Sunday 9th May, 2004
*documentation*
original information
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| Bob Kerr | James Wallbank | Lawrence Liang |
[click on image for an enlarged version]
The talks took place around some tables at Mono Cafe, Glasgow. This enabled a more informal atmosphere which led to a good level of discussion. Participants came from the MACHINISTA festival, as well as Linux groups in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Bob Kerr started off the afternoon introducing the work he has done to bring free software into the Scottish library system and schools. He handed out some copies of the free cd he has produced containing version of OpenOffice (a free alternative to Microsoft Office) and other tools. These have been made available as lending items in the public libraries, thereby enabling people without broadband or internet access a way of obtaining the software at no cost. He has also begun a scheme of donating CD copiers to schools so that they may run off their own copies of software for pupils to use at home.
James Wallbank spoke about the history and ideas behind Lowtech. Lowtech began life as an artist-run project utlising unwanted computers. Following the success of this (over 300 computers were donated in a space of two weeks), Lowtech evolved into a free public access media lab, which is now one of the longest running and most heavily used in the UK. The lab runs entirely on FOSS technology, using GNU/Linux on all its machines. Lowtech have also been involved in setting up similar no-cost labs for educational and community projects in Sheffield, where they are based. Their current project, "Grow your own media lab", aims to make the knowledge that has been gained from this success to be available to others.
Lawrence Liang spoke about the perspective on Free Software and Open Source from India. He pointed out that, whereas software piracy was seen as an "illegal" practice in the West, it played a significant role in enabling developing countries to compete with the frequently monopolised market policies of the Western corporations. To most people in India today "free software" means Microsoft because the only way people can get access to computing is through pirated software. Lawrence showed how the current situation regarding software should be understood in relation to the recent past history of the music industry in India. Prior to the 1980's, the music market was almost entirely monopolised by HMV who had gained this position during the colonial era. HMV's marketing policies had led to an homogenisation of Indian music. With the availability of cheap tape-to-tape copying in the 1980's, however, small, local music distributers began to emerge. They were able to get a foothold in the market through initially pirating the mainstream music produced by HMV. The profits from this, however, were able to feed into publishing more locally orientated music. This eventually topled HMV's monopolisation of the market and enabled a more homegrown musical culture to be available to the public. The current situation with software should be seen in a similar light. The widespread dominance of Microsoft systems within the business world means that, at present, smaller companies can only enter this arena through the use of pirate software. Lawrence's final argument was that, whilst he believed that the principles of Free Sofwtare and a digital "cultural commons" (as promoted by Creative Commons) were definitely the right way forward, they were currently shaped by a purely Western model of authorship and cultural production. For these models to have significance globally they must also incorporate models of authorship and cultural production from other traditions and contexts. In many developing countries, what is stigmatised as "piracy" is often the only viable means of developing local cultural production and until this is properly appreciated, the discourse of a "cultural commons" will be inadequate to the needs of these countries.
