Today, I finally added my first commit of the Creative Commons Netherlands(CC NL) wordpress theme (see also ‘New Creative Commons Netherlands site launched’) to the Creative Commons.org git repository. This means that other local CC chapters only need to install Wordpress and install this theme to have their own Creative Commons website. For example, Creative Commons France could now easily update their website and have a look and feel similar to Creative Commons Netherlands (and thus Creative Commons.org), without having to develop a theme on their own. By using this template, local Creative Commons organizations show more cohesion between the different CC chapters and allow them to be identifiable as part of the global Creative Commons movement.

I’m very interested in the response on this theme, although it’s still kinda rough around the edges. I still need to find some time to replace the Dutch names for English, write something down on how to use the theme  and there’s probably tons of stuff that might need some tweaking, but at least it’s in the repository.

If you’re interested in using it yet something is keeping you from doing this feel free to contact me and I’ll see what I can do to help you.

Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank:

- Paul Keller (Creative Commons Netherlands) for recognizing the potential use of this theme for other local CC chapters around the world.
- Mike Linksvayer and Nathan Yergler from Creative Commons.org for their enthusiasm, help and infrastructure.

Today I’ve launched the new Creative Commons Netherlands (CC NL) website. CC NL asked me to make their website more similar to the creativecommons.org version, which I did and the result can be viewed online. We used the USA design (thanks to the USA webteam!) as a guideline and tweaked it until we were satisfied. A more in depth posts will be posted in the portfolio after the dust settles.For now I’m too occupied with finishing other projects.

Yesterday Creative Commons Netherlands wrote that the Canadian documentary “RIP a remix manifesto” by Brett Gaylor would be broadcasted by the Dutch public broadcasters NPS and VPRO later that evening. I had heard some good things about this documentary, but hadn’t seen it yet. Since we don’t have television (a subject for another post) anymore I though I might be able to download the documentary instead. After all it’s all about remixing and download culture. At least that’s what they claim on the frontpage of their website:

RiP: A remix manifesto is a documentary film about copyright and remix culture.

So I went to their download website and went looking for a dowload option. Instead I got this message:

I interpreted this message as: the people inside the gated community may download a documentary on remixing and download culture and for those outside you may jump through some more hoops before you will be able to watch the same film streaming. As you might understand I am confused and even insulted by this difference in treatment. Why treat your audience outside (in this case the US) differently from those inside the US? Especially when the subject of the documentary is about remix and download culture. A global culture. Not just a North-American culture. What are the arguments that support this difference in treatment?

Update: Huh? Found this snippet in Brett Gaylor’s bio on the ‘global’ website, which makes the difference in treatment of the audience even weirder:

He is also the web producer of the Homeless Nation.org, a web project dedicated to bridging the digital divide – allowing everyone to participate in online culture.

(emphasis is mine)

Update2: You can find the documentary also here in case you’re not willing to be treated differently from our North-American friends. Yes, controlling downloads based on geography is a failure.

Update3: Brett Gaylor (as far as I can tell it is genuine) responded in the comments and I have responded on his comment.

Update4: Brett’s email bounched. Brett, if you’re reading this I tried to email you at your first name at opensourcecinema dot org and it did not work.

I wrote this summary of the first Creative Commons tech summit in 2008 at the Googleplex, however somehow it ended up in being a draft in Wordpress for more than a year. I decided to add links and publish it although in the meantime two follow up conferences have already been held. Maybe it still holds some value. Enjoy my rather lengthy ’summary’.

Thanks to Creative Commons.org and The institute of Sound and Images I was able to join the first Creative Commons Tech Summit in San Francisco. Since the amount of participants was limited to 100 people I decided to write a summary for those not able to attend on this blog. There have been more people writing about the summit and the whole thing is made available on Youtube as well. I hope this summary will be of use to you. Feel free to comment. More after the jump.. (more…)

Just read this on Identi.ca (free software microblogging service a la Twitter):

Wow! So Ridley Scott of Bladerunner and Alien fame is working on a Bladerunner ‘inspired’ prequels available on the web under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. Can’t wait to see them!

See also the slightly longer announcement on CC.org.

Onderstaande is een reactie op Jan Stedehouder naar aanleiding van mijn commentaar op Livre bij de aankondinging van zijn boek ‘Open Source en Open Standaarden. Voor niets gaat de zon op?’ en zijn reactie daarop. Livre laat helaas niet zulke lange reacties toe vandaar dat ik het hier plaats.

(more…)

Sorry Dutch text ahead:

Een van de projecten waar ik de afgelopen tijd (inmiddels al ruim een jaar) mee bezig ben geweest is de Beeld en Geluid wiki:

De wiki beoogt kennis over de collectie van Beeld en Geluid te ontsluiten. Centraal staan films, radioprogramma’s en televisieproducties die in het kader van Beelden voor de toekomst gedigitaliseerd worden.

Op deze wiki staan biografieën van personen. Naast allerlei gegevens over de persoon is er een overzicht van het oeuvre én een beschrijving van programma’s waarin een persoon te gast was of onderwerp van gesprek. Op de wiki staan ook producties beschreven, zoveel mogelijk de makers genoemd en zijn producties ingedeeld in genre en op decennium. Aan de hand van veel verschillende onderwerpen wordt de context van film, radio en televisie beschreven.

Mijn werkzaamheden in dit project varieren van het aanpassen of ontwikkelen van de vormgeving en extensies tot het updaten en ondersteunen van het redactie team. Inmiddels zijn er meer dan 2500 (dit is uitgezonderd overleg pagina’s pagina’s, doorverwijzingen etc) aangemaakt en hebben bijna 650 mensen zich als gebruiker aangemeld. Heel netjes voor een website die pas zeer recent onder de aandacht wordt gebracht.

Persoonlijk vind ik het daarnaast fantastisch dat de inhoud van deze wiki is gelicenseerd onder de Creative Commons Naamsvermelding-GelijkDelen licentie, waardoor ook anderen gebruik kunnen gaan maken van de informatie van deze wiki.

Zie ook de promo op YouTube hieronder:

Last night I read Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother from cover to cover. Its a page turner and highly recommend it to teach people about the importance of privacy and other cilvil liberties. I hope this book will be available in Dutch soon, so I can recommend to everyone.

The americana/country/folk heroes This Leo Sunrise out of Utrecht, The Netherlands in crappy YouTube galore. Go check out there new EP ‘Koewacht‘ (CC-licensed, off course) which I highly recommend.

(thanks MOMI )

One of my favorite bands Nine Inch Nails has released a 36 tracks / 4-cd album ‘Ghost 1-IV ‘ under a CC BY-NC-SA license (see the FAQ). It has been released in four different packages :

1) $5 digital download: All 36 tracks in a variety of digital formats including a 40 page PDF

2) $10 2xCD set
Ghosts I-IV on two audio CDs in a six panel digipak package with a 16 page booklet.

3) $75 Deluxe Edition
Ghosts I-IV in a hardcover fabric slipcase containing: 2 audio CDs, 1 data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, and a Blu-ray disc with Ghosts I-IV in high-definition 96/24 stereo and accompanying slideshow

4) $300 Ultra Deluxe
Includes everything in the Deluxe Edition Package, along with an exclusive four-LP 180 gram vinyl set in a fabric slipcase, and two exclusive limited edition Giclee prints in a luxurious package. Limited to 2500 pieces, numbered and signed by Trent Reznor.

Besides these packages you can download Ghost-I for free:

“The first 9 tracks from the Ghosts I-IV collection available as high-quality, DRM-free MP3s, including the complete PDF.”

Listen to some (excerpts?) of the music using the player below:

I’m very curious about Trent Reznor ’s experiences with going back from the default cut-throat music industry deals to DIY and in this process using CC licenses and different sales models. Somebody should do an in-depth interview with him about this. So lazy web spread the message and get us all an interview with Trent Reznor’s thoughts about this..

ps: Thanks Marco for mentioning this !