I
wrote before about what a great Free Software + Free Culture conference would look like. In response to my, “Is anyone interested in this,” I chatted with Mirko Lindner from CC Sweden, the upcoming
FSCons conference in Sweden seems to get most of these ideas right!
One of my favorite “get it done” people, Michelle Thorne from CC,
wrote a nice plug for the conference on the CC site:
Free Culture, Free Software, and Free Content will join forces under the banner of “Free Society” at FSCONS on October 24-26 at the IT University of Götheborg, Sweden. The
orgnaizing trinity,
Creative Commons Sweden,
Free Software Foundation Europe, and
Wikimedia Sverige, see FSCONS as a chance to reach out with their respective communities and build joint projects with like-minded activists and organizations.
A strong speakers lineup provides the rhetorical food-for-thought in the Free Culture track. Mike Linksvayer (
Creative Commons) asks, “How far is free culture behind free software?” as he charts key indicators and historical factors in the progress of each.
Eva Hemmungs Wirten argues that the digital commons extends back to nineteenth-century London, while
Oscar Swartz keynotes the
events with the warning that Sweden’s controversial “Lex Orwell” may usher in “The End of Free Communication”.
In chatting with Mirko, he mentioned that they are still seeking travel sponsorships for the conference. In putting together Libre Graphics Meeting over the last three years, it is pretty obvious that the most important thing that a conference like this can do is provide travel sponsorship to the people making free culture happen. It gives the much needed face time that developers don’t get and provides a source of collective memory making to further focus development and personal relationships.
If you can help support the conference corporately or personally, please do
contact Mirko and the other organizers to make a nod. Yes, I know this comes at a problematic time with the global economy, but please, contribution brings stability