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

statusFunded

Rapid Grants

Discott/5th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest attendance & hackathon

I am applying for funding (or a booking) to attend the 5th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest in Washington DC on behalf of Wikimedia South Africa. I have been invited to attend the conference hosted by the American University in D.C. so as to run a hackathon (really more of an edit-a-thon if you ask me) with intellectual property and copyright lawyers so as to better document and map copyright user rights around the world. We will produce a page on copyright user rights in different countries that will look like the Freedom of Panorama page on Wikimedia Commons. We intend to host this page on Meta Wikimedia and/or Wikipedia. This grant will allow me to travel to and attend the conference in Washington D.C from Cape Town, South Africa.

targetWikimedia Public Policy, en.wikipedia, meta.wikimedia

start dateSeptember 17

end dateSeptember 30

budget (local currency)R13,000

budget (USD)$1000

grant typeindividual

non-profit statusYes

grantee• [[User:Discott|Discott]]

contact(s)• douglas.i.scott at gmail dot com

friendly space expectations

ucc

privacystatement

See also: [[: 5th Global Congress draft Report| 5th Global Congress draft Report]]

Review your report

Please see the sample Travel application before drafting your application.

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

1. Produce map and matrix of global copyright user rights with legal experts
2. Expand network of potential partners
3. Increase awareness of Wikimedia projects

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:

1. What is the purpose of the event you're attending and why is it important that you attend?

It is important that I attend as I am the lead technical expert who can aggregate the legal information and produce a map and matrix for public use on a Wikimedia project article page. I am the only person with this know-how and have worked with the organising team of the congress for some time now to host it.

2. Will you be presenting at the event?

I will be hosting a Wikimedia event at the conference

3. What kind of outreach activity do you plan to do?

I will be hosting a 'hackathon' (more of an edit-a-thon in reality but that is what the conference organisers want to call it) event at the conference that will allow copyright and IP lawyers from around the world to aggregate the copyright user rights in their respective countries into one place so that members of the public can easily, quickly, and intuitively understand the copyright user rights they have in different countries. This exercise will result in a page similar to the freedom of panorama page on Wikimedia Commons (which is the model for this exercise and achieves the same thing for Freedom of Panorama user rights around the world) and will culminate in a colour coded map. This page will live on meta wiki and/or en.wikipedia. Copyright is a public policy and legal issue that has a deep and profound impact on the editing of Wikipedia.

4. How will you let other participants know about your outreach activity?

They have already been informed by the conference organisers.

5. Do you have a specific networking plan? (e.g. specific people, organizations, groups you would like to develop partnerships with)

Yes, I have been working with one of the conference organisers (Prof. Sean Flynn of American University) for some time now on this activity. We discussed and organised it further at Wikimania 2018. He has introduced me to other event organisers. Additionally I have talked with members of Wikimedia DC to encourage them to join us but they have not made any commitments at this time and lack the contextual and technical knowledge of this event to effectively take over from me. However we still would like to see members of the local community join us.

6. What is your plan to follow-up with new contacts?

I have received a list of email contacts who the event organisers have supplied me with and who will be attending the event at the conference.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets as applicable:

1. 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.
2. A map summarising the matrix is produced and featured.
3. Number of legal scholars participating:
4. Number of new potential partners:
5. Number of countries covered:

Resources

What resources do you have? Include in-kind donations or additional funding.

I have applied for a grant from the conference organisers to help subsidise this trip. The grant by its self is not enough to cover both flights from South Africa and accommodation which is why I am also applying here as I need either this grant from the Foundation or both this grant and the grant from the conference organisers to allow me to attend.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

• Round trip flight from Cape Town to Washington DC - US$900
• Accommodation for 5 days in Washington DC - US$100*5 = $500
• Food and daily travel costs in Washington DC for 5 days - $25 * 5 = $125

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

• Approve Douglas has been leading the process on for copyright reform in South Africa on behalf of Wikimedia South Africa, and is an excellent candidate to attend this event. Greenman (talk) 14:59, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
• Approve Douglas knows more about this topic than anyone I know. I think he is well equipped to represent the Southern African region. Raymond Ellis (talk) 06:03, 10 August 2018 (UTC)
• Support. I have worked with Douglas in the area of copyright reform over the couple of years while we have both simultaneously been running campaigns promoting the introduction of 'Fair Use' into our home-country's laws. Wittylama (talk) 13:54, 31 August 2018 (UTC)