Archive:2005-03-20

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Agenda
Agenda (started) by Nick

Grokster vigil or something else?

 * There's been a fair amount of discussion on the listserv about whether or not a vigil is appropriate for Grokster. Please take a look at some of the recent e-mails to the list (the "Alternative to a Vigil?" thread in particular) before the call. Has a consensus been reached, or do we still need to discuss this?
 * Elizabeth was assigned to work on a press release; assuming the vigils are still on we should check in on her progress. If we're doing another event on the eve of the oral arguments, perhaps we can modify whatever Elizabeth has written?
 * Jeremy posted a Grokster vigil flier to the Core list. Thoughts?
 * This is turning into a debacle. Is it really neccesary for FC.o to try to centrally organize something? Several groups have indicated they're already doing something about Grokster. Additionally, there's CopyNight, and the EFF's Countdown to Grokster. If we're going to centrally organize anything, we should encourage groups / students to organize discussions, to write letters-to-the-editor of their local / campus newspaper, etc. I think we're kicking ourselves over something we don't need to be doing. Nelson keeps referring to those groups that need help -- why not address them directly? Because it sounds like a lot of other groups already have things taken care of. -- Gavin 02:33, 20 Mar 2005 (EST)

Orphan works

 * Comments are due Friday. Please take some time to write a comment, even a brief one, and encourage your friends / professors / librarians, etc. to do so as well.
 * Submit comments via OrphanWorks.org
 * We should put together a blog post of student comments -- email Gavin your comments by Friday and he'll put up a blog post.
 * We should also talk about whether FC.o will submit a comment.
 * I think we should: simply a brief comment to say "Hi, we're FC.o, we represent this group of people, and we want you to look for a solution to this." -- Gavin 02:33, 20 Mar 2005 (EST)

Minutes
Attendance: Andy, Nelson, Gavin, Amanda, Rebekah, and Nick

Candlelight Vigil

 * Concerns
 * Our fledging groups need help in organizing and gaining members. Does this fragment their attention too much?
 * Maybe this isn't the best issue to organize around.
 * This may be a too temporal of an issue that we don't have much direct effect on.
 * Other events/issues are still around the corner: FreeCulture's first birthday, etc.
 * Is it too late in the semester to have events and build momentum?
 * How do we energize our groups and people to do something and help them promote and achieve a variety of
 * Arthur's idea of a comment board on the Grokster case is less confrontational, but harder to motivate people to participate in, and has its own challenges as well.
 * There seemed to be a substantial response to the vigil idea that it wasn't the best or most effective idea.
 * Individual groups can do what they want, but how do we help them promote the event?
 * Resolution
 * Blog about the vigil idea, invite groups to take part at leave it up to them.
 * We want to make sure people understand the underlying issue that this applies to the P2P technology and that this doesn't just apply to Grokster.
 * Individual chapters should blog about what event their doing ahead of time.
 * Helping Individual groups
 * We're currently not able to individually help schools, so at this point a general campaign would be the most effective.
 * Perhaps we could find just one or two groups that really need help and put or effort into helping them.
 * Emory and BU are two schools that have put a lot of effort into that we are at risk of losing. Nick will join the recruiting team and get in contact worth them.
 * We can't create leaders, but we should do as much as we can to lower the barriers to entry

Orphan Works

 * The copyright office wants people's own experiences and possible solutions, not legislation or just general legal justification. We're simply here to organize people to respond to this as a problem and solicit personal responses.
 * Gavin will write a response on behalf of FreeCulture.org and will be receiving comments to blog about.

FAQ

 * We need to work on it because people haven't simply been doing it on their own.
 * Identify What are the most important questions and how we answer them.
 * Identified on the agenda for the office hours
 * Read over some of the e-mails we get in freedom@freeculture.org that represent common misconceptions and the common underlying questions that people have.
 * Office Hours: 10 PM EST to "until it's done" on Wednesday, March 23
 * Meet on IRC #freeculture to watch for issues, questions, or help each other answer questions and avoid collisions
 * Talk to the webteam and get them to help with the items on their todo items
 * Paypal (or something else) for donations - talk to Public Knowledge to see what our options are or the best way to accept donations would be

Next Week
Follow up for Orphan Works and Grokster. Open Access: still pending responses from the ATA, Geneva, etc.