Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons

18-20 April 2006- Bangkok,Thailand

During the last 20 years or so, the level, scope, territorial extent, and role of copyrights and patents have expanded into new sectors. There has been much discussion and debate on the impact of copyrights and patents at a micro level of economic activity while at a macro level, policy dialogue in several international fora, not least of which is WIPO, has been addressing barriers posed by copyrights and patents.

Asia Commons: Asian Conference on the Digital Commons invites
researchers working in the area of copyrights and patents, promoters of collaborative models, development practitioners engaged in collaborative content creation and dissemination and custodians of public information to go beyond the current dialogue and debate to explore key issues and ideas related to access to knowledge and culture in Asia.

Participants are invited to explore key themes and questions related to the Asian Commons:

* What is the relationship between infrastructure and copyrights on access to culture and knowledge?

* How do software and business process patents affect innovation?

* What are the impacts of patents on software innovations in Asia? * What are the emerging Open Business Models for content production in Asia?

* Given existing legal, cultural and infrastructural environments both within and outside of Asia, how can we contribute to increasing access to knowledge and culture through an Asia Commons?

While we will be inviting a number of speakers who are seen as
thought-leaders in the field of Access to Knowledge and Culture, we will also look to innovative approaches to ensure a high degree of
interaction among participants in spaces and sessions which are designed to maximize the exchange of experiences and ideas.Conference Fees, Registration, and Scholarships:

There are no fees for participation in the conference which is supported through funding made available by the International Development Research Centre's (IDRC's) Pan Asia Program (http://www.idrc.ca/panasia).

If you are interested in participating, please register online at
http://www.asia-commons.net/conf_registration/add or email
registration@asia-commons.net to receive a registration form which can be submitted through email. Please register before March 8, 2006.

Thanks to the generous support of IDRC's Pan Asia
(http://www.idrc.ca/panasia) and UNDP APDIP's IOSN (http://www.iosn.net) there are also a number of scholarships available for participants in need of financial support. Please visit
http://www.asia-commons.net/participate for more information.

Can't Join Us?

For those unable to join us physically during the event, we invite you to participate through the participants discussion list and visit
http://www.asia-commons.net for outputs during the conference itself.

To subscribe to the participants discussion list, send an email to participants-request@asia-commons.net with the word subscribe in the subject.

A special issue of i4d Magazine (http://www.i4donline.net) will be produced in June 2006 based on the conference and its themes.

We look forward to seeing you at Asia Commons.

Your Organising Committee:

- Shikha Shrestha, Bellanet Asia (in partnership with SAP International) (http://www.sapint.org)

- Sarah Kerr, Bellanet International Secretariat (http://www.bellanet.org)

- Jaya Chittoor, Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (http://www.csdms.in)

- Sunil Abraham, UNDP APDIP's International Open Source Network
(http://www.iosn.net)