We would like to thank you for your crowdfunding support and a high standard of the submitted works. We were pleasantly surprised by the interest shown in the competition, and we have decided to hold its second edition next year. We hope that with your help it will be even more successful and the collected works will provide a strong voice in the debate on the future of copyright law and system.
10 works which made it to our „Future of copyright” anthology, in alphabetic order:
*** CONTEST IS CLOSED! BELOW IS ARCHIVED ANNOUNCEMENT, STAY TUNED FOR NEXT YEAR EDITION ***
Future of Copyright
How should a good copyright system look like? Obviously, the one our civilization uses now doesn't fit the reality of today. Outdated, over-extended and unenforceable it leads to ridiculous court cases against random people and clearly fails to meet the needs of the digital world. Without good alternatives, the only solution some can imagine is to take what doesn't work and get more of it, hoping that this will do the trick. It won't.
In order to form the future of copyright system we need to step up and craft a model that will fit the digital reality, shaped by technology of today and tomorrow. There are some initial proposals, most notably
Barcelona Charter or
Washington Declaration, but we believe there's room for improvement and we want to give it a try. We invite you all to take part in the global project of crafting the Future of Copyright!
This is a contest for the best work about the future of copyright. The idea is simple:
- You set the prize by supporting this project.
- People submit their works for the contest. The deadline is 15th April 2012 30th April 2012.
- Independent jury consisting of prof. Michael Geist, Piotr Czerski (of "We, the Web Kids" Manifesto fame) and Jarosław Lipszyc (Modern Poland Foundation, contest organizer) chooses the winner. The decision will be announced on 1st May 2012 15th May 2012.
- The winner gets the prize. Society gets a number of fresh proposals that will help shaping up the copyright system of tomorrow.
The higher the prize is, the more exposure our cause will receive. The more people will participate in this debate, the more works on Future of Copyright will be created.
The Contest:
This is simple. If you want to take part in the contest, publish the work on the Internet and mail us at contest@nowoczesnapolska.org.pl. Just follow these general rules:
1. On topic
The work may be of any kind (text, video, audio), and of any genre (i.e. legal analisys, dystopian or utopian story, educational video – sky is the limit here), but it must address the general subject of the Future of Copyright. Your work has to be in English or you need to provide an English translation.
2. Limited size
The size of the work is limited to 20,000 characters for text or 15 minutes for audio and video.
Small print: we will accept only first 500 works. Sorry, but we are unable to process more.
3. New and original
We accept only original works prepared specially for this contest. You must have all the rights to the work. Team work is acceptable. If your work is a remix, you need to provide the source for the works you re-used.
4. Free license
The work must be published under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Your work must visibly licensed as such in the place of first publication.
5. Properly tagged
The work must be tagged with the text: “This work takes part in the Future of Copyright Contest” and a link to this page (http://indiegogo.com/Future-of-Copyright).
If you have any questions or doubts about the rules, just mail us at contest@nowoczesnapolska.org.pl.Prize:
Exactly half of the raised money goes to the winner (or winners, if the prize is split). The other half will be spent on perks and sending copies of the best works to people and institutions engaged in the copyright debate. If any money is left (which seems unlikely), we will spend it on our projects, providing the world with better access to knowledge and culture, fully in line with our mission.
The Submitted Works:
The submitted works in alphabetical order of author:
The Jury:
The winner of the contest will be chosen by an independent jury:
Modern Poland Foundation
Why us? Modern Poland Foundation played an important role in recent ACTA protests in Poland.
You may want to read this Associated Press story with contributions from Jarosław Lipszyc, president of the foundation. Now we are one of the leading non-governemental organizations developing future copyright agenda in Poland. You may want to read Jarosław Lipszyc's
column on remix culture, or this on
digital books, or this on
future of text.
Copyright restrictions are also very relevant to our projects, like
Free Readings,
Free Textbooks or
Remix Culture, which deal with public domain, free licensing and fair use.
Poland is in the midst of heated discussion on future development of our copyright. This public debate is supported by our government, political leaders, NGO sector and even royalty collecting societies. Copyright, however, is a global system tied to international treaties (Berne, TRIPS) and organizations (WTO, WIPO). We will be not able to change it at the domestic level.
Modern Poland Foundation is Warsaw-based, registered charity working in the field of Open Educational Resources, access to knowledge and free culture. Funding comes from various sources such as Open Society Institute, Mozilla Foundation and Polish Ministry of Culture.
The Future of Copyright Contest is our way to stir up global discussion on this subject; in the European Union and beyond.
Partners
What's with the picture?
It's a remix of
“StaÅ„czyk” – a 1862 Polish painting by Jan Matejko, depicting famous Polish court jester from XVI century. Despite his seemingly unimportant position with his cap and bells, StaÅ„czyk is considered a political philosopher with a unique insight into Poland's future – which in the next 300 years, due to unreasonable domestic and foreign politics, was to fall from being a European empire into the state of anarchy and - eventually - nonexistence.
We thought it'd be appropriate for him to enter the debate wearing some new gear; a pirate hat and an eyepatch.