the future of the global commons

Wikipedia, Creative Commons, “piracy” and the WIPO Development Agenda

global challengesintellectual property

infectious diseases

drug trafficking

global challenges

digital divide

intellectual property

infectious diseases

drug trafficking

global challenges

global warmingdigital divide

intellectual property

infectious diseases

drug trafficking

global challenges

global warmingdigital divide

povertyintellectual property

infectious diseases

drug trafficking

global challenges

global warmingdigital divide

poverty

deforestation

intellectual property

infectious diseases

drug trafficking

global challenges

global warmingdigital divide

poverty

deforestation

water deficits

intellectual property

infectious diseases

drug trafficking

traditional approaches to solving global problems

• Treaties and conventions (Kyoto)

• Intergovernmental conferences (World Summit on the Information Society)

• Global multilateral institutions (World Bank)

traditional approaches are incapable of solving

complex global problems

new

translating what we’ve learned from the

commons holds the key

What is the commons?

"A commons arises whenever a given community decides that it wishes to manage a resource in a collective manner, with a special regard for equitable access, use and sustainability. It is a social form that has long lived in the shadows of our market culture, but which is now on the rise."

David Bollier

features

• self organising;

• organic;

• decisions by rough consensus;

• willing participants;

• open architecture makes wide-scale participation easy.

who makes up the global commons

movement?

license propagators

lobbyists & policy

developers

content developers

e.g.Creative

Commons;Free Software

Foundation

e.g.A2K (Access to

Knowledge)Access to Medicines

e.g.Wikipedia

the global commonsmovement

Problems

• distance between the commons experts, and civil society, government and business;

• distance between the problems that are being solved;

• distance between those who propagate technological vs infrastructure, ‘legal vs illegal’ solutions.

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=336

Internet users (2002)

Wikipedia chapters

Existing chapters (dark blue), planned chapters (green), and chapters in discussion (light blue) as of May 25, 2008.http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikimedia_chapters.svg

We need a global network of actors with a shared vision to come together from different

sectors to address global challenges together

http://icommonssummit.org

What is our dream?

“Our vision is of a world where there is widespread participation in global innovation, digital culture and knowledge-building initiatives, based on equitable access to technology, education, science and culture – a world where people are using the organizing power of technologies and the spirit of the commons to work together to solve crucial global challenges.”

The future of the commons will be in whether we can translate what we have learned to

solve real global problems.