Free Culture Swarthmore

A few FreeCulture chapters, including our own, were interviewed in this piece about the RIAA and illegal music sharing. It’s short, but luckily doesn’t take much of an editorial spin. It remains quote-heavy from both FreeCulture and the RIAA.

Our position was represented well, but hopefully we’ll find more outlets for the subtlety of our claims — our arguments are multi-faceted and far-reaching. They extend far beyond the logical statement that the RIAA does “bad business.” They represent a more progressive way of viewing intellectual property, with immediate practical consequences, but also with long-term consequences that will determine the future of fields like communication, politics, and public health.

Hello all. We had another fun meeting this week. The minutes are below. We’ll meet again this Thursday at 9pm in Kohlberg Coffee Bar. If you can’t make it, please shoot me an email. And everyone (tell your friends!) should come to our film screening this Friday at 4:30pm. We’re going to be showing a free movie (probably Dementia 13). Location TBA. See below.

1. The Media Server

Miles from SCCS came by to talk to us about the media server. It should be here within a week and we’ll talk with SCCS about the software. We’re going to try our best to get it running and hosting Olde Club recordings this semester.

2. The Recording Project

We decided that we definitely want to produce another Olde Club CD this semester in addition to the media server. In the next week or two we’ll be planning the details about that, so if you want to be recorded or help record/produce/make CDs, come to a meeting or send me an email.

3. FreeCulture: Free Movies

We’re showing public domain movies! The first movie will be this Friday in collaboration with the Film Dept. and possibly the Film Society.

4. Michener

I’m still working with the VP on getting a Michener novel under CreativeCommons. More news as it develops.

See everyone soon!

Ben.

Our last FC meeting was a lot of fun. Thanks to all the regulars who showed up. The baked goods (I thought) tasted a little better this time, and we got a lot accomplished.

Thursday seems to be a good day (again, please email me if you can’t make a meeting — even if you’ve never come to one(!) — so I know you’re interested). Some people thought 9pm was better, others liked 9.30. I’m going to try to set this meeting at 9pm this week: Thursday, Feb. 14 in Kohlberg Coffee Bar. I’ll bring (hopefully more improved) food.

1. Films

Free Culture is having a film series! We’re going to be showing “movies” rather than documentaries (though we may show one later in conjunction with an event) that are in public domain. We’re trying to pick movies that are good (rather than “schlock”), but that aren’t popular or shown in film classes. We brainstormed about movies like Charade, Dementia 13, Buckets of Blood, Santa Claus Battles the Martians, Ed Wood films, etc. There are lots of lists online, so please suggest movies!

Our first film will be Friday, Feb. 22 @ 4:30pm. We haven’t picked a film yet. We’re thinking about changing the day/time for each movie so different people can come.

We’ll hopefully be working with the film dept. and/or the Film Society. I was thinking of calling the series “Free Culture: Free Movies.”

2. Michener

I met with Maurice Eldridge about releasing a James Michener novel under CreativeCommons. We’re currently picking a novel and specific license, and then things should progress. This will be a major accomplishment for the Free Culture community.

3. ITS

I met with Gayle Barton, the new ITS director. The meeting went very well, and she’s a wonderful person with our interests in mind.

The most important thing we talked about was regular log rotation/deletion in order to protect students from RIAA attack. This is a complicated issue, but we talked with some other people in ITS and it seems a 30 day deletion is completely feasible. It will be Free Culture’s responsibility to promote knowledge about this change and gain student support (a petition?). More about this as it develops.

4. Media Server

I’m currently trying to figure the details out with SCCS about getting a media server together (the funding is there already).

Regarding software, we had previously thought about DSpace, but Gayle suggested we also look at Fedora Commons, which looks like a great choice! We’ll have to discuss these two possibilities.