It's Always Best to be Open...

What does free software mean to cultural producers? As the UK government prepares to host a pan-European conference on the regulation of Intellectual Property, the Open Congress will attempt to answer this question. The organizers (including the Chelsea College of Art and Design, NODE.London, Wireless London, Mute, and Tate Digital Programmes) note, 'The development of Free and Open Source Software has revitalised interest in collaborative creativity, the public domain, and the 'openness' of public institutions.' Their two-day congress, held 7th-8th October at one of London's best-known public institutions (Tate Britain), takes up the themes of Governance, Creativity, and Knowledge, and invites artists, academics, and activists to present and discuss their work. The line-up includes the EFF's Cory Doctorow, the Alternative Law Foundation's Lawrence Liang, 'Hacker Manifesto' author Mckenzie Wark, Libre Society's Johanna Gibson, and Trebor Scholz, of The Institute of Distributed Creativity. - Charlotte Frost