[A2k] iCommons Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 23-25 June, 2006

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Heather Ford asked me to post this on her behalf.

Thiru



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Dear A2K-ers,

It is a great pleasure to invite you to the annual iCommons Summit
<www.icommons.org> taking place this year in the heart of free
culture, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the 23rd to the 25th of June.
With participation by commons communities from Creative Commons,
Wikipedia, Science Commons, Ubuntu, A2K and others, this year's Summit
is set to be one of the most exciting events for creative and
knowledge commons pioneers from around the world.

Best wishes,
Heather Ford
Acting Executive Director: iCommons

iCommons Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 23-25 June, 2006
www.icommons.org

"Towards a global digital commons"

The past few years has seen the burgeoning of a number of initiatives
aimed at opening the fields of creativity, science and knowledge in
communities around the world. Practitioners from these movements
currently identify themselves as falling within a particular community
=96 'free and open source software', 'open access', 'open content' and
'open science', amongst others =96 but they share key processes and
values whose common elements are yet to be fully realized.

This year's iCommons Summit aims to bring together, in a creative,
stimulating and cooperative environment, the pioneers from these
communities =96 to inspire and learn from one another and establish
closer working relationships around a set of incubator projects. This
year's landmark event is structured around three major themes:

1. Tools. Developing effective, relevant tools to assist other
creators, authors, scientists and researchers to develop and showcase
their creativity and innovation.

2. Policy. Strategies to ensure international, regional and local
policy fora that are conducive to the development and nurturing of the
commons.

3. Practice. Learning from the experience of others to develop
effective models for the development of open content in societies
around the world.

The goals of iCommons are to build the Summit into a launch-pad for
global cooperation around commons projects and to provide an open,
creative space for practitioners to learn from best case practices and
to showcase new ideas. With iCommons' strong institutional
partnerships, we will continue to nurture these alliances throughout
the year, providing the tools and spaces for commoners to build on the
friendships and shared experience of the event, and building a united
global commons community.

The three-day program will have a mix of formal presentations,
roundtable working groups, practical workshops and community-driven
program slots that enable participants to gain strategic insights and
practical techniques as well as play a critical role in shaping the
emerging global commons movement.

With keynote speakers including Gilberto Gil, Larry Lessig, Joi Ito,
James Boyle and Jimmy Wales who will inspire participants with a
vision of a living, thriving commons, to members of the expanding
iCommons community showcasing their ideas and inviting participation
in key projects, this year's Summit is proving to be a must-attend for
anyone engaged in the growth and development of the digital commons of
the future.

About iCommons

Incubated by Creative Commons, iCommons is an organisation with a
broad vision to develop a united global commons front by collaborating
with open content, access to knowledge, open access publishing and
free culture communities around the world.

Using the annual iCommons Summit as the main driver of this vision,
iCommons will feature projects that encourage collaboration across
borders and communities, and promote the tools, models and practice
that facilitate universal participation in the cultural and knowledge
domains. The Summit will collaborate with organisations and
communities from around the world to demonstrate and share best
practice and discuss strategies for continuing the positive impact
that "sharing" practices are having on participation in the cultural
and knowledge domains.

During the year iCommons will incubate projects that cross borders and
unite commons communities, acting as a platform for international
collaboration towards the growth and enlivening of a global digital
commons.

See www.icommons.org