[Wikimedia-l] Big Fat Brussels Gathering – How was it? What’s next?

[Nicole Ebber]

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.