> Dear all > > I`m really glad to see such a lively discussion going on the list. It > is a great pleasure to see it happening now and in such a spontaneous > and vibrant way. I`ve been reading all the messages with much > interest and at this point I would like to add my insights to your > comments. Additionally, I would like to inform you about some > decisions that we have reached at CC-HQ regarding translation matters > in particular. > > I think the Arab world situation is very peculiar -not only for CC of > course, but for many other projects going on in the region that have > been trying to aiming at increasing the content produced in the Arabic > language, as Wikipedia for example-. > > Indeed we do have different “english(s)”, the American, the British, > Australian, Canadian etc. > But the Arab world is different, as you all know, not only because 22 > countries have officially opted for Arabic as their official language, > but also because all of them have always been inspired by a certain > sense of unity and common heritage and culture. > > It would be a pity, indeed, not to take this cultural factor into > account when it comes to create a regional project for the Arab world. > > At the same time, we all know that the Arabic language we speak daily > in the countries we live in is different from place to place, not only > in pronunciations and words that sometime we use, but also in the > different meanings we attribute sometime to the same word from country > to country. > > When it comes to a project such CC is, which is also related to the > legal framework of each country, we should of course also take this > diversity factor into account. > > Let me go back to the history of CC in the Arab region. Anas Tawileh, > that we all know, started to talk about Creative Commons in his very > useful Arab Commons portal. Rami Olwan and Ziad Maraqa started to port > the licenses in Jordan in 2004 while Hala Essalmawi officially > established it in Egypt. Few years later, also Khaled Kouba and Nafaa > Laribi started the project in Tunisia. So far, those are the official > CC projects run in the Arab region (where signed MOUs exists), whereas > Syria and Lebanon are starting right now and many other countries do > enjoy a vibrant CC community life despite the lack of an official > “chapter”. > > When I started working with CC, almost two years ago, those MOUs in > Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia were already existing, while we were very > aware of the fact that many other Arab countries wanted to start their > own local project. So last year, Al Jazeera kindly gave CC the > opportunity to organize its first regional meeting in the Arab world, > during the TV station annual Forum in may. > This meeting aimed at discussing many issues concerning CC in the Arab > world, first of all the linguistic issues cause we were very aware > that, once the first jurisdiction was about to port, it would have > been a model for the other countries to come. > > As you can understand, it would be pretty strange to have Creative > Commons translated in each of the 22 countries in different ways. > First of all, it would not be nice for Arabs, officially speaking the > same language and then calling CC with different names. Secondly, CC > is a new name, exactly like “blogging” and as you all know there was > no such a word in Arabic: it was proposed by somebody, looked strange > at the beginning, then was widely accepted by the community. I want to > draw your attention to the fact that, in many jurisdictions worldwide > (including the one I come from, Italy), Creative Commons was left in > the original english name cause no possibility to translate that idea > in the local idiom. We were advised by many people, both lawyers and > community people, that in the Arab world it wouldn`t have been so nice > to leave the name in english as it could have perceived as a “foreign” > project and too distant from local needs. > > After debating online and during the Al Jazeera meeting, we agreed > that the best solution would have been to use the Jordanian > translation ÇáãÔÇÚ ÇáÅÈÏÇÚí official Arabic name of CC, always leaving > Creative Commons in its original english version and in parenthesis, > in order to preserve the original brand and to make it recognizable > for people like Lebanese that were already extensively using CC > licenses with their english name. > > The Al Jazeera Forum was attended by Rami Olwan and Ziad Maraqa from > the Jordanian team, who proposed that translation, by Nafaa Laribi > from the Tunisian team, by Joi Ito our CEO, Michelle Thorne and > Catharina Maracke from CC and by myself. In addition to this, some > external lawyers interested in CC from UAE, plus many active members > of the CC community (pioneers and CC early adopters in the Region) > where invited to attend and participate to the debate. > > The debate was also attended by Mohamed al Said, a lawyer from Al > Jazeera, who gave his valuable insight, and by Mouwafaq who is a > prominent Al Jazeera translator (you have probably heard his voice > from the very beginning of the station). > > After debating, and after many doubts were expressed concerning the > Jordanian name for creative commons, there were no alternative solid > proposals to that. The name ÇáãÔÇÚ ÇáÅÈÏÇÚí was also submitted to Al > Jazeera translators who find it coherent with the original english > idea and also meaningful in fus7ah. > > I am telling you this story because since then, the community has been > growing so fast and not everybody in this list would be aware of this > meeting. Of course, there will never be something imposed by CC but, > after so many online and offline debates, we seemed to have reached an > agreement at least on the Arabic name. > > We know that many people are not happy about that translation but I > think the goal of CC and of all of you in the region is much broader > than a name. I understand the remarks coming from somebody who says > that ÇáãÔÇÚ ÇáÅÈÏÇÚídoesnt mean anything in his/her own country or , > worst, it has a negative nuance. > > Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate the nuances of 22 Arab countries. > We should aim at unity, at least in the name, cause the goal is > broader than just the porting but to reach it we need not to create > confusion in the final user and not even in the institutions willing > to use CC. > *The name is a tool to convey a message* , if this message is not > clear yet in the name, mallesh (it is not even clear for Italians or > French people in the name only). > *The message of Creative Commons should be clear through our > activities above everything else*. > > Our goal is to increase content creation in Arabic, to give it value > and recognition, to give tools to create more and better. And this > would be very difficult if each of us calls "CC 3ala keifi" (sorry for > the Syrian word, but I guess innu wasalat el fikra). > > We will create confusion and discourage people to use it in the > future. Already too many names of CC exists -as Wikipedia underlines. > > Thus, after serious consideration and long debates, CC-HQ has decided > it advisable to create as a policy that with respect to its Arabic > licenses, deeds and other official publications and translations, the > name for Creative Commons agreed upon in Doha be used and always with > (Creative Commons) in English in parenthesis immediately following the > name in Arabic. Hence: > > áãÔÇÚ ÇáÅÈÏÇÚí > (Creative Commons) > > We realize that we cannot require unofficial publications in Arabic to > adhere to this, but *I would like to call each of you upon a common > effort and action which is to use in every place, every single piece > of content that you publish or release as well*. Only by adopting a > common action, by telling people that this is the name chosen through > discussions to designate CC, we will achieve a first little but > important goal which is to create unity at least on some points. > > Please, do understand that this is not a Jordanian name: this is a > Panarab name and we are not favouring at all the Jordanians. The name > went through many discussions and, as I told you, was judged also by > Al Jazeera translators. It was the name which conveyed more consensus > so far, among legal experts and also community members. > > If you have any questions about this, please let me know, I`ll be > happy to go into more details. Please, *use this name as a tool, not > as the final goal: cause the final goal is to grow the community in > content creation, art, education, music, movies, etc*. > > For the same reasons, CC is similarly very concerned about different > jurisdictions using different names for the licenses. > > Harmonization is a very important issue, at least to have some common > tools. So we will be asking the three existing jurisdiction teams – > the Egytpian, Tunisian and Jordanian teams – to work closely to > harmonize their licenses names if possible. > This doesn`t mean the Jordanian translation -only because it was the > first to be started and the first to be completed- should prevail. > But we strongly hope that if the Jordanian terms are seriously > unworkable in the other jurisdictions, at a minimum we should aim all > together at reducing the differences and try to keep the confusion > level in the end users as low as possible > > We understand that this might seem an imposition for other > juridisdictions that are about to work on the porting. I also > understand that some of the words chosen for the licenses might not > have a legal meaning in different jurisdictions, according to > different copyrights laws and frameworks. > > So we suggest, in order to balance the need of each jurisdiction to be > understood in the domestic legal framework and the need of encouraging > usability of the licenses at the Panarab end users level, that we`ll > try to find *a common solution* > > Maybe here on this list? > It might be to unify the human deeds with same names, whereas when it > comes to legal ... > > read more »
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