Estudiolivre
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Abstract Estudiolivre (free studio) is an environment which enables the production,distribution and development of free media. It does this through personal weblogs, downloadable archives ,user manuals, forums, working groups, discussion lists and other collaborative work tools all of which are based on the concepts of free software,free knowledge and the appropriation of technology. Estudiolivre is unique as a collaborative Brazilian Portuguese speaking network, which researches and develops experimental andprofessional software livre for multimedia production. The community involved in estudiolivre realises that the use of free software in thecreative process is a way to improve the circulation of cultural 'goods'. Implemented this year throughout Brazil, in a partnership between the Brazilian Government and local cultural collectives, will be about 200Pontos de Cultura (cultural hotspots). Each of which , through an interface to Estudiolivre, will become mediactive in the network. Thefeedback loop will mean that the terms user and developer cease to exist and it is culture itself which influences the direction of'estudiolivre'. In the presentation we wanted to shortly demonstrate what we've been researching and producing in EstudioLivre and also mention thecultural hotspots.
DescriptionSome brazilian background:According to the United States, Brazil is a pirate nation. The International Intellectual Property Alliance estimates that this piracy cost United States copyright industries close to $1 billion last year. Consequently, the U.S. has begun to put pressure on Brazil. That pressure has produced an unsurprising reaction against the stuff that makes it possible for Brazil to be a pirate nation--proprietary code and proprietary culture. For there's another way to reckon the cost of the proprietary. According to the Brazilian government, for example, Brazil sends close to $1 billion to the north each year just to pay for software licenses. So as the Brazilians see it, tongue firmly in cheek, this proprietary stuff is a bad thing all around--costing the U.S. $1 billion, and Brazil $1 billion as well. The obvious solution is to dump the proprietary stuff. So the Brazilian government is pushing itself and the nation to substitute free software for proprietary software. As one member of the government said during a speech at the World Social Forum, "We're against software piracy. We believe Microsoft's rights should be respected. And the simplest way to respect their rights is for Brazilians everywhere to switch to free software." The Brazilian government is beginning to internalize the tenets of the free-culture movement as well. Brazil's minister of culture, Gilberto Gil, is leading a push for practical reform of the copyright system. His ministry has launched a project called Points of Culture (Pontos de Cultura) that will establish free-software studios, built with free software, in a thousand towns and villages throughout Brazil, enabling people to create culture using tools that support free cultural transmission. If things go as planned, the result will be an archive of Brazilian music, which will be stored in digital form and governed by a license inspired by free software's GPL. The Canto Livre project will "free music" made in Brazil, for Brazilians (and the world) to remix and re-create. And like a free-software project, it achieves that freedom on the back of copyright. Gil is emphatically not against copyright. He's one of Brazil's most successful musical artists, which means he has benefited greatly from copyright. But he is also one of the very few Brazilian artists to make it outside of Brazil. And he is convinced that a different kind of economy might spread Brazilian creativity more broadly. So the U.S. calls them pirates, and they reform their ways--not by more faithfully buying our products, but by finding ways to remain creative without infringing our rights. This is free software "ported"--as software engineers say--to free culture, and it inspires all the hype typical of such movements. "We're hoping," the leader of the free-software lab explained, "everybody is going to start producing their own media content and then they won't have to watch TV anymore." That's a rather grand ambition, no doubt. But before you dismiss it as mere youthful idealism, consider this: had you met Richard Stallman in 1984, would you have believed him? And remember, he didn't have the government of the fifth-largest nation in the world behind him.
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