Ideas for a Better Internet – a Berkman Center for Internet & Society & Stanford Law School Iniatiative
Einstein University initiative launched
Lots of exciting projects going on within the larger Students for Free Culture network!
After Notes Hub, a tool for sharing the schoolwork you make with with the rest of the world, comes Einstein University: a free online university/academic social network where students and professors from around the world can share ideas, read each others papers and collaborate on research.
Ah, good old Enstein.
Einstein University aims at being the first 100% free online open university. Instead of charging student tuition like most normal universities, Einstein University funds itself through web advertisement and uses open textbooks and volunteer professors to drive down the cost of education. Anyone from any country can attend and all age groups are welcome. Also, since Einstein University is 100% free and open to everyone, there is no application process and previous academic achievements are not taken into consideration. All Einstein University course content will always be open to the public and students will never be charged a single penny to attend class or earn credit.
In the last 20 years, the Internet has revolutionized the ways humans interact and communicate…(read more)
If you have wiki experience and would like to be an administrator, send an email to
Isaac Wojcikisaacwojcik@hotmail.com to volunteer. With your help the initiative can give the 2.5 billion people that live off less than 1 euro a day a chance at a higher education for the first time.
Other projects in free online education
You might also be interested in:
Khan Academy
Academic Earth
WikiEducator
Udemy
Youtube EDU
Wikiversity
Free Culture Association Mission Statement
Free Culture Association is the Malta-based chapter of “Students for Free Culture” (1). The organisation is an international network of activists, students, and policy-makers based on University campuses all around the world.
At its inception, the FCA has these aims to aspire to:
- promote the transformative and collaborative power of the world wide web
- educate students about their digital rights on the internet
- empower the artistic community to methods of cultural engagement
- promote new forms of creativity through the shared commons
- facilitate the integration of open source and open standards in technology in daily use
- lobby towards a more open academic approach the UoM through open-access publications and journals
- stimulate discussion on telecommuniations and Intellectual Property policy and legislation in the digital age from a consumer perspective.
www.freeculture.org
Read more about the Free Culture Movement here:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_culture_movement
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(1) Students for Free Culture is an international, chapter-based student organization that promotes the public interest in intellectual property and telecommunications policy.
The mission of the Free Culture movement is to build a bottom-up, participatory structure to society and culture, rather than a top-down, closed, proprietary structure. Through the democratizing power of digital technology and the Internet, we can place the tools of creation and distribution, communication and collaboration, teaching and learning into the hands of the common person, the artist and the technological visionary. Through openness, collaborative creativities and the culture of sharing true innovation can be reached
Features & News Roundup (7/03/2011 – 13/03/2011)
- European Commissioner Kroes to address orphan works issue bit.ly/eoDx3p
- Times of Malta article on the link between lack of access to Apple’s iTunes store and illegal downloads on the island bit.ly/i4Nj2m
- EU and USA web privacy regimes are converging more as time goes by bit.ly/hV7Twg
- European Union Takes Actions on Patent Law; ACTA may see legal fight bit.ly/eUtSL4
- A new report on media piracy in emerging economies is stirring significant debate in internet copyright and open access circles bit.ly/eiuARs
- Internet Industry formulate copyright code of conduct bit.ly/dKfHlu
- The debate on whether open source software is a boon or a bane intensifies bit.ly/fYTtxJ
- Internet & Society Institute: innovation and creativity should be fostered through openness and collaboration, promotion of open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software bit.ly/euQomF
- Two Visions for the Future of the Internet (USA Net Neutrality issue) bit.ly/eMt7gL
- The ACTA (Anti-Counterfetiting Trade Agreement) negotiated in secret between the world’s leading IP economies and later watered down spawns yet another questionable treaty in the works: bit.ly/dPPAIk The entire text is available at Knowledge Ecology International. An article of analysis on the treaty is available by M. Geist
- Intellectual Property enforcement permeates ICANN and US Internet Policy bit.ly/hoAWm0
- Google under legal attacks in Europe bit.ly/hAnHGx
Any thoughts on any of these stories? Share your insights in the comments below!
Until next week
-Neville
Free Culture comes to Malta
If you have internet access, you most probably have downloaded or streamed a song or a movie online without paying for it, and then shared it with your friends. You do this without thinking about it, without feeling remorse or guilt or even fear at the reality that officially, you’re a criminal- a pirate.
Draconian copyright law which calls for extreme enforcement would have us lock down creativity and look away from the reality of digital culture of sharing. Yet the reality is that you don’t want to rob artists from their livelihood; you just want access to your art and entertainment and the freedom to use technology to participate in and appreciate the cultural commons of your society.
You might think that the reality of students being sued for millions in damages for having used the internet to access copyrighted digital files is something that’s far away from the local scene. Yet laws that restrict your access to cultural and media goods touch your life every day: the rumblings about the questionable legality of Dreambox use and the controversy surrounding the broadcasting rights of sports events are just the most high profile of such cases in a local context. Due to licensing agreements (justified by copyright discourse) Malta does not have access to alternative streaming music and film services based in other countries, and your only (legal) option to watch your favourite film or TV series is to wait months after the original airing in some cases. Faced with such restrictions, what some derogatorily call piracy is a natural and mainstream activity for many. Yet many continue to ignore the power of the web in unleashing and giving people access to what they want to read, see, and listen to.
Students for Free Culture is an international network of activists, students, and policy-makers based on University campuses all around the world. The local ‘chapter’ of the organisation, Free Culture Association – University of Malta, will be holding events and starting projects that will help raise awareness about these issues. As a group, the FCA promotes the public interest in intellectual property and telecommunications policy. We believe that through openness, collaborative creativity and the culture of sharing true innovation can be reached. The mission of the Free Culture movement is to build a bottom-up, participatory structure to society and culture, rather than a top-down, closed, proprietary structure.
You are invited to join the Free Culture movement! Learn more about us, our values and mission by joining our Facebook Group (just search for our name), our mailing list and read our newly launched blog at www.malta.freeculture.org