Students for Free Culture (SFC) is a diverse, non-partisan group of students and young people who are working to get their peers involved in the free culture movement. Launched in April 2004 at Swarthmore College, SFC has helped establish student groups at colleges and universities across the United States. Today, SFC chapters exist at over 30 colleges, from Maine to California, with many more getting started around the world.

Students for Free Culture was founded by two Swarthmore students after they sued voting-machine manufacturer Diebold for abusing copyright law in 2003. Named after the book Free Culture by Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig, SFC is part of a growing movement, with roots in the free software / open source community, media activists, creative artists and writers, and civil libertarians. Groups with which SFC has collaborated include Creative Commons, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, and Downhill Battle.

Students for Free Culture has four major functions:

• Creating and providing resources for our chapters and for the general public
• Outreach to youth and students
• Networking with other people, companies and organizations in the free culture movement

Free Culture Conference 2008

While SFC has held small, regional conferences before, this is the first we’ve done on a large scale with a real budget. We’ve raised over $10,000 to help fly out students, activists, and free culture community members for Columbus day weekend to help strengthen and grow our movement. While Day 1 is intended to give a thorough introduction to the players and issues in our movement, Day 2 is designed to help students learn the key components in activism through work shops and an un-conference setting.

The conference will be held October 11th at the Chevron Auditorium at UC Berkeley. Anyone interested in politics, tech policy, art, and culture will find something to like—we’ll be featuring keynote presentations from Pam Samuelson of Boalt Hall, Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law, and Mozilla Corporation CEO John Lilly. We are also convening panels on transparent politics, remix culture, copyright reform, and open access to knowledge and medicine. Richard Rinehart of Berkeley Art Museum will present the groundbreaking OpenMuseum project and Berkeley’s OKAPI group will demonstrate its virtual recreation of Çatalhöyük island for the Open Archaeology project. Filmmaker Nina Paley will be present for a screening of her groundbreaking film Sita Sings the Blues. And on October 12th, SFC will present a slate of intimate “unconference” style workshops on the Berkeley campus. Join guests from Creative Commons, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and others!

We hope to see you there.

Details

October 11th, 2008
10 AM—7 PM
Chevron Auditorium, International House
2299 Piedmont Ave
Berkeley, CA 94720
Google map

Confirmed speakers include:
Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law
Prof. Pam Samuelson, UC Berkeley
John Lilly, Mozilla CEO

The SFC Conference 2008 Team.