 What is the public domain? I told you the strict legal definition, so works for which the terms of protection have Aspired, but maybe from this very short introduction that I'm giving you you have an idea that it's maybe broader than that So the first thing I would like to ask Charlie Nesson is is it broader? What is the public domain in your view? well, I think of the public domain from a student's point of view somebody coming onto the net and The public domain is everything that someone coming onto the net can access for free Without feeling at risk that they're going to be sued So it's actually the free space of the net that is open as a common wealth of all Citizens of the net I Yesterday we were talking and me and other people were struck by the idea that the public domain is what you can do Absolutely the public domain is a relationship to the individual in which the individual is empowered Both to access a tremendous wealth That is just a click away and is also empowered to create To contribute to the public domain That is if if I would like to use my creativity in some way that is open to the public world that's the methodology of of Creativity and access to the domain and it's in some way surprising how Impedent that is by existing structures so many times when we discuss about content online there is this idea that The only or the most important use is just consuming and therefore all these metaphors of piracy of stealing and there is so little Emphasis on the fact that you can actually do things with the things you find online You can actually have entrepreneurial ideas that you can recreate in remix Existing ideas in order to make your point. So these there is a in my view a lack of emphasis on what you can actually do Not simply consume Yes, and I would relate that to What I think of as the the problem of the Internet the Internet comes as a kind of amazing invention I Have the benefit in my lifetime of having Gone from just the very first little bits To seeing this amazing Internet environment cyber environment that we're in but when you ask Who who are the major what are the major? foundations For Internet you can think of welder's government And there's business But government government's interest tends to be very much worried about what you can do negatively with the net so into security and worries and fears and business is all concerned about being able to track a transaction and You get the image of the businessman wanting to be at the juncture point so that they can say stop here Pay a toll now go forward and there's neither of those major constituencies are as far as I can see Institutionally committed to freedom on the Internet and so when you ask where is The institution in our society that is genuinely committed to The creation of knowledge free access to knowledge the enjoyment of knowledge the pleasure of Creating knowledge that's university and with Internet having started as a university Experiment and expanded initially with university it just it just seems it's now an appropriate time for university to examine its own self-interest in the development of the open net and become a kind of Institutional foundation for promoting it and protecting it absolutely before Talking more about the role of universities if you were to talk to a politician an influential Policymaker and you were wanted to Convince him her to act in favor of the public domain. What would you say to convince him or her? Well, that's a very good question When when I feel we started with The Berkman Center and then later next it It it was pretty much the case that people didn't know what the public domain was one of one of my colleagues Larry Lessig argued a case in front of the United States Supreme Court in 1998 that was protesting the ever lengthening protection for copyright Saying no, no, there's no reason to give Basically infinite protection the copyright and he was arguing on behalf of the public domain and yet the justices of the Supreme Court Really, you could see they really didn't they really didn't understand what he was talking about I mean, how is it that we come to value the air that we breathe and the water that we drink and the knowledge? That surrounds us it's like I I truly believe that we won't come to Totally appreciate it until the generation of digital natives that has grown up within this world Gets to a point of maturity where they can really feel and express the idea that This enormous freedom that we experience whenever we go into the cyber environment is a thing of Just enormous value So when you say value I imagine that you you think of the world and from different points of view Political value or cultural value. Is it also an economic value? Do you see that that by Strengthening the public domain. We're also Encouraging new ways of wealth creation wealth also in the sense of economic sense Well, I think no question that we've seen the economic benefit to businesses at being able to reach Basically the whole population with their sales pitch. So the economics have been overwhelmingly emphasized and the net is in some way under pressure to Change its architecture to support the economics Or none of that would have happened unless there was access to that free space it's just the instinct of of I think to some extent business and government to constrain it in order to improve their own Situations but in in some sense at the expense of the explorer the the cyber knot the young student who is Exploring and thinking of new things inventing new ways to use and creating new things for other people to use and how do you see the Metaphor that some people are suggesting that We should talk about the public domain in in a in the way that Environmental movement started decades ago talking about the environment Decades ago people were not at all Sensitive as they are now to the quality of air to the importance of water of a common green Patrimony Is it the metaphor that convinces you do you think we we could use the same route to explain to even to the ordinary? citizen the importance of the public domain absolutely to me the metaphor that most captures the goal is the idea of national parks in cyberspace now they won't be national they'll be international but When I think about the way the United States developed Here was this amazing open land and people claimed it for farms and so forth but it wasn't until People came to recognize how valuable open space is that we established our own in the US National Park system and As you look back on it that was such a brilliant thing to do when when when you see how badly developed so much of The territory is and then you go to a space where it's truly open and Yes, so I think the in the cyberspace is an environment it is it is a space and How it's built is up to us on the third day We in the schedule you find Talk by David Bolier who unfortunately Unfortunately had to go back to the to the US this morning And he was going to underline the connection between these natural parks in cyberspace and the physical commas the broader movement of the commas and other people to underline that People caring about the natural parks in cyberspace should ally themselves more openly more explicitly with the people caring about Commons of water of the commons of of parks in the physical world Do you see this connection as strategically important or can we go on each each of us in our own domain? Well, I think about the open access movement in Universities so in one sense, it's very individual. It's what you or I as Academic people We have our own creative talents It's not like cyberspace is Out there and we discover it's not like Columbus comes upon it and whoa there it is it's actually something that individuals collectively can create and contribute to and the the The constituency in the world that seems to me to be in some ways most suited to Creation and Contribution is the academic world. I mean it's our mission personally we commit ourselves To a life relating to knowledge rather than money nobody goes I won't say nobody nobody goes into the academic business in order to make money at least Not many people go into the right. So so the idea that this is at once a A global enterprise of building public space and at the very same time an individual Enterprise of personal expression That that to me is the combination. I mean it's like it's like the rivers and the streams and the air and the forests Except that they were all there and we come and look at them. This is slightly different Fundamentally different in that this is the aggregation of what we ourselves have create and create for the future for our Children and so forth right you you've reached the topic of universities and cyberspace Let's start from Actually, you already started talking about that the foundation of this conference this conference is broader is University in cyberspace and how to reshape knowledge institutions in a network age It's for the scope is larger than universities and the public domain But that's was the foundation and you already mentioned that that what you mean by why universities have this important role With regard to the public domain Do you think the universities generally speaking are already aware of their all they have is it? Already happening to some extent What should we do if it's not the case about it? I Think it's a growing awareness right now if you're in the university world and you do research It's a very different form of research than 50 years ago 50 years ago You put on a green eye shade and you went into the depths of the library and you stayed in the stacks For years upon years and you emerged with something now people research from their offices with the online Databases and if you ask now, what is the university library? Yes, it's that big building that's down there with the books, but functionally for Researchers and students in the library. It's also everything you can reach through the net and so I think university is coming to see that in a sense cyberspace is its library and so the idea of contributing to the library maintaining it I mean the to me one of the most interesting features of coming to Europe is the sensibility of cultural heritage and of fear that You can somehow see it dissipating in the lack of attention that it receives in As as something focused upon in a homogenous internet environment but the idea of universities as cultural centers and Centers for their particular geographic and ethnic place in the world and as articulators and as conservators and as Shapers so that when public comes to the net this cultural heritage is there alive and being Tended to that again seems to me to be an ideal role for University in cyberspace right and I was saying that University in cyberspace is Broader than that because during these three days We are of course going to explore the role of universities with respect to the commons of knowledge But also we will look at other important matters that Allow us to understand or try to understand what's going to happen in the next several years We're going to look at digital natives. So this young generation that is coming that you already Referred to so how do they behave? What do they think would do it they expect from universities? What are they going to give to universities? Not only what they're going to demand and we're going to look at the evolution of the library You just mentioned it very very brilliantly that now the library is cyberspaces But that does that mean that the library disappeared the actual physical library or the virtual libraries probably not So what's the evolution there and we are going to look at the physical spaces? Particularly in the relationship to virtual extensions. So we have these three tracks Going through the three days and today is going to be the day where the keynotes will be delivered in order to bring everybody on the same plane we got in these three topics and They will shed some light on What the relationship with the university in cyberspace will be digital natives the evolution of the library physical spaces virtual spaces you are remember when Second life just started you all the full course on second life. Is it right? How was that experience for instance? Oh, it's amazing well Let me just step back for a moment if I may One Carlos is a man that I met in 2005 The Berkman Center under the leadership of Terry Fisher whom you'll meet later on And started a program called I law in which the various faculty members associated with the centers basically taught in a small conference format what what are what we were thinking about and one Carlos somehow noticed this and Invited us to tour in 2005. So that was my first visit here and it was at on that occasion when meeting you I Felt I met someone who shared the vision. I felt you you understood it You were surrounded by these to me wonderful people committed to open access and creative commons and open code and You had you you had something going and so the idea that from that start We've come to this point is it's it's in a way expressive of the very Trajectory of the growth of this idea from of the public domain as something people didn't even know what it was increasingly to something that feels like It's a movement that could take hold at an individual and Institutional level and really go somewhere. So I just want to express my personal gratitude to you for taking an idea that was only an idea and bringing it to a conference and My gratitude as well to the wonderful team at Burkman Many of whom you'll meet with Gasser John Paul free Terry Fisher Stuart Schieber I'm very sorry to hear that David Bollier had to go back. I didn't realize that but Colin McClay Many numbers of others from my I I hope you will meet and so I may have lost the thread of your question Since several people are here at the end in the conference because they genuinely want to understand what University and cyber space The interaction between the two will bring in the in the next few years if you more broadly So not just thinking about the relationship I were very important with the public domain but more broadly if you were to talk to a university administrator to the president of your university of another university and You would sum up the main challenges and main opportunities that the internet poses to universities What would you choose to say? Well, I think I think I'd start With where I believe many people in university begin the People don't naturally think of university as an open environment the university over history has existed in a monastic kind of away and Quite separate from the public which and and university clearly sees its own Institution as a business In many respects and so quite naturally falls into the idea of thinking of what universities produce as their property to be protected and charged for And that's a completely understandable historical way a legitimate way of thinking of university But universities at the very same time are obviously at a transition point in terms of the long history of communications technology and the internet represents in its way a Transition point it's it's an environment that changes the default The original default is closed the internet default starts open and so for University to actually conceive itself as a kind of Algorithmic organism moving through time and space at a point where the challenge is really to adjust and Survive in a new environment That to me has dimension for university thinkers Which take it out to the father the the furthest element We're clearly just at the beginning of it. We were if you think of cyberspace as a growing network When it begins all right, we see the network, but we don't initially see the strength of the network we don't see how the aggregation of the talents of a network of people Can be turned to fruitful enterprise to me Wikipedia is like a Flash of insight That should strike everyone look at this amazing ability through an algorithmic structure to Allow the goodwill of Thousands upon thousands of people to aggregate and come together To produce something that's genuinely useful All right, and that's just the first. That's like the first beginning evolution of collective strength and The use of human intelligence to bind it together in ways that are commonly productive But if you see Wikipedia as just the very beginning Then Expans opens up so and I don't mean to limit this entirely to nonprofit I'm completely impressed with Google Maps and Google Earth Amazing and then totally open I can go I can link to it I can teach my students with it and so many more things like that where we are learning how to use this growing environment in ways that produce genuine public wealth and That to me is a challenge of invention that should Be a focus of university how to use this environment to create knowledge in new ways It's it's a it's a worthy focal point for The university administrator who starts from this closed environment But sees hey, we're going into a new space and my job is to somehow order my university and orient my university towards production and survival and thriving in this new environment and And it links beautifully to something that recently Joito wrote about university. He was saying that maybe the one of the main Challenges will be for universities universities to understand how to mix formal and informal learning Meaning that students will be able to learn using cyberspace in a much more unstructured way and university We will have to find a way out to Verify and certify even this informal learning and mix it with your regular Structured learning and that's quite a change of perspective for universities Yes, I Also, I'd add an I'd add an an element of caution in it as well I mean there is an enthusiasm that one can feel for Internet and expansiveness and so forth, but it's easy to make mistakes as well, so universities Take a very specific example Laptops in the classroom This isn't an issue that I think every teacher Confronts in some way you you want to use it you see it there must be possibility and yet at the very time you do it you risk Undermining something that's been very valuable Before which is a classroom of people all of whom are paying attention Now suddenly you have a classroom of people and they're all and maybe that's not exactly what you want So how you how you mix these two environments in a way that leads to progress rather than This deterioration that it that is definitely a challenge One of the things that we are trying to do with this conference So it's just an attempt of course is to try to envision this these ways of behaving and new rules of conduct Before they become an actual problem because the before there is a strong just reaction of People refusing to interact with technology So we have to find the right combination the writer rules of behavior and This conference that started two years ago from from this your vision of university in cyberspace has now achieved Rather structure rather well developed structure and I will say a few words about that So the audience can decode the program I mentioned the three tracks and the three tracks today We will have the key notes then there will be two breakout sessions for the three tracks tomorrow morning And on Wednesday afternoon and the breakout sessions are just like that people interested in digital natives can meet with other people interested in the same topic and try to hear about interesting case studies Think about what are the main points regarding digital natives that they want to relate to the other people in the conference But then when we created the program We were afraid that people would break up three in three tribes and talk among themselves So in the second day and the third day we have this plenary sessions bringing everybody together Because the information on infrastructure of the library on the spatial infrastructure space both Vecisical and virtual are just means to an end and the end is the mission of university Therefore on the third day you will have three sessions Plenary sessions everybody will be back here in our mania and we will talk be talking about the three fundamental missions of university Two of them as I've already been mentioned one is producing new knowledge there for research The second is educating students so platform for learning and the third one Which we added it is the civic role of universities Universities are not at least in my opinion are not simply a box Where students come out come in and then get out with a certification with a diploma and is not only Although it's extremely important a box that produces PDF or scientific papers Is a public institution as a role in our society as a role in our democracies and therefore the first Session tomorrow morning will be trying to to bring out this aspect Because we have not only a job to do but also responsibilities civic responsibilities I would like to hear a few words about the specific point of the civic role of universities It's a to me a very important, but very delicate point universities have traditionally tried to stay out of politics so that when business or Government decides to pass some new restriction on the internet environment It's not been a natural path for universities to rise as a voice and say no you're closing down this space and Somehow it's very important for universities that on the one hand to maintain a distance from Political society and at the same time the notion of universities having a stake in Cyberspace that is really self-interest. I mean take it all the way to the idea of this is our library then when Action is being Considered in the civic environment that affects the architecture of the space then I think universities Should look towards a role of civic citizenship that actually recognizes the importance of themselves as stakeholders in this space and I hope that we'll be able to represent ourselves well And besides the plenary sessions and the keynotes. We're going to have also six short plenary talks called the high-holder beats Two per day and the high-holder beats are going to give Maybe an original point of view an interesting topic that is out of the traditional schemes And so you will find them one each morning and one each afternoon and If you look at the conference program another way of decoding it is that There is a narrative behind it today. We're all freshmen today is first year in university Today, we don't know anything about university in cyberspace and we will try to learn something about it and the keynotes Will be there to bring all us freshmen on the same level and starting to learn tomorrow Sophomores will explore new directions and go more in depth with the breakout session and Finally the third day is going to be approaching graduation. We will try to make a synthesis Get some new inputs, but get a synthesis and above all to wonder about what's next because One crucial thing about conferences is that they should really look forward not just into the event itself So at the end of the third day each of us should have learned something But also should have also some idea about what are the priorities for looking ahead So this is the our the narrative that we propose to you and we try to to live up to the expectation But let me conclude this conversation with Charles Nessum Asking what do you personally expect from the conference? What would you make you happy on? Wednesday afternoon when there will be a final session here on the same stage What would you? Define it as a success or at least an accomplishment It's already an accomplishment as far as I'm concerned. It's already a pleasure. It's I'm just so pleased that this event is And grateful that this event is actually taking place It's perhaps this is a historic event that that depends on the future, but just for the sake of being here and Having the people come and talk about this issue that is such an immediate gratification and pleasure I on behalf of the Berkman Center. I I welcome you all to this Thank you wait wait wait wait But it could be a historic event it could be a point that Some years later when we look back to it We will see this as a mark along the way to universities being a real constituent of the space in a very active and Positive sense and so that that would be the ultimate mark of success, but only to come in the future Very well. Thank you. Thank you very much