We’ve got a new episode of our podcast to share. On today’s episode of Open Minds … from Creative Commons, I talk to Lila Bailey. She’s the policy counsel (i.e. the lead lawyer) for the Internet Archive, the nonprofit digital library that makes millions of books, movies, websites, and other cultural works available for free to the public.
Lila’s made it her mission to use policy and technology to democratize access to culture and knowledge. She’s a vocal advocate for libraries and archives—and the people they serve. Earlier in Lila’s career, she worked at Creative Commons, where she and I were colleagues.
In our conversation, Lila talks about what the Internet Archive does, and how her role there works. We also discuss digital lending, the Archive’s National Emergency Library project (and the publishing industry’s response to it), and our shared concern about the “platformization” of content that cannot be archived for posterity.
Please subscribe to the show in whatever podcast app you use, so you don’t miss any of our conversations with people working to make the internet and our global culture more open and collaborative.
This past year has been full of change and challenges for all of us, and I’ve never been more grateful for (and amazed by!) the people that make up our CC community.
I joined Creative Commons in 2016 as a newbie to the open movement, eager to learn from this incredible community and grow the CC Global Summit. Since then, I’ve been immersed in all the awesome things our community has to offer and grown to deeply respect and appreciate the people that make up our movement. I’m excited about our next steps together as I take on the role of Community Engagement Manager here at CC.
Our plans for the 2021 virtual Global Summit are well underway, and to support this event, we’ll be searching for an Event Producer—stay tuned!
Thanks to all of you for welcoming into the CC community, laughing at my silly questions, showing support, and keeping me humble. I’m committed to doing everything I can to help our community shine bright.
For over 40 years, millions across the globe have collectively celebrated the achievements, histories, ideas, and contributions of women on March 8 and increasingly, throughout March for Women’s History Month using #HerStory and #BecauseOfHerStory. This year, we wanted to do something special to celebrate this annual event, so we reached out to several members of the Creative Commons Global Network and the broader open community to ask them to share their personal stories, ideas, and insights by responding to five questions. The result is this five-part blog series called, “Her Story.” Throughout this series, we’ll also be highlighting the work of women artists who submitted pieces to Fine Acts’ Reimagining Human Rights challenge.
Our hope is that these conversations will inspire you to reflect on your own stories and ideas. We also hope it will motivate you to think about how you can help make open sharing more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable. Put simply, we want to make sharing better—to do that, we need your help.
In part five of this series, participants responded to the following question: What initiatives or projects in the open movement are you most excited about and why?
Florence Devouard | Co-Lead, Wiki Loves Women; Wikimedian for 19 years; Former Chairwoman, Wikimedia Foundation
Pour ma part, je suis une wikipédienne dans l’âme. J’aime la diversité des personnes qui forment sa communauté et j’aime cette approche de “neutralité de point de vue” car quelque soit notre bagage militant (notre positionnement politique, religieux etc.), on est prié d’essayer de le laisser à la porte lorsque l’on contribue. Bien loin de se retrouver dans l’entre-soi comme sur de nombreux réseaux sociaux, il est possible de multiplier les interactions avec des personnes totalement différentes de nous. Pour ma part, j’aime également appartenir à plusieurs sous-communautés, plutôt que de me consacrer à une seule, ce qui génère plus d’opportunités excitantes à explorer ! Puisqu’on me demande des exemples concrets, je vais en prendre trois.
– Un groupe d’action : les sans pagEs. C’est un groupe francophone très actif né du besoin de combler le fossé et le biais de genre sur Wikipédia.
– Un autre groupe d’action : le UserGroup “Wikimedians for offline wikis“. C’est un groupe hétéroclite de personnes cherchant à faciliter l’accès à la connaissance et à la culture auprès des personnes peu ou pas connectées à internet.
EN: For my part, I am a Wikipedian at heart. I like the diversity of the people who make up its community and I like its approach of a “neutrality of point of view,” meaning whatever our background (e.g. political, religious positioning, etc.), we are asked to try to leave it at the door when contributing. Far from being in the inter-self as on many social networks, it is possible to multiply interactions with people who are totally different from us. For my part, I also like belonging to multiple sub-communities, rather than dedicating myself to just one, which generates more exciting opportunities to explore! Since I am asked for concrete examples, I will take three.
– An action group: the sans pagEs. It is a very active French-speaking group born from the need to bridge the gap and the gender bias on Wikipedia.
– Another action group: the UserGroup “Wikimedians for offline wikis.” It is a motley group of people seeking to facilitate access to knowledge and culture for people with little or no internet connection.
Hildah Nyakwaka | Community Coordinator, Center for Digital Resilience
Irene Soria Guzmán | Representative to the Global Network Council, CC México; feminista; académica y activista de la cultura libre
Fuente tipográfica libre Ácrata—hecha por mujeres diseñadoras mexicanas, por que es la primera fuente abierta para destruir al patriarcado.
Lxs pitarecas—porque es un proyecto que nos invita a cuestionar los derechos de autor y ha causado polémica en México por compartir libros en internet
EN: The free open typeface “Ácrata” made by Mexican women designers—it’s the first open-source typeface to destroy the patriarchy. See it here. Lxs pitarecas—it’s a project that invites us to question copyright and has caused controversy in Mexico for sharing books on the internet.
Isla Haddow-Flood| Chair and Advancement Lead, Wiki In Africa; CoProject Lead, Wiki Loves Women
Beyond the initiatives and projects I co-created and love so much, such as Wiki Loves Women (training women to seize their own agency on Wikimedia projects) and Wiki Loves Africa (using photography as a fun way to break down the barriers to contribution and rewrite the visual perception of Africa), there are so many other amazing projects within the Wikimedia movement, such as WikiDonne, Les sans pagEs, Art + Feminism, WikiGap, Women in Red, etc (more can be found here).
I am always excited about the opportunities Creative Commons offers artists (to create logos, for instance)—this is always a great opportunity to see and view a diversity of cultures across the globe. The CC Global Summit in particular allows for creatives to share their work and progress in the open movement, which is also exciting. However, it’ll be even more exciting if the next CC Global Summits deliberately open spaces for feminist engagement on a global platform.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Creative Commons published an article titled, “Now Is the Time for Open Access Policies—Here’s Why” in March 2020. We felt it imperative to underscore the importance of open access, specifically open science, in times of crisis. A lot has changed since March of last year and it’s important to assess the progress made and take a hard look at the dangers ahead.
In this panel, hosted on 16 March 2021, we examined the fields of Open Data, Open Science, and Open Source Medical Hardware with panelists Dr. Tarek Loubani (Medical Director and Physician, The Glia Project) Dr. Tim Hubbard (Professor of Bioinformatics, Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics at King’s College London), and Dr. Uma Suthersanen (Professor of Global Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary University of London).
Moderator Brigitte Vézina (Director of Policy, Creative Commons) opened the panel with this question: What does “open” mean in the context of COVID-19?
Dr. Suthersanen explained that “open” can mean a lot of things—from open science to open data to open GLAM—but the past year and a half has especially illustrated the importance of open platforms. “You can have a lot of ‘openness,’ but if there are no bridges and if the platforms are all closed [behind a paywall, for instance] then is anything really open?” she asked. Open platforms are especially important for the dissemination of scientific research. “One of the things that have happened as a result of COVID,” Dr. Hubbard responded, “is we’ve seen a vast amount of people publishing in open journals or on free publication platforms.” In fact, the pandemic has pushed scientists into pre-publishing their work almost immediately rather than waiting for journals and/or peer review.
This pandemic illustrated the necessity and effectiveness of public pressure on companies to open up their intellectual property when it’s in the public’s interest.
In general, the panelists agreed that the open movement had been strengthened through the crisis. Dr. Suthersanen, in particular, pointed out that the number of discussions around patents and intellectual property (IP) over the last year has grown immensely—this is a positive development because it means the IP conversation has taken on momentum. “IP has not descended from a god,” she explained, “they are state-granted property rights…What they give, they can take away.” To take advantage of this momentum, we need to change the narrative around IP to combat the fear that pharmaceutical companies have. Dr. Loubani also recognized that during the pandemic we saw what happens when the supply chains fall apart: the momentum behind open source medical hardware during COVID-19 came out of an urgent need for supplies and devices. He also mentioned that the pandemic illustrated the necessity and effectiveness of public pressure on companies to open up their IP when it’s in the public’s interest.
So what does the future of “open” look like?
While openly sequencing the genome of the virus wasn’t really an issue, explained Dr. Hubbard, the primary challenge to more openness in science, especially healthcare, is sharing individual patient data for research purposes. We need to figure out how to protect people’s privacy regarding their health data but also openly share that information with scientists to inform medical innovation and research. “Maybe we’ll get away from the idea of data sharing,” he suggested, “and lean more towards sharing information that is the summary of a set of data while the raw data itself stays locked away.” Dr. Loubani agreed, saying that data privacy is a major issue in open-source medical hardware and open science because it can impact people’s trust in their healthcare systems and providers. That’s why, he explained, Glia is focused on designing with privacy and trust in mind. There is no other option. “Open isn’t only the most ethical way forward, it’s the most practical,” Dr. Loubani emphasized, “We can’t go back.”
“We’re convinced that you have to be a ‘giant’ to actually do something that matters, but you don’t—and I’m not. It’s all of these little movements that help us move forward”
CC’s Director of Policy Brigitte Vézina explained why hosting these conversations and asking these questions are so important. “The open movement doesn’t exist for its own sake, it’s there to try and achieve higher goals, such as access to education or healthcare,” she said, “The open movement enables citizens to exercise their fundamental rights.”
Finally, we ended the panel on a hopeful note as Dr. Loubani reminded everyone of the responsibility and capabilities we all have to carry this movement forward. “We’re convinced that you have to be a ‘giant’ to actually do something that matters, but you don’t—and I’m not,” he explained, “It’s all of these little movements that help us move forward…We’ve gone forward 20 or 25 years in open access in the past year during the pandemic, and now it’s ours to lose.”
Of course, there’s a lot more conversation that isn’t mentioned here—from questions about combatting vaccine hesitation to a discussion around marrying human rights and open access—that’s why we highly encourage you to watch the full panel (with subtitles in Français and Español)!
For over 40 years, millions across the globe have collectively celebrated the achievements, histories, ideas, and contributions of women on March 8 and increasingly, throughout March for Women’s History Month using #HerStory and #BecauseOfHerStory. This year, we wanted to do something special to celebrate this annual event, so we reached out to several members of the Creative Commons Global Network and the broader open community to ask them to share their personal stories, ideas, and insights by responding to five questions. The result is this five-part blog series called, “Her Story.” Throughout this series, we’ll also be highlighting the work of women artists who submitted pieces to Fine Acts’ Reimagining Human Rights challenge.
Our hope is that these conversations will inspire you to reflect on your own stories and ideas. We also hope it will motivate you to think about how you can help make open sharing more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable. Put simply, we want to make sharing better—to do that, we need your help.
In part three of this series, participants responded to the following question: What efforts or actions should be taken by open organizations to ensure the movement is more inclusive?
Florence Devouard | Co-Lead, Wiki Loves Women; Wikimedian for 19 years; Former Chairwoman, Wikimedia Foundation
Plusieurs initiatives du monde libre travaillent à la mise en place de code de conduite, charte de bonnes pratiques, lutte contre le harcèlement, usage de langage inclusif, respect du genre déclaré, prise en compte des besoins des personnes neuroatypiques ou en situation de handicap lors des évènements présentiels, réflexion sur les modes de représentation au sein des conseils d’administration, délocalisation des évènements depuis l’Europe/Etats-Unis vers d’autres continents, prise en charge des frais de nounous, prise en charge des frais de connexion internet, respect des préférences alimentaires etc.
Il serait bon d’être à l’écoute des démarches engagés par les autres organisations du mouvement libre, éventuellement d’établir un observatoire des bonnes pratiques de chacune d’entre elles (selon les étapes de discussion, pilote, implémentation, retours d’expérience) et multiplier les opportunités d’échanges et de partage de documents.
EN: Several initiatives in the [open movement] are working on the establishment of a code of conduct, a charter of good practices, fight against harassment, use of inclusive language, respect for declared gender, taking into account the needs of neuro-atypical people or people with disabilities during face-to-face events, reflection on modes of representation on boards of directors, relocation of events from Europe / United States to other continents, coverage of nanny fees, coverage of connection fees for the internet, respect for food preferences, etc.
It would be good to follow the steps taken by the other organizations in the open movement to establish an observatory of the good practices (e.g. stages of discussion, piloting, implementation, feedback, etc.) and increase the opportunities for exchange and sharing of documents.
Hildah Nyakwaka | Community Coordinator, Center for Digital Resilience
Pay people that are doing the hard work of fostering and building open communities outside of the United States and Europe. Without support, they cannot participate as they would like to. Hire black people, folks from the LGBTQI community, from Indigenous communities and honour their efforts. Move out of your comfort zone and find people that are creating a positive impact—and share their stories, introduce them to the powerful networks you have access to; put your allyship where your power and money is. Get rid of the volunteerism industrial complex.
İlkay Holt | Representative to the CC Global Network Council, CC Turkey
I can think of a long list of actions but overall I believe that supporting multilingualism, welcoming cultural diversity and community-driven governance, as well as openness in workflows, transparency in decisions and utilizing a collaborative approach around shared values could help create a more inclusive environment at the organisational level.
Irene Soria Guzmán | Representative to the Global Network Council, CC México; feminista; académica y activista de la cultura libre
Creo que la empatía es fundamental. Ir más allá de “incluir” y mejor, crear otros mundos y otras realidades diversas. Que podamos hablar abiertamente y en espacios seguros sobre los problemas que tenemos desde el sur global y otras periferias y márgenes.
EN: I think empathy is essential. Go beyond “include” and move on to create other worlds and other diverse realities. Build safe spaces where we can speak openly about the problems we face in the Global South and in other peripheries and margins.
Isla Haddow-Flood| Chair and Advancement Lead, Wiki In Africa; CoProject Lead, Wiki Loves Women
Recite the Wikimedia mantra: be bold! Recognise your own biases—both conscious and unconscious. Open up channels of communication for feedback, criticism and constructive suggestions. Don’t just pay lip-service to inclusivity, be it. Find ways to bring people in from the margins. Make sure your values reflect inclusivity and that you and your team live by those values.
Mariana Valente| Director, InternetLab; Professor, Insper University; 2019-2020 CC Brazil lead
The first step is to recognize the existing power imbalances and take concrete, bold steps to address them. One problem is the defensiveness and protectiveness of the past and how things used to be that causes silence and inaction. I’m not just referring to gender imbalances but to the many inequalities that exist across our organizations and our societies. We need to recognize these and move forward.
The second thing, in a movement like ours that works in so many different layers and levels, is understanding and internalizing that identities are constantly shifting and are contextual. Someone subalternized in certain environments will probably be in situations of privilege when facing others. For example, in international environments, I face discrimination for being a Brazilian woman that is very different from the experiences I have back at home, where besides being a woman, I enjoy many privileges that are related to the racial and class-related local history and context. This also affects my international experiences. Women from other countries and continents might face these issues differently. Because we are a global community, this requires difficult conversations, as well as constant checking and evaluation.
We are, of course, referring to attitudes and practices, but change requires policies too. We can learn from the many experiences out there of organizational policies that have made rights and wrongs in addressing these issues: diversity, effective participation in decision-making, qualified hearing procedures, anti-harassment actions, etc. We know, of course, no rights have ever been granted without struggle—so, we need to organize. It is amazing to see how many women from this community have taken on feminist causes inside the community, have tirelessly addressed this in summits, talks, projects, and everyday actions. Huge thanks to them!
Consider affirmative action positions in the leadership of the open movement. Let us be deliberate in appointing women to lead specific aspects of the open movement. Women in many aspects will not offer themselves for leadership, let us seek them out and offer them the spaces to lead and offer their works. Let us celebrate them as much as we celebrate the male gender.
There’s more! Read part one, part two, and part three of our “Her Story” blog series today. Part five will be published soon. Stay tuned!
There’s more! Read 
