„OPEN KNOWLEDGE, FREE CULTURE“ A Conference on the Sharing of Knowledge

Monday, December 21, 2009

Phnom Penh: On January 8th, 2010, there will be a conference on the “Sharing of Knowledge” at Royal University of Phnom Penh, Institute of Foreign Languages, Meeting Hall, IFL campus, Russian Blvd, Toul Kork Phnom Penh Cambodia . The conference is sponsored by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD).

I. TOPIC OF THE CONFERENCE

The rise of “free software” in the last couple of years is one of the
most significant paradigm shifts of the “information society” in the
early 21st century. Instead of guarding their intellectual property
rights, the developers of open source software freely share and
distribute their creations, and have even developed business models out
of it.

They are part of a larger “culture of sharing” that extends beyond the
realm of computer software. Taking advantage of the capability to
digital media to share information internationally and for negligible
costs, this kind of “free culture” has given developing countries like
Cambodia access to tremendous sources of information and “free culture”.

This conference will discuss the cultural and political implication of
the “Open-Source”-model from the point of view of a developing country.
It will question the effectiveness of the international regime of
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Copyright, that often interferes
with the free proliferation of knowledge and look at alternatives to the
current status quo in terms of IPR.

The event brings together scholars and experts from Cambodia, Indonesia,
Germany and the Philippines to look at a number of cultural practices
that are based on the free sharing of information in such different
fields as music, computer software, and different online media.

Please see the attached program for details.

II. CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Registration

8:00 – 8:15 AM
Welcoming Remarks from Hannelore Bossmann, Deutscher Akademischer
Austauschdienst, Ho-Chi-Minh- City
Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel (DAAD), lecturer, Department of Media and
Communication, Royal University Phnom Penh

8:15 – 10:00 AM

PANEL I

Moderator: Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel (DAAD), Department of Media and
Communication, Royal University Phnom Penh

Roberto Verzola, University of the Philippines
Under-mining Abundance in the Information Sector (Keynote)

Norbert Klein, The Open Institute, Phnom Penh
Open Source and Open Knowledge

Tharum Bun, blogger, contributor to Global Voices Online, Asian
Correspondent and the Phnom Penh Post
Blogging in Cambodia

10:00 AM – 10:20 AM

Coffee Break

10:20 AM – 12:00 NN

PANEL II

Moderator: Tieng Sopheak Vichea, Acting Head, Department of Media and
Communication, Royal University Phnom Penh

Maria Mangahas, PhD., Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology,
University of the Philippines
The case of ‘Hello Garci’ and other digitized ‘scandals!’: ICT and video
anarchy in the Philippine context

Yuka Narendra, Independent Researcher and Musician, Jakarta
Tales from the Phonographic Oceans: The Story of “Yess Records”,
1977-1988, Bandung, Indonesia

Dr. Lilawati Kurnia, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia
Can We Own Music? Technology and Inequalities in Case of Dangdut Music
in Indonesia