Ferdi, from Kunci, and I, from EngageMedia, started working together on Videochronic. Ferdi had done so much research for that book (if you haven’t seen it download it for free here or order a hard copy), but because it was a book (yes the kind with a beginning and an end) and because we had a deadline, much of that fabulous research got left out of the final edit. We kept talking about it though, we were not satisfied with all the loose ends…
We met again at Camp Sambel in June, and one of the hot topics of discussion was licensing of activist video. We decided we need to get some of the dilemmas down in writing. What is unique about the Indonesia situation? Why is Creative Commons not used to its full potential? How can it be localised? What kind of colonial roots are there in the current licensing solutions?
So we submitted an idea for a journal article to Platform… and got it accepted. Oh, dear, now we had to really write, not just ramble. We met to do some outlining in Yogya, sitting up the back of a conference like naughty kids, and then had some nasi pecel to assign tasks, and from there, we worked remotely. Ferdi I and I usually nongkrong on Skype as he is in Jateng and I am in NSW.
Academic publishing takes a long time, so it feels as though things have already changed since we wrote this piece, but we are happy that our thoughts finally got ‘out there’. We really think it contributes to an important discussion. let us know what you think. …research is nothing if it is not interactive.
Oh and of course, the writing is licensed with CC.
‘Can Open Mean Terbuka? Negotiating Licenses for Indonesian Video Activism’ Alexandra Crosby and Ferdiansyah Thajib in PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication, Yes, We’re Open! Why Open Source, Open Content and Open Access. A Creative Commons Special Edition (December): 94-105. ISSN: 1836-5132 Online © Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia licence
Download the article here. Download the full Creative commons Special Issue here.
