[Advocacy Advisors] Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities

[Mathias Schindler]

The approach is different, it is the "we focus on the topics we really
deeply care about and the topics where our limited resources can
actually make a difference"-approach.

Out of a myriad of issues, almost all of them directly or indirectly
can be linked to the health and growth of the cultural commons.
However, not every issue has the same impact and the same amount of
stakeholders. Getting involved in international treaty negotiations
for copyright exceptions for visually impaired persons means not
getting involved in another issue. Ultimately, it is a decision that
has to be made which topics promise the best ratio of required effort
and estimated outcome.

Having said that, I would personally love to see any effort of
Wikipedians, Wikimedians or other groups to promote policy changes and
technology to overcome barriers regardless of their cause; including
visual impairments.

Mathias

2013/5/22 Mathieu Stumpf <psychoslave at culture-libre.org>:
> Le 2013-05-21 09:16, Mathias Schindler a écrit :
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> WIPO is currently negotiating a treaty to introduce a new
>> limitation/exception to copyright. The German ministry of justice is
>> keeping us posted with the current wording of the (still not
>> finalized) treaty.
>>
>> Wikimedia Deutschland has not been participating in any efforts on
>> this matter. We indicated to the ministry early on that we believe
>> every person should be allowed to transform a published work to make
>> it fit his or her current needs and that such copyright
>> limitation/exception should not be restricted to visually impaired
>> persons.
>>
>> Mathias
>
>
> Isn't it a "everything or nothing" approach? Don't get me wrong : sure I
> would like to see a world where everybody can have all means to access
> culture. In fact, on this regard I completely agree with what Russell write
> in "In Praise of Idleness"[1].
>
> Now, I wouldn't drop an ease of access for visually impaired persons just
> because I would like more for everybody.
>
> [1] http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html
>
> --
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> http://www.culture-libre.org/
>
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-- 
Mathias Schindler
Projektmanager
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
web: http://www.wikimedia.de
mail: mathias.schindler at wikimedia.de

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