Acre Woods Campfire

My fringe session on free software and data went well last night, we discussed the issues, possible policy and campaigns on what is a pretty niche subject. My cause was helped by the organisers using OpenStreetMap's coverage in the conference pack to show people how to get around - a nice treat for me since I helped map this area!

I started out by describing why Greens should care about "intellectual property", touching on the potential for free information to empower communities, taking control from centralising corporations to promote small and medium-scale social enterprise and exploring/defending/deepening alternative property forms such as the commons; also classical environmental concerns like the availability of data and research on climate change, e-waste created by Microsoft Vista's upgrade cycle, and so on.

I then introduced some context, namely:

• How Greens led the fight against software patents;
• Our policies promoting free software and access to information, also captured in various places in our manifesto;
• The amazingly successful media campaign against Microsoft Vista;
• Our collaboration on the free software, free society open letter promoting free software;
• Commentary and opposition to the Windows-only and DRM-full BBC iPlayer platform.

Participants fleshed out various ways of looking at the problems, including: open access scientific journals, and the comparative cost of open access versus paid access models; the quality of data available; the formats and standards in which data is made available; legal and technical restrictions on data; working cultures that lead to these problems and a general culture of excessive centralisation & restriction. So quite comprehensive!

Two nice practical ideas came out, which was a relief...

First, access to electoral data including boundaries (wards, constituencies, etc.), election results (that vary in format and quality across council web sites) and the postcode database. In Brighton, Jason Kitkat wanted to set-up a "who is your councillor" web page but couldn't because of the post codeissue. We could talk to people like ORG, mySociety, the British Computer Society, OKFN and others to represent this issue to the Electoral Commission. A bit dorky, perhaps, but maybe an easy win?

The second is to see if we can convince someone in a council that we have some political power in - i.e. Brighton, Lewisham, Norwich or Oxford - to assist OpenStreetMap more directly. For example they could notify OSM volunteers when streets, amenities etc. are created or change.

I'm hoping to turn a list of email addresses into a working group, with a view to submitting a policy motion in the Autumn conference and developing those campaigns in the meantime. Fingers crossed, stay posted!

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by tom at 15 February, 2008 04:28 PM

My friend, Rebecca Napier-Moore, has written the following paper about power within workers' co-operatives in the UK. We interviewed workers together for our different papers (see mine here) and it was an absolute pleasure to work with her. In my opinion, not only is her paper extremely well-written and concise but it also intelligently draws on - and challenges - the academic literature surrounding Steven Lukes' 3 dimensions of power in relation to the workers' co-operatives that we visited. It received an A+ mark. I am putting the paper below for you to read but you can also find it online as a Word Document or as a pdf.

28 January, 2008 08:45 PM

(Source: here - a picture of the protests between November 29, 1999 and December 3, 1999 when the World Trade Organization (WTO) held its ministerial meeting in Seattle)

Below is my paper on the possibility of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tax within the current World Trade Organization (WTO) framework (you can also read it as a Word Document or a pdf). The first section is semi-plagiarised from one of my other papers on 'The negative development impacts of a "food miles" approach to agriculture' (I had to write two extremely complicated 5000 word papers in one month and needed to self-plagiarise), but the rest is new. I ended up getting an A- grade for the paper. The comments that I received from the two professors who were marking it are at the bottom of the page.

28 January, 2008 12:47 PM

The Green-EFA Alliance have put together this silly little video as part of the I wouldn't steal campaign. The Greens have been leading the fight against laws that protect multinationals' profits at the expense of ordinary citizens, and artists who create those films. Here's the vid:

A cabal met up this Wednesday and so the free art show is definitely going to happen, hooray! The best kind of Green politics - combine a practical celebration of your ideals with some alternative propaganda and persuasion. I need to get on with mapping the rest of the area around the gallery on OpenStreetMap. Then I can produce public transport maps to convince those dafty North Londoners that it's not that difficult to reach Old Kent Road :).

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by tom at 25 January, 2008 01:49 PM

Had a lovely Christmas and New Year and got reflecting on what I've achieved in 2007 outside of my job. Except for some good media work for the Green Party on free software issues, and keeping up my commitments for People & Planet and KDE, I've mostly dithered about not really making good ideas happen. So here's what I'm planning to get up to in the following year:

• Organise a Free Culture art show - I've got an offer of a space on Old Kent Road, now I just need to gather together the bods to make it happen;
• Become a Sustrans Ranger for part of the Wandle Trail in London;
• Get a decent Green Party campaign going on free software and free data;
• Join a south London choir and get singing again;
• Get on with the economics reading group I'm doing with friends to broaden and deepen my knowledge;
• Map around Wandsworth Road station area with my wonderful lady;
• Meet more nice people in my area to avoid having to travel so far to see old friends or sitting around lonely.

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by tom at 03 January, 2008 07:59 PM