Archive:2005-01-26

=Agenda= Agenda for the Wed, 26 Jan 2005 Core team call by Gavin.

General

 * Graphic formats
 * "The formats we should use are The GIMP (xcf), Photoshop (psd), and one of the following: GIF/PNG/TIFF/Targa (tga)"
 * Can Photoshop open GIMP files? If so, there's no need for Photoshop files.
 * PS 7 on OS X wouldn't recognize a .xcf file I made with Gimp 2.2 Nicholasbs 00:18, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)
 * If not, we should use GIMP, Photoshop, PNG, and PDF.
 * Has anyone contacted Giant Robot Printing?
 * "Andy will clean up, generalize, and convert the currently graphical fliers." Is this done?

Internal Communications

 * Report
 * Repository of contact information
 * So far, I have compiled a list of emails of the chapter leaders from name and contacts on the website.
 * Currently drafting an email to ask for updates. Emailed Des at emory on what she has so far.


 * Questions/Comments
 * Who exactly is in the Core right now? I'll compile a list of people and contacts for this. I'll start with BaseCamp.
 * Whats the relation between the Core mailing list and the actual Core?
 * According to what Nelson has said in the past, the Core mailing list is the Core team. -- Gavin 19:36, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)
 * What happened to the actual campus groups mailing list? I was thinking of getting the chapter leaders to suscribe to it. Would this be redundant? Or should they just suscribe to the Core List. I'm currently trying to diff some of these email contact and suscriber lists and see what I can find.
 * Campus Groups still exist, though it's little used. There are different purposes for the lists, but the distinction is often fuzzy. -- Gavin 19:36, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)


 * Andy & Ben, internal comm. -- can you start emailing the appropriate list when minutes have been added to the wiki, emailing meeting reminders, IMing people before meetings?

Tour

 * Have you watched Colin's stuff? How do you feel about it?
 * Has anyone contacted Railer?
 * Colin is contacting them, I believe -- Nelson 00:09, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)
 * What do we think of putting together a DVD?
 * Who does video editing? What software do you use? Is there free software available?
 * All Macs should have iMovie on them, I have iMovie on my Powerbook. I also have access to real video editing workstations at Swarthmore. -- Nelson 00:09, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)
 * Do you have access to a digital video camera?
 * I have access to a digital video camera, most schools should have a place you can borrow one from. -- Nelson 00:09, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)

Papers

 * What's not done with the strategy paper?
 * What's not done with the policy paper?
 * Needs mission statement
 * Needs policy goals reviewed, fleshed out
 * We should have PK or someone look it over
 * What's not done with the activist packet?
 * What's not done with the manifesto?
 * I still like our current manifesto better than the proposed changes. So I would say that what's not done is that we haven't improved the manifesto.  I believe that putting too much time into attempting to improve an already-written document when we have many completely unwritten documents is a mistake, we can come back to the manifesto later. -- Nelson 00:15, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)
 * I'm no fan of the current manifesto, but I like the thought of postpoing this. Can we sweep it under the rug until its revision, though? Alternatively, can we apply a few minor changes -- simply removing dated references and a bit of the anti-corporate rhetoric -- which have already been done and leave the full revision until later? -- Gavin 19:40, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)

Internationalization

 * Where do things stand? What should we do? What can we do? When should we do it?
 * Address more international issues
 * Better delineate between U.S. and world issues
 * Make Web site more accessible

Open Access
Time to start talking about this
 * I believe that the first obvious step is to get our colleges to sign up with The Alliance for Taxpayer Access, "A diverse and growing alliance of organizations representing taxpayers, patients, physicians, researchers, and institutions that support open public access to taxpayer-funded research." Our first action should be to set up meetings with our librarians, since pretty much every librarian loves open access, and we can help them promote open access, or get them to help with our projects. -- Nelson 00:18, 26 Jan 2005 (EST)


 * Links
 * Open Access Overview. This is a huge compendium and many thanks to Dr. Peter Suber for this page.
 * http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htmAbhay
 * What you can do to promote open access. Separate lists for university faculty, librarians, administrators, and students.  Try to get your college or university to take as many of these steps as possible.
 * http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/do.htm

Orphaned Works
The U.S. Copyright Office is seeking comment on the "compelling concerns" and possible solutions to the problem of orphaned works. What should FC do?

Gavin's "IMHO..."
We should try to elicit comment from all of the following:
 * Chapters, on behalf of the chapter
 * FC members
 * Lessig, Kahle and other high-profile people in "the movement"
 * People affected viscerally, including librarians & archivists, filmmakers & documentarians, musicians, etc.
 * People who understand the issue in a more academic way, like law professors, economists, etc.
 * Internet passerby: Set up a Web interface with a "template" and suggestions, and submit the site to Slashdot, boing boing, Teleread, the FC.o blog and lists, and anywhere else that'll take it.
 * Students from our campuses: Ask groups to table at their schools and ask passerby to write a letter / greeting card / draw a picture (within reason...) and then mail the written comments in bulk.

Eyes on the Screen
"A nationwide campaign to distribute digital versions of Eyes on the Prize -- the most important civil rights documentary ever made, unavailable for ten years because of overwhelming copyright licensing disputes -- and have screenings of it in towns and cities across the US on February 8th at 8PM." What should we do?
 * technically, civil disobedience
 * partner with campus NAACP, Black Student Union, etc.?
 * links
 * announcement
 * coverage of film

Changes

 * Contact of Railer & Giant Robot --> external comm ?

=Minutes= Minutes for the Core Team conference call on Jan. 26, 2005 by Andy Scudder.

Overall Organization
Need to work on basic infrastructure
 * Essential to
 * Recruiting
 * Keeping the group together
 * Let's use Basecamp and work at meeting due dates again

Open Access

 * Abhay is our core team member in charge of Open Access
 * Open access is an issue that can cause real change and be ongoing, more than just our previous one-shot campaigns and contests
 * Has been a big draw in the past, for example at NYU people responded to learning more about open access
 * Answers the question of what we're doing about IP issues
 * Peter from Public Knowledge has some helpful links for Open Access
 * We want to 'sell' university libraries on the cost and research benefits of carrying Open Access journals

Important Organizations

 * The Alliance for Taxpayer Access
 * Universitys joining with this org and open access journals can help NIH fulfill their mission
 * National Institutes of Health (NIH) - wanted to open up medical research immediately after publication, but is being pushed back constantly
 * This is inexcusable, because medical research changes so quickly

Action

 * Read Peter's links
 * talk to him about our position/plan for Universities
 * Find out the policies on your campus, update the core/wiki (section coming soon) on what the situation's like at your university
 * Develop strategies in response

Fliers

 * For editing (require changes to use on campus, layers)
 * GIMP, Photoshop
 * For non-editing (ready to use, no layers needed)
 * PDF for printing
 * For browser viewing
 * PNG
 * Resized to fit in browser, rather than for printing
 * Provide fliers in both formats whenever possible, so that you can "plug and play" general fliers, or customize for your needs
 * Fliers will be converted to new formats by next Wednesday, Feb. 2

Text Documents
These are general guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules.
 * Just text
 * RTF
 * ASCII
 * With images / layout
 * Open Office
 * Word?

Merchandise
On the back burner at the moment...

"Copy for Freedom"
http://www.c4f.org
 * German
 * Abhay will contact

Orphaned Works
SUMMARY: The Copyright Office seeks to examine the issues raised by "orphan works," i.e., copyrighted works whose owners are difficult or even impossible to locate. Concerns have been raised that the uncertainty surrounding ownership of such works might needlessly discourage subsequent creators and users from incorporating such works in new creative efforts or making such works available to the public. This notice requests written comments from all interested parties. Specifically, the Office is seeking comments on whether there are compelling concerns raised by orphan works that merit a legislative, regulatory or other solution, and what type of solution could effectively address these concerns without conflicting with the legitimate interests of authors and right holders.

DATES: Written comments must be received in the Copyright Office on or before 5 p.m. EST on March 25, 2005. Interested parties may submit written reply comments in direct response to the written comments on or before 5 p.m. on May 9, 2005. - link
 * How should we respond?
 * Find out what Public Knowledge is doing (EFF too?)
 * Get as many comments as possible
 * Encourage chapters to comment on behalf of the chapter
 * Encourage members to comment as individuals
 * Make outside contacts by subtling asking "how do you plan to respond to the RFC?"
 * People affected viscerally, including librarians & archivists, filmmakers & documentarians, musicians, etc.
 * People who understand the issue in a more academic way, like law professors, economists, etc.
 * Internet passerby
 * Submit to blogs
 * Slashdot
 * boing boing
 * Teleread
 * Copyfight
 * Add other tech / law / library / art blogs
 * Blog it at FC.o (Amanda)
 * Students at our campuses
 * Table and ask them to write something, either there at the table or direct them to the Web site. If you have them write something physically, follow all the instructions at the RFC and mail them in bulk before the comment period ends.
 * Copyright Office is looking for comments of two types:
 * What harm orphaned works cause
 * Both real and hypothetical examples
 * Economic harm, artistic harm, or impediments to free speech/expression
 * Possible solutions
 * "legislative, regulatory or other"
 * You don't have to comment on both. Don't worry about including both, inventing possible solutions, writing the world's greatest comment. Whatever you know is what you should write. Just come with the experience you have.
 * This agency is interpreting the law, and this may never get to the legislator
 * Examples of when this has happened before
 * USDA sought comment on definition of "organic"
 * NOAA sought comment on releasing weather data in XML rather than a proprietary format
 * Hundreds of Slashdotters wrote in with their comments

Eyes on the Screen
Join with the other groups on campus that are celebrating Black History Month, and show the video.

FC Tour

 * Watch Colin Mutchler's video
 * Come up with ways that he could improve his presentation to communicate what we want
 * Seems to be mostly his personal art, and maybe not as much emphasis on the legislative side
 * Shows his personal realization, as an artist, to the importance of Free Culture
 * Help balance with how it applies to history, technology, etc.
 * Would this cheapen his presentation and make him a "traveling salesman" for us?
 * We should converse with him and give him input on how he can link himself with us while still allowing him to express his personal passions
 * $500 price is steep for many
 * How can we raise the value without breaking the bank?
 * Create a video for Colin to show to help introduce Free Culture, be entertaining, and not just a replacement speaker
 * We need to help him appeal to the potential campuses and make it clearer how he can help them

Video Project

 * Every one create a 30-45 second clip on what free culture means to you, what you're doing on campus, etc.
 * Want to convey the universal nature of our goals, and how each group is achieving their diverse goals
 * Each group will develop a script to explain what they're doing on campus, shoot interesting scenes
 * Standard talking head of people introducing themselves, etc.
 * "Action" shots, give views across campus, etc.
 * Keep it local
 * Transition between groups with map
 * Clips due: February 13th
 * DV format
 * Send to Mike, working with Jeremy
 * Wiki page forthcoming, with storyboard sketch, other shots, etc.

Papers, Packets, Manifesto
Bold: To be finished on during office hours this week
 * Manifesto
 * Mostly done for now, will make small changes for now to help remove outdated elements, and keep some of the "radicalness" (collaborate with Luke!)
 * Strategy Paper
 * Translate into Basecamp
 * Must be in a form that we can transfer to DownhillBattle and Public Knowledge, etc.
 * What we're doing, when it's going to happen, who to contact
 * Assigning people to organizations, etc.: problem of people we don't have
 * Recruiting: Abhay has contacts from the IRC list, Mike will help follow up and talk to them, find people who are capable and desire to be part of the core team
 * Policy paper
 * Still need a mission statement
 * One paragraph
 * A page to give to funders, etc. to help explain our position formally
 * (Later: A few pages explaining what we want the legislators to help us with)