So today, The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts (R.S.A.) announced the Adelphi Charter on Creativity, Innovation and Intellectual Property. The charter is basically a set of guidelines for governments of the world to check their Intellectual Property laws against in order to promote, not restrict, “both the sharing of knowledge and the rewarding of innovation”. What is interesting about the announcement, though, is not the charter itself but its proponents. All the usual suspects are there (Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Lessig and Gilberto Gil) but my interest lies in Bronac Ferran of the Arts Council England. Are we finally seeing the Arts Council take a tough stance on the encroachment of strict Intellectual Property law and its effect on creativity? I really hope that the Arts Council are going to be much more proactive in this area and not just start sitting in on all the meetings not saying anything.

It is a shame they made the site in Microsoft’s A.S.P. though.

So, a couple of nights ago Jim prompted me to go to this Cybersalon event: Brazilian Open Source Software & Copyleft.

Drinking plenty of a Brazilian lime drink I can’t remember the name of, let alone spell, whilst listening to Claudio Prado and Gilberto Gil was a fantastic experience. The Brazilian Ministry of Culture really is speeding past our own Arts Council with its policy on Intellectual Property, reaffirming all the thoughts that lead to my Submerge presentation: Comparing Creativity in the Creative and Software Industries (PDF 44k).

When Gilberto Gil was passed a guitar at the end I thought things couldn’t get much better but after his cover of John Lennon’s Imagine, Brazilian Daniel got me backstage to meet Claudio, the Digital Policy Co-ordinator for the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. One street-style handshake, one pat on the back, several normal handshakes and a business card later I left telling him to give the Arts Council hell at the breakfast meeting they had scheduled for the next day. Here’s hoping he did and here’s to Brazil.

This Thursday is John Peel Day for which Radio Rita will be broadcasting a special show The John Peel White Stripes Night Minidiscs. Starting around 8pm I’ll be playing a minidisc recording of an old John Peel show featuring the White Stripes in session. To listen just visit this site on Thursday night and click the Radio Rita link in the sidebar.

So, finally I’m back, BlogRadio is back and Radio Rita is coming back (this Thursday).

I’ve got lots to post about, some long, some short but first lets get rid of what’s been causing the post blockage - my dissertation.

The Popularisation of the Hacker Ethic (PDF 500k)

The subject changed quite drastically from my early drafts and the paper I presented at Submerge as I ended up opening a huge can of worms by looking at the post-Marx Marxist theory of the Autonomists. I didn’t really leave myself enough time to tackle this properly or my suggestion of looking at the Hacker ethic through Hannah Arendt’s work so it feels a bit like this paper is just an introduction to a bigger one. Take a look though, there might be something there you like, I have to wait until January to get my results for it.