tl;dr: Let’s get active in Brussels! During a two-day meeting, an international core group of Wikimedians agreed on launching the first necessary steps: Establishing a monitoring system and launching task forces on three hot topics: Free access to government works, Freedom of Panorama and Orphan Works. You can easily join the initiative, even if you feel you actually don’t have the time.
Dear fellow Wikimedians, In February, we suggested [1] a “Big Fat Brussels Meeting” which finally took place on april 5-7th. A dozen Wikimedians from several countries like the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Belgium and Germany discussed [2] the basic challenges of an open and transparent advocacy group which monitors EU legislation. This includes keeping an eye on currently discussed issues that *might* have implications on our work. Taking part in consultations launched by the European Commission or the profound analysis of amendment proposals in the European Parliament are an essential part of this work. While these tasks might seem intimidating to some, we also need people who monitor important issues by following Twitter accounts and blogs of decision-makers in Brussels and on the national level. Join the monitoring team [3] and decide for yourself how to get involved! == Proactive advocacy == Apart of just being reactive to EU legislation, we also like to push things forward in fields which aren’t at the heart of the Brussels machinery. While the European Digital Agenda is basically economy-driven, we need to develop a mid-term-strategy to get Free Knowledge onto the agenda. In our view, there are at least three Wikimedia-related topics that enjoy considerable community consensus: Freedom of Panorama [4], PD-Gov [5] and Orphan Works [6]. Our job here is to simply follow up on the discussions and proposals, map the field and make out threats or desirable changes early on. If you fancy removing obstacles in these particular policy fields, please add some comments on the Meta page [7] or – even better – enrich our three issue-specific task forces with your personal expertise! There will be a debriefing of the Brussels meeting during the Wikimedia Conference in Milan [8] on Friday afternoon. Those who couldn’t make it to Brussels are warmly invited to join us there! Cordiali saluti, Nicole [1] http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-February/124085.html [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_Policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting/minutes [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor [4] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Freedom_of_Panorama [5] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/PD-Gov [6] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Orphan_Works [7] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage [8] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2013 -- Nicole Ebber International Affairs Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Obentrautstr. 72 | 10963 Berlin Tel. +49 30 219158 26-0 http://wikimedia.de Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l