Bernie Sanders rightfully calls our attention to the upcoming spectrum sale, when the US switches over to digital television. He notes that

“the airwaves that carry UHF in the 700 MHz range will become vacant as the U.S. transitions to Digital Television in 2009. These airwaves could beam wireless all over the country-through mountains, forests and walls-and the auction is scheduled for next January. On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission will set the rules for the auction. Now is the time to support “open access” provisions in these rules. Without “open access” the U.S. runs the risk of handing over the Internet to corporate interests for at least another generation.”

It’s easy in the midst of all the other chaos and crisis to miss the opportunity to make a real difference. Here’s an opportunity to do so. Contact the FCC, and ask for the following three elements for the auction:

“At this pivotal moment in the history of media, Americans should demand that the FCC support “open access” in three ways in the upcoming auction. “Open access” must mean free use of devices and services over all networks. Second, it must mean unfettered access to any and all content. Finally, “open access” must mean wholesale provisions to optimize competition among service providers and break the grip that giant telecoms hold on the future of the Internet.”

It’s critical that we advocate to support open access. If you use the net at all, take just a moment and contact the FCC.

Thanks to Stephen’s blog for the link to this report from Britain about openness in higher education (open access, open source, etc.)

Thanks to Stephen’sWeb for the link to this wiki on open source publishing:

“Open source publishing refers to the openness of the authoring and reviewing process while open access refers to the openness to the reader.”

I think that www.feautor.org is reaching towards qualifing as open source publishing under this definition, which makes me happy.

One of the reasons we’re working so hard to create a space in which people can publish religious resources using Creative Commons licenses, is because it’s been so difficult (particularly within the US context, but growing ever more so worldwide) to establish fair use of copyrighted materials. The American University has a great site full of resources on what constitutes fair use, and how to make an argument for it.

At last — after much consideration and a lot of searching (since so many good names are already in use) — we’ve decided to name our site “feautor.org” — which reminds us of “fe” + “autor” or “faith author” and also of “future” for the future. Right now it doesn’t point to much, but soon we’ll have a minimal page up and running.

We have two fairly final designs up to be commented upon. We have been working through some technical questions concerning authorship and linkages. Finally, here are some ideas about searching issues. We’d love to hear from you in the comments section of this blog if you have responses — or email Mary at mhess at luthersem dot edu.

Well, look at this: Godtube.com — a video sharing and social networking site explicitly set up to “connect Christians for the purpose of encouraging and advancing the Gospel worldwide.” It’s a nicely done site, in terms of technical access and elegant interface — better than Youtube I think.

Where does it differ from what we’re trying to do with the OSRR? Well, for one it’s not a creative resource sharing site for materials that aren’t videos, and for another it does not use CC licenses. It also has a very explicit theological statement that appears to govern the content it wants to permit. The terms of use agreement includes the phrase that “You will not post content to the GodTube.com Web Site that is in violation of any copyright or which is illegal or prohibited by law including content which is offensive to our online Christian community…” I wonder just exactly how they intend to determine that, let alone enforce it.

The site is also interesting because it uses both “channels” and “groups” for arranging content. I also think it’s interesting that it’s publishing several blogs. Hmmmm… fascinating. I wonder if it will turn out to be big competition for us?

Lessig’s blog has a great, concise piece refuting several fallacies about the Google book search project.

So here’s a great example of someone who published a photo on flickr using a creative commons license, and then had the photo picked up by a commercial greeting card company and published in print — still respecting the CC license, of course.

Carlos and his team have provided four possible options for us to consider, in terms of the “look and feel” of the site. Please visit the idea page, and then let us know what you like (or dislike) about the possibilities. You can email me (mhess at luthersem dot edu), or comment via this blog entry.