Free Culture Forum

The Free Culture Forum (FCForum) is an ian international meeting of relevant organisations and individuals involved in free culture, digital rights and access to knowledge. It has been taking place in Barcelona every year since 2009, jointly with the oXcars, a free culture festival.

Free Culture Forum
FCForum logo
LocationBarcelona, Spain
Organised byXnet
Websitehttp://fcforum.net

FCForum 2009

The main objectives of the Free Culture Forum 2009 (from October 30 to November 1) were, on the one hand, building networks to optimise the efforts of the different groups and setting common demands against the proposals from industry and governments in their eagerness to control culture and information; and on the other hand reinforcing the self-organisation of tools and infrastructures to support free culture.[1] The Free Knowledge Institute. The FCForum 2009 produced the Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge.[2]

Official observers from the European Community's Commission for Culture and Education , the European Community's Commission for Consumer Protection Government of Brazil ( were present.

Charter for innovation, creativity and access to knowledge

The Charter for innovation, creativity and access to knowledge contains suggested legal requirements, guidelines for education and access to knowledge, and structural requirements for a knowledge-based society. The guidelines were discussed by more than a hundred representatives at the forum. The Charter was used as an international reference during consultation with the Department of Digital Culture (Government of Brazil). It was used to negotiate sustainable laws with the Spanish Government, and the proposals were presented to the European Council during the Spanish Presidency of the European Union in 2010. Among the Charter's endorsers there are Jimmy Wales, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Consumers International, Electronic Frontier Foundation, David Bollier, Students for Free Culture, European Digital Rights, Participatory Culture Foundation, La Quadrature du Net, Transnational Institute, Department of Digital Culture (Government of Brazil), Pirat Partie, Creative Commons España, La-EX, and Networked Politics.

The Charter has been disseminated and implemented worldwide, including the 26th Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin[3] and the Free Culture X Conference][4]

FCForum 2010

The second FCForum[5] was held in Barcelona from October 28 to 31, 2010 and focused on economical models. It resulted in a Declaration and How to Manual on sustainability of creativity in the digital era[6] The FCForum declaration was signed by 80 organisations and individuals, including Richard Stallman.

Sustainable models for creativity in the digital age

In February 2011, two documents drafted by FCForum participants were released: Sustainable Models for Creativity[7] and the How-To Manual for Sustainable creativity[8] addressed at political reformers, citizens and free culture activists. Both documents are based on an understanding that current royalties management and cultural distribution systems have become obsolete in the digital age, and the conviction that free software and peer production and distribution is not incompatible with commercial distribution. The How-To Manual sets out a series of alternative commercial and non-profit models. It insists that the Internet must remain free and open in order to allow online collaboration models to develop, and it must be recognised as a tool that promotes contact between creators and the public. It offers an overview of new models that are already operating in a variety of fields, such as freemium, crowdfunding and micropayment systems in which users make small financial contributions to projects that are looking for seed funding through platforms such as Kickstarter and lanzanos.com or to existing initiatives that are given money depending on the number of users who vote for them. It also claims that the creators of commercial cooperative platforms should share their profits with the creators of the content they publish.

FCForum 2011

The third annual FCForum was held in Barcelona on October 28, 29 and 30, under the title ‘Networks for a R-evolution’.

It included a round table on the current situation of film and the Internet in Spain, with Álex de la Iglesia, Juan Carlos Tous, Amparo Peiró, Eudald Doménech and the lawyer Josep Jover. This was followed by a session in which Yproducciones, Kayros Transmedia, Daniel Granados, Kolector, Flattr, Goteo and Verkami explored some new sustainable alternatives for the creative sector.[9]

Day two focused on challenges and tools for the defence of the Internet and of sharing in the framework of the digital revolution. Participants included the lawyer David Bravo, La Quadrature du Net, John Perry Barlow and Richard Stallman.

FCForum 2012

The fourth FCForum was held at Ars Santa Mònica on October 26 and 27.

It explored the theme of sustainable models for the creative sector, with practical examples from the fields of journalism, education (Freeangle) and publishing (Bookcamping). The report on crowdfunding "Crowdfunding Experiences in Spain and Catalonia: Key Characteristics, Challenges and Obstacles. Inspiration and Recommendations for a Stronger Tool for Collective, Public and Private Cross-Financing” was presented. One of the main sections looked at how cyber crime is being used as an excuse to criminalize and control the Internet,.

It also covered democracy in the digital age, with debates on transparency in public institutions (Cuentas Claras, Discursia, Sueldos Públicos, Graba to Pleno, Qué hacen los diputados, Open Knowledge Foundation, Access Info, Tu Derecho a Saber and Civio), journalism and freedom of information, and networked democracy.

The 2012 FCForum also worked on a system for the collaborative reform of Intellectual Property legislation in Spain and the European Union, using documents linked to the FCForum and the proposal prepared by Quadrature du Net as a point of departure. It also participated in the book Cultura libre digital - Nociones básicas para defender lo que es de todxs, which was published by Editorial Icaria in 2012.

FCForum 2013

The FCForum 2013 took place on October 25 and revolved around four core themes: Creativity, Culture and Knowledge: New models of access and production; Data Science: The potential and limits of Big Data; Networked Democracy; and Electronic Money and Distributed Currency: Strengths and weaknesses.

FCForum 2014

The sixth edition of the FCForum was itinerant; it took place in different spaces and dates.

The Barcelona Growth Center hosted on November 4 an all-day meeting on Networked Democracy and Technopolitics where eight participants with experience in these fields explained both dimensions and the practices in technopolitics and democracy. On November 5, 6 and 7, at the BAU Design College of Barcelona, several workshops on design tools took place as well as lectures divided in five blocks:

  • Free design practices
  • Prosthetics and pots
  • Open hardware and design
  • Critical perspectives in art and design
  • Design of open spaces

The participants in this edition were designers, artists, associations and cultural collectives.

On November 27, 28 and 29, at the Barcelona's Center of Contemporary Culture, The Influencers took place; a festival about non conventional art, communication guerrilla and radical entertainment.

FCForum 2015

Under the title Fighters & Makers, the seventh edition of the FCForum took place on October 30 and 31 and November 2, 2015, in different spaces in Barcelona.[10]

On October 30,[11] Sala Conservas held a series of working groups on - Legislation on copyright and intellectual property. Net Neutrality.[12]- Freedom of expression, and freedom of information

On October 31, the FCForum moved to the Farinera del Clot cultural centre, opening with a press conference for journalists and attendees to introduce the "Citizen Group against Corruption";

See also

References
  1. Free Culture Forum Barcelona, Oct 29-Nov 1, by Cory Doctorow.
  2. [http://fcforum.net/charter_extended Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge
  3. Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge workshop in the 26C3
  4. Notes for the FCX Workshop: Charter for Innovation, Creativity and A2K
  5. "Barcelona acoge el principal foro de cultura libre de Europa". El País. 28 October 2010.
  6. Declaration and How to Manual on sustainability of creativity in the digital era.
  7. "Declaration for Sustainable Creativity".
  8. ,
  9. "El Foro de la Cultura Libre prepara la defensa de Internet". El País. 28 October 2011.
  10. "#FCForum15: Herramientas para salvar el mundo". eldiario.es. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
  11. "Working groups". 2015.fcforum.net. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
  12. "El Free Culture Forum no es resigna a perdre la neutralitat a Internet | BTVNOTICIES.cat". www.btv.cat. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
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