Grants:Project/Rapid/Discott/5th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest/Report

Report accepted
This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2018-19 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

This report covers Discott's trip and participation in the 5th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest hosted at and by the American University Collage of Law.

Goals

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Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

Overall I am happy with the outcome of the event. Connections were strengthened with existing partners and a DC chapter, achieve core goals (working with legal experts to produce informative matrix simplifying copyright user rights for education), learnt more about international copyright (assisted with our advocacy efforts) and made new contacts for future possible collaboration.

The Goals mentioned in the original grant application were:

  • A matrix summarising copyright user rights around the world by country is created on a Wikimedia project site (such as Meta or Commons or Wikipedia). Produced with the help of international IP legal scholars.
  • A map summarising the matrix is produced and featured.
  • Number of legal scholars participating:
  • Number of new potential partners:
  • Number of countries covered:

Outcome

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A photograph of the Hackathon workshop at the 5th Global Congress for IP and Public Interest conducted with copyright legal scholars from around the world.


Expected outcomes

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Outcomes discussed in the original grant application:

Goal Impact Status Notes
A matrix summarising copyright user rights around the world by country is created on a Wikimedia project site (such as Meta or Commons or Wikipedia). Produced with the help of international IP legal scholars. Matrix produced: 5 countries. See produce matrix here. Status: ongoing as we wait to receive more legal surveys.   Done
A map summarising the matrix is produced and featured. On going, once done map will be used on the copyright article page on Wikipedia to illustrate copyright user rights globally for education. See Unexpected outcomes: The map below for more information   Doing...
Number of legal scholars participating 21 Well attended event. Learn more here.   Done
Number of new potential partners American University Washington Collage of Law
Other copyright specialists (EFF, other law collages)
A number of new potential partners met. Partnership with ReCreate ZA expanded into a partnership with the American University Washington Collage of Law     Done
Number of countries covered 6 so far out of a potential 21 5 done, 1 in need of clarification, the rest ongoing   Doing...


Unexpected outcomes

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Douglas (WMZA) and Peter (WMDC) attending the event. The event allowed the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at the American University Collage of Law who organised the event to meet Wikimedia DC.

A number of unexpected outcomes happened not predicted in the original grant application:

  • Built stronger Wikimedia ZA - Wikimedia DC relations & attended the Hispanic Heritage Month Wikipedia Editing Workshop hosted by Wikimedia DC.
  • Wikimedia DC connections with the American University Washington Collage of Law - strong interest to possibly do copyright and IP cooperation in the future.
  • The map: due to the unexpecidly complex nature of the data recieved and the large number of metrix coverd in the survey it was difficult to zero in on one metrix to make a map about. Should we focus on countries that allow quotations or countries that document the copyright user rights of teacher by country, or should we focus on students, or schools, GLAMs? It was decided that the most useful approach would be for the legal scholar partners to produce and publish an index of copyright user rights by country for education and that this index (a single number for each country) could then be used to produce a map.
  • Got to meet Blue Rasberry (talk) to discuss Wikipedian in Residence program and how to best deploy the program to at least two very interested partners in Cape Town.

Learning

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Maintain flexibility

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When the unexpected happens (see below) maintain flexibility so as to best achieve goals and maximise any unforeseen additional opportunities.

Expect that unpredictable things will happen

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Things never play out in reality exactly as planned. We were expecting around 14-20 participants to submit their legal surveys so we would produce the table on meta in one go. However we only got six completed legal surveys at the workshop with promises for the rest to follow. This was due to the complicated nature of some legal codes with regards to copyright meaning that the legal scholars and participators participating requested more time to fill them in. The project partners at the Collage of Law thought that this was a good outcome as it meant that the project would be ongoing. An outcome they wanted.

The other thing I was not expecting was the complicated nature of the data provided. Although I only got 6 forms over the three days of the conference the 'dept' of the data for each country was much bigger than expected necessitating some new approaches.

By attending this event I also was able to greatly expand my understanding and knowledge of global copyright reform for open knowledge. Thereby greatly assisting our (Wikimedia ZA's) advocacy efforts.


Finances

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Grant funds spent

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Expense type Notes Amount (US$)
Transport Mostly between conference venue and accommodation. Not including metro costs to attend Wikimedia DC event on the 26 September. $90.06
Accommodation Needed to stay 2 additional days passed the 30th September. Left on the 2nd October 2018. $680.15
Food Based on $25 x 5 days as mentioned in the grant application (plus 1 additional day) $150
Total $920.21
  • NB: Not yet (as of 14 October 2018) received funds. Need to be reimbursed for all expenses mentioned here.

Remaining funds

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Do you have any remaining grant funds?

  • No - grant expenses listed here were reimbursed during report period.

Anything else

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Anything else you want to share about your project?

  • Not that I can currently think of.