Title: “Either you make films or make excuses” – ICT and the Nigerian film industry
Author: Ethan Zuckerman
Source: My Heart's In Accra (blog)
Date (published): 27/07/2010
Date (accessed): 03/08/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
In discussing this workshop with our Nigerian partner, we’d proposed a round-table conversation between three ICT and development scholars and a dozen participants from the Nigerian film industry. Our goal was to learn more about how Nollywood (and Kanowood – turns out that “Nollywood” has become a political term in Nigeria, more associated with the South than the North) works, what the challenges the industry faces are and think about how we as academic researchers could take on questions that might help the sector move forwards. Basically, it was intended to be the first step in a process that might later lead to giving some presentations about what we’d learned.

Title: A consultative, development-focussed Copyright Review (South Africa)
Date (published): May 2010
Date (accessed): 20/06/2010
Type of information: petition
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The National Consumer Forum (NCF) and The African Commons Project (TACP), two registered Section 21 companies operating within South Africa, on behalf of South African consumers hereby request the Minister to urgently consider a consultative, transparent review of the current Copyright Act.

The Act, initially drafted more than 32 years ago, should be reviewed in light of the digital innovations that have occurred within the last three decades which have dramatically altered the way we create, share, distribute and use information materials and cultural products.

Title: The Economics of Copyright and Digitisation: A Report on the Literature and the Need for Further Research
Author: Christian Handke
Pages: 103 pp.
Publisher: Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP)
Date (published): 03/06/2010
Date (accessed): 14/06/2010
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP) has commissioned this report in order to inform its research agenda. The report undertakes a critical overview of the theoretical and empirical economic literature on copyright and unauthorised copying. On the basis of this literature, this report also identifies the salient issues for copyright policy in the process of digitisation, and formulates specific research questions that should be addressed to inform copyright policy.
Economists’ theoretical work on copyright has generated a general framework in which to study the effects of copyright on social welfare. The literature identifies a number of costs and benefits associated with copyright. Digitisation is likely to affect the balance struck by existing copyright arrangements and empirical research is needed to capture the implications for the desirable level of copyright protection. So far, empirical studies provide partial answers at best but they may provide useful templates for further research. Progress seems possible, especially if better data becomes available.

This report highlights two issues which are in particular need of further research in order to inform copyright policy:
1. How does digital copying affect the supply of copyright works?
2. Does the copyright system entail obstacles to desirable aspects of technological transition?

Title: Anti social-computing: indigenous language, digital video and intellectual property
Authors: Jon Corbett, Tim Kulchyski
Pages: 7 pp.
ISSN: 1357 938X
Source: Participatory Learning and Action, Volume 59, Number 1, June 2009, pp. 52-58
Publisher: International Institute for Environment and Development
Date (published): June 2009
Date (accessed): 15/01/2010
Type of information: research article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Jon Corbett and Tim Kulchyski discuss the importance of intellectual property rights when using Web 2.0 tools for development. The authors describe a project working with Hul'q'umi'num'-speaking communities based in Canada to revitalise their language. Using a range of tools and approaches including participatory video, the project also developed a series of short language-learning videos which were uploaded to video-sharing websites. However, not all the material generated was made available online. The participants strategically limited how much of their valuable cultural knowledge was made public, retaining much of it within their own communities.

Title: Challenges of communal copyright: Traditional and indigenous knowledge
Author: Sonia Randhawa
Source: GenderIT.org
Date (published): 09/04/2009
Date (accessed): 17/12/2009
Type of information: bog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Copyright and patents legislation has spread rapidly over the past century. This has a particular impact on indigenous women and the holders of traditional knowledge, as copyright ignores the possibility that knowledge can be held communally and has definitions of knowledge that exclude information held in a spiritual context. In this article, GenderIT writer Sonia Randhawa examines how women's lives in traditional and indigenous societies have been affected by the spread of copyright.

Title: The Manchester Manifesto
Publisher: Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, University of Manchester
Date (published): 25/11/2009
Date (accessed): 26/11/2009
Type of information: manifesto
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
...it is increasingly important to consider the question of “Who Owns Science?”. The answer to this question will have broad-ranging implications: for scientific progress, for equity of access to scientific knowledge and its fruits and for the fair distribution of the benefits and the burdens of science and innovation – in short, for global justice and human progress...It is clear that the dominant existing model of innovation, while serving some necessary purposes for the current operation of innovation, also impedes achievement of core scientific goals in a number of ways. In many cases it restricts access to scientific knowledge and products, thereby limiting the public benefits of science; it can restrict the flow of information, thereby inhibiting the progress of science; and it may hinder innovation through the costly and complicated nature of the system. Limited improvements may be achieved through modification of the current IP system, but consideration of alternative models isurgently required.

See also:
How science is shackled by intellectual property
John Sulston, Guardian, 26 November 2009
Who Owns Science? The Manchester Manifesto
open..., 26/11/2009

Title: The legal status of raw data: a guide for research practice
Authors: Madeleine de Cock Buning, Allard Ringnalda, Tina van der Linden
Pages: 52 pp.
Publisher: SURFfoundation
Date (published): 13/11/2009
Date (accessed): 22/11/2009
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Guide to clarify the legal protection applying to research data, intended for researchers who need to know what they can do with other people’s data.

The opportunities opened up by ICT and the Internet are making access to research results and data broader and more open. It is increasingly possible to add to the text of a publication by enriching it with other materials, including the relevant research data. By making that data accessible, it becomes easier to verify research results and to reproduce and reuse them.

But when reusing raw research data, it is important to know the legal status of the material. Sometimes, the consent of the “author” (i.e. the “maker”) of the data is required; however, some actions involving data can be carried out without consent. SURFdirect wishes to clarify the legal protection applying to research data for researchers who need to know what they can do with other people’s data. That information will also allow researchers to determine whether they also need to protect their own research data.

As part of the SURFshare programme, SURFdirect requested the Centre for Intellectual Property Law (CIER) to explain the rules under which research data may be protected. The report provides an overview of the current situation on the basis of the most important legislation and case law. It consists of three sections, dealing successively with intellectual property (copyright, database right, and protection of non-original writings), privacy, and liability."

"The guide and the brief user's guide are in English and address the context of Dutch law."
See also:
"A brief guide is also provided to enable researchers to determine whether consent is required in order to reuse someone else’s research data." download pdf
(via Open Access News)

Title: The Ethical Dilemma of Software Piracy in Islamic Societies: The Case of Kuwait
Author: Salah Al-Fadhli
Pages: 9 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol 39 (2009)
Publisher: www.ejisdc.org
Date (published): 13/11/2009
Date (accessed): 18/11/2009
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML and pdf)
Abstract:
The nature of electronic communication tools, especially the Internet, raises serious ethical issues. As one of those ethical issues, software piracy has become a common activity particularly among college students who have been little deterred by industrial legal actions. While many studies have been conducted in western countries in attempt to identify factors affecting the software piracy, very little research was related to Islamic societies. In this paper, we intend to examine consumer ethical decision making and social norms regarding software piracy in Kuwait, an Islamic society.