2019:GLAM/How to Free Your Art from Copyright

GLAM/How to Free Your Art from Copyright

Title

6 Steps to Freeing Yourself from Copyright

Description

More than a law, copyright is a way of thinking about culture that influences deeply how we enjoy creativity--both in the way we make things ourselves and in the way we experience the art, music, writing, coding, cooking, and dancing of others. The copyright paradigm keeps us separate from one another, focused on competition instead of collaboration. But it's possible to peel away the ownership filters that tint our world view. These are the 6 steps:

1. Recognize that you imitate others.
2. React positively to others copying you.
3. Cite your sources.
4. Play with your paywall.
5. Use Creative Commons licenses.
6. Free your creativity completely.

In 2014, I did a TEDx talk about the first step. You can watch "In Defense of Imitation" here: https://gwennseemel.com/tedxgeneva It will give you an idea of the sort of lectures I do--whimsical and colorful, with an emphasis on opening a conversation.

Relationship to the theme

This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner:

"6 Steps to Freeing Yourself from Copyright" re lates to the goal of responsible consumption and production since it is about our relationship to the culture we enjoy and the things we create. But the talk is more than that. It aims to dismantle one of the key impediments to collaboration in our modern world: the very personal feeling that the copyright paradigm gives each of us about the stuff we make. When we can see beyond that--when humans finally manage to see how connected we all are--we will more easily be able to solve poverty and all kinds of other inequalities.

Session outcomes

At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved: These 6 steps to freeing yourself promote a sustainable shift in thinking by providing multiple levels to move through. Instead of demanding zealotry or death, my talk will inspire participants to take smaller, more comfortable steps towards a free culture world view. These changes have the potential to last specifically because they are incremental. More importantly, they spread easily in their bite-size deliciousness, reshaping the way we teach creativity by downplaying legality and ownership in favor of ethics and connection.

Session leader(s)

• Gwenn Seemel

Usernames

• n/a

Affiliation/country

• independent artist, French-American

E-mail contact

• gwenn@gwennseemel.com

Session type

Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:

• Lecture

Length of session

40 minutes, including Q and A

Supporting work

Optional:

• My book about questioning copyright: https://gwennseemel.com/share
• "6 Steps to Freeing Yourself from Copyright" in French as part of the yearly conference for the Association pour le Développement Technologique en Éducation in Quebec: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pghz7IZudIQ
• How I dealt with the TED company when it tried to claim ownership of my talk: https://gwennseemel.com/blog/2015/0917-ted-copyright

Requirements

The session will work best with these conditions:

• Room: I need a projector and screen. A lecture hall is appropriate, but a classroom would work fine as well.

• Audience: As many as want to come. The talk is meant for creative-types of all kinds, both professional and amateur.

• Recording: It would be appropriate to film this lecture and share it on the web.