Alek Tarkowski at Creative Commons Ireland event

Alek Tarkowski

Creative Commons Poland

Open All? Open Policies for User Rights and Freedoms

„Open All”

• Open = Access to Content + User Rights

• Is „open convergence” possible, towards a single standard of open?`

• Access vs. (Re)use • Public vs. Private content:

obligatory vs. voluntary norms

From grassroots activity to top-down policies

•  Policies provide strong leverage for implementation of open standards

•  Public character (funding) of content a strong argument for openness: the commons / public infrastructure

•  Policies lack the element of personal, voluntary decision – but are an expression of a consensus as to the „management” of common resources

Open all: template

• Repositories • Metadata • Author / publisher /

intermediary compliance • Legal / licensing standards • Use / reuse practices (by users)

Licensing debate

• Strong open licensing is crucial for OER and other areas, where reuse is of key importance (open data)

• Public funding – strong argument for fully open licensing, despite content type

• Open Knowledge De"nition as a underlying / uni"ying mechanism for standards negotiation

Beyond the licensing debate: CC

Beyond the licensing debate: CC

• We are dedicated stewards of our licenses and tools […] But the CC vision—universal access to research and education and full participation in culture—will not be realized through licensing alone.

• CC licenses are not a substitute for users’ rights, and CC supports ongoing efforts to reform copyright law to strengthen users’ rights and expand the public domain.

EU: Beyond the licensing debate

•  EU: 2013: Licences for Europe + Copyright consultation

•  The example of Text and Data Mining (licensing vs. Open Access vs. copyright exception)

•  Fear of using the existence of open licensing models as an excuse for lack of copyright reform

•  (open licensing in the Directive on Collective Management of Copyright)

Poland

Poland: Open Textbooks

•  Context for governmental open education programs: OER developments in Poland in last 5 years •  2008: Coalition for Open Education

(KOED) •  Public OER projects („Polska szkoła”) •  Policy debate since 2010

Poland: Open Textbooks

•  2012: Open Textbooks project •  Part of larger „Digital school” program •  CC BY + WCAG + open format • No o$cial policy behind it but…

•  Additional programs: •  Scholaris portal •  Purchase of rights to key

literature for making it public • … suggest that the OER model is

being adopted

Open Public Resources Act

• General model from the „Open textbooks” project

• Complimentary to Public Sector Information rules -> together would form a general open norm for public content

•  Inspiration drawn from AUSGOAL and NZGOAL frameworks

• 2013: Bill proposal

Open Public Resources Act

• Beyond PSI access / reuse rules • Public and publicly funded (50%?) • Transfer of rights or co-ownership of

rights to a work (instead of licensing, a major point of contention)

• Three tiers of openness + opt-out clause

• Embargo period

Open Public Resources Act

• Criticism: • Focused solely on cultural works • Portrayed as a wholesale taking

away of all creators’ copyrights by the state; robbing of artists of their money

• Little controversy over education (previous debate on textbooks / science

Europe: Open all?

• OA: Framework Programs -> Horizon 20202

• OER: „Opening Up Educaton” • Open data: Reuse Directive • But also … Copyright Directive

review: exceptions & limitations

Opening Up Education

•  Pragmatic approach instead of an ideological one? (with risk of ‘openwashing’)

•  (which OA already knows this very well) •  Educators, students don’t necessarily

care about openness – they care about a%ordability, e$ciency, ease of use, quality

•  And therefore policymakers care about this too

CC’s OER policy project http://oerpolicy.eu Policy research: textbook production models, exceptions and limitations for education, mythbusting Policy event in European parliament: 18th February with MEP Róża Thun