-Based Peer Production – New Article Out24/09/2019

      Dear Winda, of course you can thare the guides - all is under open licenses. See below. Just Name the…

    4. Wahdan Arum Inawati on About12/08/2019

      how quotation of the parts of the letter of Jefferson on knowledge and property?

    5. WINDA EKA SAMODRA on Emerging Schools of Thought on Commons-Based Peer Production – New Article Out04/08/2019

      Thank you for this nice guide.This really helped me, keep posting! can i share it?

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