[KS] Korean Commons?

Frank Hoffmann hoffmann at koreaweb.ws
Sat Sep 1 07:24:12 EDT 2012


One more note:

The TWO definitions that John Eperjesi provided--again quoted below as 
(A) and (B), well, we might want to be aware of the context here: I 
suggest NOT to create any direct context between these two quotes, 
these two definitions, at least not if you look at such a topic from a 
historical point of view. Contemporary groups like e.g. the 'Pirates' 
and others loosely associate to that centuries old concept, but they 
completely redefine it at the same time. Those contemporary definitions 
are also very problematic: "biodiversity," for example, used in below 
quoted definition (B), obviously is a noun that describes a "state of 
being" (of being diverse), thus it cannot belong or not belong to 
anyone. Same as with any sort of other political movements (e.g. 
Minjung movement in Korea in the 1980s) such associations with historic 
concepts and events, however forced, provide new movements with an 
additional "historical" legitimacy and emotional binding. That's about 
it. 

Today, and since John did not mention that I do so here, "commons" is a 
term that is mostly used by programmers and by the Internet community 
that is involved with any sort of digital product or online texts and 
arts creation. "Creative Commons" (CC) is a non-profit organization in 
California that issues free copyright licenses (known as "Creative 
Commons licenses"). Even as just a user you may have well seen these, 
you may have been asked to confirm the your acceptance of the CC 
license after you downloaded a free program. There are also lots of 
artists using this licensing system now, and CC is also very popular in 
Korea--but well, everywhere else also.
--> http://creativecommons.or.kr/
--> http://creativecommons.org/tag/korea  (2008)


Best,
Frank

--------------------------------------

(A)
> The commons refers to the shared communal spaces that existed in 
> England before the enclosure acts that founded capitalism, and was 
> defended in the "Charter of the Forests" that accompanied the Magna 
> Carta: 
> 
> "The Charter specifically states that "Henceforth every freeman, in 
> his wood or on his land that he has in the forest, may with impunity 
> make a mill, fish-preserve, pond, marl-pit, ditch, or arable in 
> cultivated land outside coverts, provided that no injury is thereby 
> given to any neighbour."

(B)
> "In essence, the commons means everything that belongs to all of us, 
> and the many ways we work together to use these assets to build a 
> better society. This encompasses fresh air and clean water, public 
> spaces and public services, the Internet and the airwaves, our legal 
> system, scientific knowledge, biodiversity, language, artistic 
> traditions, fashion styles, cuisines and much more. Taken together, 
> it represents a vast inheritance bequeathed equally to every human―
> and one that, if used wisely, will provide for future generations."
> 
> from: http://www.thenation.com/article/163670/struggle-commons#


--------------------------------------
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreaweb.ws




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