Shareable.net, an online magazine that tells the story of sharing, has joined the slate of sponsors helping make Free Culture X possible. Shareable covers the people, places, and projects that are bringing a shareable world to life. They also share tools and tips to help you make a shareable world real in your life. If you’re interested in becoming an event sponsor, don’t hesitate to be in touch!

Uncategorized No Comments February 8th, 2010

We’re happy to announce that Zachary Katz, Deputy Chief from the FCC’s Office of Strategic Policy & Planning Analysis, will be joining us on the Politics of Open Networks panel. (You may recognize Zac from his video message regarding the recent FCC hearings.)

Zac will be speaking alongside panelists Steve Worona of EDUCAUSE, Chris Riley of Free Press, Timothy B. Lee of Princeton University and moderator Michael Nelson of Georgetown. This panel promises a unique opportunity to discuss the difficult questions of network openness, neutrality, and competition through the lens of education. How should campus computing resources be allocated? What role must students and educators play in shaping the politics of protocols?

Is there a viewpoint not addressed by this panel? Suggest a workshop for Sunday and let’s make it happen!

Uncategorized No Comments February 6th, 2010

Free Culture X is only two weeks away. If you have not yet registered, now is the time to do it! Register now!

Give a dollar, $25, $100—it’s up to you. 100% of the proceeds will fund future Students for Free Culture projects. To sweeten the deal for you, we’re announcing some cool gifts:

•If you register at $50 or more, get a DVD with the complete Free Culture 2008 videos archive

•If you register at $75 or more, get a signed copy of one of these books:

• Remix by Lawrence Lessig OR
• Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins

•If you register at $100 or more, get one of these badges of coolness:

• a yourname@freeculture.org email address OR
• a custom answering machine greeting by none other than cyberscholar Jonathan Zittrain

Just register by February 9th at your chosen level and we’ll contact you to get your gift preferences. Gifts are cumulative, so if you register at $100 or more you get a DVD, a signed book, and a badge of coolness. Gifts apply to all previous registrations, too.

Questions? Email board@freeculture.org.

Uncategorized No Comments February 1st, 2010

Thanks to a generous grant from Google, we’re going to be able to provide travel sponsorship to some students coming to Free Culture X!

However, with the conference fast approaching, the deadline for funding is coming up quick. In order to be considered for these sponsorships, please fill out the application form by this Friday, January 29. You will be notified of your grant status by Saturday, January 30.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can at this conference! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail the board.

conference No Comments January 26th, 2010

We’re pleased to announce that Gigi Sohn, President and Co-Founder of the tremendously important public-interest group Public Knowledge, will be joining the speaker lineup at FCX. Gigi joins Jonathan Zittrain as our two headline speakers at Free Culture X next month. (Register here.) Sohn has served as the public face of Public Knowledge since its founding, and in that capacity has appeared in very many newspapers, magazines, and television and radio programs. She served under President Clinton as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. In 2006, Sohn was given the EFF’s Internet “Pioneer” Award.

Public Knowledge, which Sohn co-founded with Lauren Racine and David Bollier, has been instrumental in advocating for innovation and consumers’ rights. They’ve addressed countless free culture issues ranging from wireless spectrum to open access to orphan works to broadcast flags. Sohn is a crucially important member of the global free culture community, not to mention the DC scene, and we’re very proud and honored to have her at FC X!

Uncategorized No Comments January 19th, 2010

Registration for Free Culture X is officially open. We’ve assembled a great two-day program of speakers, panels, and workshops, and as with last year, registration is all on a pay-what-you-wish basis with all funds going to actual conference and organization expenses. Last year our average registration was $26, which is a total bargain when you look at the line-up. But enough talking! Here is the link to the registration page.

It’s very important for us to get a good headcount over the next few weeks, and the space we have is somewhat limited, so please register as soon as you know you’ll be coming. And while you’re at it, you can show up to the conference in style by picking up one (or two) of the very fancy t-shirts we have for sale on the registration page.

Have any more questions about how to get yourself to the conference? Feel free to contact us. Want to volunteer? Sign up for our planning list and introduce yourself.

For more information as it comes our, follow us on Twitter or identi.ca.

Uncategorized No Comments January 18th, 2010

Free Culture X is coming up very quickly and we’re working hard to finalize the preparations for the event held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. on February 13-14th. As you know, on the first day, Jonathan Zittrain will be giving the keynote address and there will be panels on open educational resources, open access and access to knowledge, campus technology policy, and university patent policy.

In the meantime, students interested in attending should investigate travel funding from their universities. The SFC Board is working hard to secure donations, but we need your help. Most schools provide money to registered student groups and many departments have discretionary funds to support educational opportunities for students. Look around and apply early because these things can take time; and don’t hesitate to contact the Board if we can provide any documentation to help!

Secondly, to make this a success, we’ll need volunteers to help with both pre-conference and during the event. We have set-up a mailing list to coordinate planning and encourage you to sign up for it here.

Finally, we would like to hear ideas for the second day’s workshops. If you have ideas, send them out to the FC X mailing list or add them to the call for workshop proposals and we’ll collect them.

conference 1 Comment December 28th, 2009

Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and faculty co-director of Berkman Center for Internet & Society, will provide the keynote address at the 2010 conference of Students for Free Culture, Free Culture X.

Zittrain’s research focuses on the battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, the roles of intermediaries within Internet architecture, and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education. He has been involved in reforming copyright as co-counsel in the Eldred v. Ashcroft case and cataloging censorship through Chilling Effects and the OpenNet Initiative.

His highly praised 2008 book, The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It, examined how the very characteristics of the Internet and PC which made them so successful are also the ingredients for their subsequent failure. In the backlash against crime and malware, Zittrain foresaw a future of sterile, tethered services and appliances where innovation is crippled.

Professor Zittrain is an entertaining and insightful speaker and we’re thrilled to have him at Free Culture X.

conference 1 Comment December 16th, 2009

The next Students for Free Culture conference is February 13-14. That’s sooner than you think—and it’s never too early to start planning.

If you’re a student leader, now is the time to seek travel funding from your schools and departments. You’d be surprised to learn how much support is available for you to represent your school at an international conference. Consult with your professors, counselors, and department heads to find out about grant opportunities.

We will be working hard to secure travel funding for representatives from SFC chapters to attend the conference. But we can’t guarantee funding, so ask around! Contact us if you need an invitation letter or any other support.

If you’re interested in volunteering, we now have a collaborative mailing list. We’ll use the list in the day-to-day coordination of the conference, up to and after the event. Sign up here.

Stay tuned for more updates. To stay in touch, consider following us on Twitter/identi.ca or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Uncategorized No Comments December 4th, 2009

Free Culture X – the 2010 Conference of Students for Free Culture – will be held February 13th and 14th in Washington, D.C.
In October 2008, hundreds of students, activists, coders and scholars gathered at UC Berkeley for Free Culture 2008. Between illuminating panel discussions and productive unconference sessions, the free culture community networked and planned for the future. It was there that the Wheeler Declaration was conceived to form the basis for SFC’s current advocacy around opening higher education. For a full rundown on FC 2008, check out our wrap-up post.

Now, a little more than a year later, Students for Free Culture will be convening the international free culture community for two days of networking, learning and acting. Free Culture X, the 2010 conference of SFC, will take place on February 13th and 14th at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

The vision is to bring together student activists and free culture luminaries to discuss, among other topics, free software and open standards, open access scholarship, open educational resources, network neutrality, and university patent policy, especially in the context of higher education.

In the coming weeks, we will announce the schedule and other logistics, but in the meantime, the Board of SFC wants to hear from you. If you have ideas, suggestions or would like to be involved, be in touch (board-at-freeculture-dot-org).

conference 1 Comment November 29th, 2009