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Sharing Digital Content in the Arab World
On October 23, 2010, ictQATAR and Creative Commons will be hosting Digitally Open: Innovation and Open Access Forum.
The Forum will address how innovation can thrive in the digital age through sharing and openness, covering issues such as digital content rights, the open cloud, open source software, openness in government, creativity and making money in an open world.
Donatella Della Ratta, Arab World Media and Development Manager with Creative Commons, is working with ictQATAR in planning the Forum and shared her views with ICT Connector on the importance of being Digitally Open, the great potential in the Arab World and why she is excited about the event.
What is Creative Commons and what is your goal in the Arab world?
“Creative Commons is a global, non-profit organization that has volunteers working in over 70 countries around the world. With the advent of digital media, the sharing of creative, educational, scientific and other kinds of works has become technically and technologically very easy, even while it remains complicated from a copyright perspective.”
“Creative Commons (CC) works to enable sharing of all kinds of content by providing tools that make it easy, scalable, and legal. Our flexible copyright licenses allow scientists, scholars, governments, musicians, teachers, cultural heritage institutions and many others to choose how to distribute works so they can be easily accessed and used by others.”
“In the Arab region, Creative Commons tools can provide the necessary infrastructure for those seeking to increase the production of culturally and scientifically important works in Arabic. If embraced, our licenses and legal tools can be leveraged to encourage and grow a culture supportive of original, Arabic content while simultaneously promoting a respect for others’ rights.”
What opportunities do you think exist here?
“The population in the Arab world is young. About 65% of the region’s population is under 25 years of age. A young population means energy, ideas, and innovative thought. The Arab world has the opportunity to invest in this future generation and encourage a sharing culture built on respect for copyright.”
“We see huge opportunities in this part of the world, precisely because of its youthful, motivated population. Creative Commons licenses can be a very good option for the Arab world due to the flexibility they offer for creators and users.”
“Creative Commons licenses were inspired by and work particularly well in the fast growing world of digital media and the Internet, which is similar in many respects to the rapid growth, talent and potential found in the Arab world.”
Are there any countries in the Arab world that are particularly active with creative commons? How so?
“At present, Creative Commons has formal affiliations with institutions and individuals in Jordan, Egypt and Syria. These relationships involve organizing local activities and outreach, as well as the translation and adaptation of CC licenses to account for local language and laws.”
What potential do you see in Qatar for embracing digital openness and what benefits would there be?
“Qatar can benefit from digital openness in many places, including the field of education and innovation. Open education resources (OER) is a global growing trend, allowing educators and students around the globe to improve their curricula and other teaching materials, to use and build upon those shared by others, and to adapt those materials for local needs and contexts.”
“In the Arab world we are working to encourage Arab educators not only to use and implement globally-produced OER but also to design their own and share them with that global network.”
“Again, creating new original content in Arabic is key: Qatar would be at the forefront of the OER movement by designing open curricula and sharing those resources with the global network so that others may benefit from them.”
“Through digital openness, Qatar might also improve the design and implementation of new business models for the “knowledge economy” that can lead to local sustainability. Brand new ideas should be implemented that respond to the demands and needs of the local/regional context at the same time being scalable for the global market.”
Technorati.com