[KS] Korean Commons?

[John Eperjesi]

All your responses are very helpful, so thanks!  Especially the
"well-field" concept.  That definitely points me in the right direction.

One point: in English usage, "to commons" could also function as a verb,
not just as a noun.  It was the act of making something common or shared.

Finally, I was told that "서민" is the Korean term roughly equivalent to
commons.

Thanks again!
John

On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 8:24 PM, Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann at koreaweb.ws> wrote:

> 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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