IT Law Journal

administrator January 14th, 2008

Philippine Commons: Developing a Philippine Commons
by Michael Vernon Guerrero


Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Philippines License.

Image: “Collaboration for the commons: Spokes of iCommons” © 2008. Berne Guerrero. Some Rights Reserved. The derivative work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 PH http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ph/All source images from Mark Surman. “iSummit 2007″ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksurman/566358017/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksurman/565994442/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksurman/566371067/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksurman/566380099/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksurman/565990318/; and http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksurman/566381631/)

Attending the iSummit in June 2007 was eye-widening, not merely eye-opening. This was more so when there was an opportunity to join the open education track,¹ one of four tracks available at the three-day conference. Although one could easily expect certain innovations, as one has affiliated himself to a commons-related organization, no adequate preparation could be had in that instance inasmuch as the dynamics of the sessions therein, such as the use of “spectograms” in the first session “Towards an Open Future for Education,”² were in contrast to the normal systems of delivery of one may be accustomed to relatively traditional institutions, else society.

Speed geeking in the open education track³ provided ample time, although abbreviated, to be familiarized with various initiatives and projects in different jurisdictions, such as the OERcommons, Free High School Science Textbook (FHSST), CC Netherlands, NEALS, WikiEducator, Acawiki, Educalibre, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), Meadan, and LeMill. The idea and the means utilized in the FHSST project proved very interesting since the project highlighted solutions relating to the Philippine public textbook bidding issue then popular in the local news.⁴

Searching the Internet for similar projects in the Philippines during the breaks in the iSummit, and in the months thereafter, manifested the reality of dispersed initiatives, albeit some with subdued footprints, that benefit or could benefit society within the context of the commons, from local players. Still, a bigger stage may be available if various stakeholders find ways to collaborate to achieve their goals. Besides the LawPhil Project of the Arellano University School of Law, which incidentally is now Creative Commons licensed, some noteworthy efforts are those by the Philippine e-Learning Society,⁵ filipiniana.net, wikipilipinas.org, Bluepoint Foundation,⁶ Bayanihan Books,⁷ among others.

Truly, what seems necessary at this point in time are opportunities for collaboration, especially if they favor the commons. Following the footsteps of Creative Commons International in the formation of the iCommons, Creative Commons Philippines is currently spearheading the paving of an avenue for collaboration through the Philippine Commons.⁸ The Philippine Commons is envisioned to be a movement-organization which aims to develop a national front through the collaboration of communities involved in free software, open education, access to knowledge, open access publishing, free culture, legal commons, and similar pursuits. The public launching of the Creative Commons Philippine jurisdictional licenses, on 14 January 2008, serves as a preliminary means to gather some of the stakeholders in the commons, and communicate with each other what can be done, whether bilaterally or multilaterally. Nevertheless, the direction of the Philippine Commons lies with the Filipino community. Its future depends upon the eagerness of stakeholders to contribute into the commons pool.

Lastly, the Philippine Commons website⁹ aims to provide articles and updates to events relating to the commons in the Philippines, and also link to developments in the commons occurring in the international stage. The domain was acquired in December 2007, in time for the soft-launching of the Creative Commons Philippine jurisdictional licenses and Creative Commons 5th Birthday Party.

1. http://wiki.icommons.org/index.php/ISummit_2007/Open_Education_Track [↩]
2. http://wiki.icommons.org/index.php/Towards_an_Open_Future_for_Education [↩]
3. http://wiki.icommons.org/index.php/Open_Educational_Project_Showcase [↩]
4. http://berneguerrero.com/node/38 [↩]
5. http://www.elearning.ph [↩]
6. http://www.bluepoint.com.ph [↩]
7. http://blog.bayanihanbooks.org/ [↩]
8. http://www.philippinecommons.org [↩]
9. http://www.philippinecommons.org [↩]

• ITLJ 4-1
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