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Alliance Activities

in cra-briefings39 · November 15, 2006

CopyCamp unfolds in Toronto

The CRA/ADC’s long awaited event about art, technology and law, took place in Toronto the last weekend in September. One hundred and fifty people from across Canada and abroad gathered to talk about copyright, making art and making a living on the Internet. In addition to three special sessions – a discussion about building the commons with Michael Geist (Creative Commons, Canada) and Mike Holderness (CRA UK), a workshop on the Virtual Shopping Mall proposal presented by Quebec CRA members, and a conversation between CRA co-chair Susan Crean and IP activist Geoff Tansey – an Electronic Salon was held on both Friday and Saturday. However, true to its “un-conference” approach, most of the time over the two days was spent in small, self-organized sessions.

The Electronic Salon

The Electronic Salon featured a presentation on Friday by Toronto artist Geoffrey Pugen entitled “Online Personalities, Institutions, Museums and Games, about artists using the Internet and appropriation to create virtual environments and narratives”. Pugen invited one of the ten artists featured, Nathaniel G. Moore (whose www.bowlbrawl.com comes complete with documentary clips, and an explanatory book sold at Indigo’s), to be present with him and to engage participants in conversation about his humorous, to-be-believed art practice. (Pugen’s line-up is available on the CopyCamp wiki.)

On Saturday, “pop culture provocateur” and Indie culture aficionado Jim Munroe hosted Electronic Salon II with “Art Slips Free—Rethinking how Culture is Produced”. This involved a lengthy discussion of new approaches to production and distribution which by-pass commercial systems and are based on collaborative (largely free as in gratis) enterprise.

The Un-conference

The program of an ‘unconference’ is said to be its list of participants. As the organizers, and CopyCamp host Misha Glouberman, kept reminding everyone, CopyCamp belongs to the participants to make of as they wished; so if people didn’t like the topics on offer, it was up to them to propose their own. People started proposing their own session on the CopyCamp wiki two weeks before CopyCamp opened, and continued throughout the two days at Ryerson University’s Student Campus Centre. Sessions would be announced to the assembled participants at opening and closing gatherings, and would then be posted on the large schedule plastered on the wall of the main meeting room. (Notes taken at each one of these sessions can be reviewed on the wiki. Or from the CopyCamp main page, click on the “Participate” tab.)

There was a huge range of subjects including: Appropriating the Indian; Are professional necessary?; Authors’ rights Vs. Copyright; Can Someone please explain the economics of copyright to me? Moral Rights in the UK, The Collateral Damage of Rights Management, Fair Dealing Nuts and Bolts, Creative Commons 101; street art 101 – and many, many more.

Part of the CopyCamp un-conference process were two “plenary” sessions held the first day, the World Café and the Speed Geek which broke the large group into very small ones allowing for two things: direct conversation with a large number of other participants, and introductions to a dozen key/important ideas connected to the event – both accomplished in a very short period of time.

The structure worked extremely well; participants were enthusiastic, dialogue was spirited and informative, and the event offered a multiplicity if opportunities for people to connect across a host of professional, cultural, and technological divides. These differences – in points of view, in experience, and artistic profession – were reflected in the diversity of the participants themselves. Conversations were begun, and continue on the CopyCamp wiki.

For participant responses, see

We also have some photos of CopyCamp (from Bryce, Kris, John Degan, Phillip).

Special Guests

Six people took several days away from their studios to travel to Canada for CopyCamp. Journalist and CRA UK vice-president Mike Holderness and IP activist Geoff Tansey came from the UK, singer/songwriter Moana Maniapoto and filmmaker Toby Mills from New Zealand, and Mark Hosler of Negativland and Mike Linksvayer of Creative Commons came from the U.S. All were active participants, contributing hugely to the success of the event.

CopyCamp opened with a lively reception hosted by performer/organizer, and secretary of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, André Morriseau. Festivities began with some comments from writer/activist Cory Doctorow (on the line from Los Angeles) and featured performances by dub poet Lillian Allen, and Moana Maniapoto with Toby Mills. Paul Hoffert (GCFC) said a few word to inspire and set the stage for the two days to follow. And Misha Glouberman introduced everyone to the discipline of ‘un-conferences’.

The Virtual Shopping Mall

CRA/ADC members from Quebec hosted a discussion of one of the ways the Internet can work for artists while respecting their copyright. The workshop explored the concept which answers three things:

  1. the need for easier access to cultural content which respects copyright;
  2. the need for convenient archiving and consultation services for the educational sector, for artists and researchers;
  3. the demand for an online commercial source of documents, music, books and artworks.

Presentations were made by André Cornellier (CAPIC), Christian Bédard (RAAV), Jean-Robert Bisaillon (SPACQ), John Bradley (technical consultant on ADEL project) and Michel Beauchemin, executive director of the Quebec playwrights’ union (AQAD) who pioneered the creation of the on-line archive of Canadian plays known as ADEL (Playwrights on-Line)*. The feasibility study conducted by Jean-Robert Bisaillon for the CRA/ADC over the summer was the background to the discussion of expanding the experiment.

The Virtual Shopping Mall concept envisages a complex of virtual boutiques: bookstore, cinemateque, video archive, concert hall, and library.

For more, see the conversation on the CopyCamp wiki and www.adelinc.qc.ca.

A Million Thanks !!

The CRA would like to thank the indefatigable CopyCamp Team: Denise Bolduc, Misha Glouberman, Phillip Smith (Community Bandwidth), Rose Swagemakers (Innovolve) and Virginia Jones.

The CopyCamp Sponsors: the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, SOCAN, The SOCAN Foundation, Reboot Canada, Trampoline Hall, and the Joseph Rowntree Visionary Award for a Just and Peaceful World.

And CopyCamp’s Special Friends: Lillian Allen, Michel Beauchemin, Karl Beveridge, André Corneiller, John Degan, Rob Emerson, Richard Fung, Allen Gunn, Paul Hoffert, Paul Knox, Claude Lafontaine, Neil Leyton, Russell McOrmond, Christopher Moore, Laura Murray, Joël Richard, Gabe Sawhney, Mark Surman, Ken Thompson, Trampoline Hall, Michael Visser, Darren Wershler-Henry and Greg Young-Ing and Harriet Friedmann.

WIPO Meetings

Quebec co-Chair Michel Beauchemin attended the 15th session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, in Geneva Switzerland September 11-13th. The meeting focused mainly on the revised draft of a WIPO treaty on the protection of broadcasters. The objective was to adopt a draft treaty for submission to the general assembly of WIPO, due to take place September 25 to October 3rd. This would permit the convocation of a diplomatic conference to articulate the rights of broadcasters in the face of the growing problem with the pirating of signals in many parts of the world, including the pirating of digital signals preceding broadcast.

Unable to agree on a text, and divided on a number of points along north-south lines, the countries represented did wish the president to take a project so visibly divisive to the General Assembly. The draft, according to informed observers, would not likely have been judged sufficient to warrant a diplomatic conference in any case. Contrary to all expectations, however, the draft prevailed and a diplomatic conference was set for November 19-December 7th, 2007. Still, this diplomatic conference will only take place if an agreement is reached on the outstanding questions which is unlikely.

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