Digital culture is a new, emergent term. It has been used in different forms by different sectors, and incorporates different perspectives about the impact of digital technology and networking in society. The Ministry of Culture see, as it’s role, the convening of a collective reflection on these broader perspectives, encouraging the participation of all stakeholders in an innovative process of collaborative construction of public policies for the digital sector.

The cheapening of the personal computer and cellular phone, combined with the rapid development of applications using free software and free services on the network, has promoted a radical democratization of access to new means of production and access to knowledge. The digitization of culture, combined with the global race to connect everything to everyone all the time, turns open networks at this moment in history into something too big, which now requires specific consideration.

A recent debate in the blogosphere about an article in Wired Magazine – “The New Socialism,” by Kevin Kelly – raised the issue of lack of appropriate terms to communicate the ongoing phenomena within the networks. Re-framing the term ’socialism’ to refer to the innovative arrangements for sharing and collaboration typical of a collective connected by the Internet has generated controversy and has been challenged strongly by Lawrence Lessig, the American lawyer known for his activism in the debate over the revision of copyright laws.

Lessig argues that we are facing something entirely new, and that it is not appropriate to reuse terms loaded with former meanings to describe the current situation. His concern seems to be related to the typical American notion that establishes an inverse relationship between individual autonomy and state power — a notion that is also the essence of th classic contest between right and left. However, as Kelly argues, the so called ‘digital socialism’ (’stateless socialism’?!) seems to host both classical libertarians who hate government in general, and the global political movements that are critical of excessive market logic.

Finally, there is a real lack of conceptual characterization for the phenomena encountered in digital culture. Yochai Benkler, reflecting creatively about the possibility of a political theory of the network, sees the emergence of social networks and peer production as an alternative to both the proprietary systems fundamental to the logic of the state and to the market. An innovative new cultural ‘operating system’ would be able to foster both creativity, productivity and freedom, while also satisfying the demands of both individuals and collectives. Benkler speaks of a ‘participatory culture’.

With the arrival of ubiquitous, instant and inexpensive collaboration tools, it is possible to promote opportunities for debate and a collective model where public decentralized coordination can create innovative solutions to the issues presented by the 21st century. The implementation of this technology in the digital network environment, coupled with Benkler’s ‘participatory culture’ concept, creates the possibility of bridging policies that once seemed mutually exclusive, inviting open discussion by opposing interest groups that have specialized in fighting in the trenches.

The Forum for Brazilian Digital Culture

In order to better understand the various parts that make up the mosaic of digital culture, to facilitate the public participation of those concerned with monitoring, and to assist the construction of public policies and regulatory frameworks that will format the sector, the Ministry of Culture is launching the Forum for Brazilian Digital Culture.

The process begins with the launch of the social network ‘culturadigital.br’, and the invitation of  experts and networks of cultural activists to register and profile their digital identities and references (their blog, twitter, delicious, youtube, etc…) into the Forum. The environment was built to aggregate people and their socialstreams linked by the tag #culturadigitalbr, thus organizing and documenting their participation in the debate. Live presentational and virtual online events during the second half of 2009 will propel the discussion into the proposed five guiding themes: memory, communication, art, infrastructure and economy.

We have made several interviews with specialists, agency ministers, people from academia and artists, which turned into a book: culturadigital.br. The goal was to collect and provide initial inputs to warm up the debate, which will be consolidated at an international seminar to be held in November. Notably, the process of ‘Brazilian Digital Culture Forum’ will happen in parallel with major debates on regulatory frameworks and public policies that directly affect the landscape of digital culture.

The new draft copyright law which will be presented by the Ministry of Culture for public consultation and the cyber-crime law (Law azeredo) — to be voted on in the House — deals with structural issues for the governance of the digital environment. The national conferences of Culture and Communication coincidentally will also be going on, which makes the second semester of 2009 a special time for proposing, contemplating and debating visions of the future we want for the country.

The coordination of the ‘Brazilian Digital Culture Forum’ now is making available the ‘culturadigital.br’ network environment for all who wish to organize and document free conferences and/or other specific events related to these processes. We believe that the time is right to be motivated toward new ways to develop consensus and build proposals. MINC seeks to introduce into the prospect of digital culture the innovative elements that facilitate and promote greater engagement and more effective participation of interested citizens.

The most creative people are never all together in a single company or government or organization, or country. To open the processes of constructing public policies in the network, and facilitating the collaboration of stakeholders, is almost obvious as an initiative appropriate and necessary at the dawn of this century. Promoting innovation in processes and creating tools for distributed governance can refine democracy and transform society.

This article is foreword to the book ‘CulturaDigital.BR’,
an edition that is part of the process of the
Brazilian Digital Culture Forum
#culturadigitalbr

The proposition of the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum: open and participatory

The Brazilian Digital Culture Forum has a social network for collaborative production of public policy for contemporary Brazil. This is a web platform that supports a broad spectrum of cultural programs based on the ideas and initiative generated by citizens, which includes face-to-face events and is expected to wrap up in November.

The Brazilian Digital Culture Forum was launched by the Minister of Culture in partnership with the National Network of Education and Research. The object of the Forum is, through these events, to encourage debate about digital culture with activists, business representatives, government institutions and non-governmental organizations. It’s in this context that the social network can work to both accelerate discussion and unify ideas.

Social network functions like others, but with focus on digital culture and public policy

The web platform aims to bring together citizens who are thinking about how technology can contribute to better our society, as well as anyone wanting to ponder digital culture. The main idea of the Cultura Digital network is that it is open. In addition to bringing these people together, digital culture provides interaction and stimulates the co-creation of events and projects.

The activities of each user generate alerts in the system, along the lines of “Ann and Joan are now friends” and each profile generates an RSS feed (all new content and actions generated by a user in the network can be followed outside of the network, such as through an RSS reader). The Cultura Digital network also has an indexing function (collected and displayed automatically), which tags content produced by its users in other social networks with the tag #culturadigitalbr.

There are five initial themes for discussion, but citizens can suggest others

The user of the Cultura Digital social network is responsible for his or her own profile and for the content he or she divulges: photos, videos, links, posts on his or her blog. Through the profiles, users can find friends and establish affinity networks. There are various groups in which a user can participate, which function like communities. The main themes suggested are Art and Digital Techology, Digital Communication, Digital Economy, Infrastructure for Digital Culture, and Digital Memory.

Highlighting several positive points in this initiative

The simple fact that the federal government initiated this project is highly commendable. It opens discussion within communities, using the web as a base to stimulate discussion and create a kind of digital democracy (not just in the world of computing, but in Brazil in general). Other technical and managerial aspects also add value to this project:

• The social network is built in BuddyPress, an open source plugin for WordPress MU;
• Every new user gets a blog, where he or she can generate content and others can comment;
• It maintains the governments stand on investing in free software that can benefit the whole community, not just investing in products, but in the software itself;
• The Ministry of Culture is using WordPress;
• The implementation is impeccable: excellent interface, excellent system, coordinated by the director of the Brazilian Digital Culture Lab, Rodrigo Savazoni, and by the head of digital culture at the Ministry of Culture, José Murilo.

Follow the Brazilian Minister of Culture on Twitter.

“I, Gilberto Gil, Brazilian citizen, world citizen and Minister of Culture of Brazil, develop my work in music, in the ministry and in all the dimensions of my existence under the inspiration of hacker ethics; I am concerned about the issues that my world and my time pose to me, such as the issue of the digital divide, of free software and also the issue of regulation and development of audiovisual content production and distribution, by any media, for any purpose”.

At that moment, there was a highly charged debate over the proposal of Gil’s team for creating a National Cinema and Audiovisual Agency (ANCINAV) to ‘deal with audiovisual as an integrated and convergent economy, following the evolution of new technological platforms‘. The powerful media and TV networks were quick to react, violently.

‘Xenophobic, authoritarian, Stalinist, Chavez-like and soviet-style’ were items included in the name calling Gil had to bear. At the time, Juca Ferreira — the sociologist designated by Gil to be his successor as head of the ministry — managed to clarify the context that called for a regulatory agency in Brazil:

“In the audiovisual sector, the economic environment is being rearranged and the ownership concentration is growing. Big telecom companies are acquiring smaller companies from the movies, media, journalism and entertainment sectors, generating mega corporations eager to conquer new markets. These companies are able to maintain powerfull relations with their own rich governments, while also promoting interest-based relations with its poor countries hosts. They perform political strategies to take down what they call barriers, and fight against ownership concentration regulations in their home countries. It makes sense… It is important to mention those strategies are performed by highly competent and proactive State bureaucracies making use of all kinds of resources.”
Juca Ferreira in ‘Brazilians debate regulation and media convergence’ – Global Voices Online

Googling for English content on ANCINAV leads you to a protected article which allows enough reading for us to understand the drift and recognize the style of attack. “The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) threatened Brazil with commercial retaliation if the government continued its plans to create ANCINAV…”

Amidst heavy artillery, and although having already compromised in the creation of the agency, Lula felt the pressure and backed off, asking Gil to continue studying other alternatives.

All this occurred during Gilberto Gil’s first months as a minister, and he learned a lot from the ANCINAV episode. The goals stayed the same, but the strategy was to be reframed.

Lessig with Gil @ Porto Alegre’s WSF05:
Is this what democracy looks like?

Perhaps calling himself a hacker while being attacked as a ’stalinist’ by local mainstream media right on the occasion of his very first major venture as minister was the grand overture of the Tropicalia movement vibe from his podium in government.

The tropicalist visionary perspective is a legacy of the late 60’s when Gil and his group were discovering a new global audience and experimenting with all kinds of cultural fusions. Here for the first time was the recognition that the same pulses of modernity were resonating from the cosmopolitan electric guitars from abroad and from regional groups from the hinterlands of the Brazilian Northeast. The urge to communicate and mix across cultures was the key to what came to be known as tropicalism.

Gil’s focus on the hacker ethics of openness for the digital culture today, forty years later, was instrumental for a similar mixing of cultures, peers, rhythms, codes and complexities. In his own way, he managed to creatively introduce new conceptual layers and nuances to his political discourse, thus breaking open new ground for the political debate over mass culture, the market, technology, the tensions between the contemporary and the traditional, intellectual property regulation, and more.

At that moment, the seeds of what would become some of the main projects of Gil’s tenure were tossed into the air. There was the pioneering push to port Creative Commons licenses to Brazil, which were displayed as Gil’s first moves toward the process of revising Brazilian copyrights laws. The fruits of such a debate were surely reflected in Brazil’s recent stiff (and successful) positions at WIPO — the World Intellectual Property Association, and in the realization of a National Forum to debate revisions on the copyright law which is now underway.

Another significant move came from Gil’s engagement in bringing back to life the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity. While opponents were keen to label the convention as a “deeply flawed” treaty, overly protectionist, and a threat to freedom of expression, Gil worked on the possibility that the initiative could result in a counterbalance to the World Trade Organization (WTO) rulings when deciding conflicts between trade and culture. In June 2007 the Brazilian Ministry of Culture sponsored an International Seminar to debate practical implementations and tools to activate the powers of the convention in each country.

The launch of the first ‘Pontos de Cultura’ (Cultural Hotspots) as a concrete program and as a showcase for Gil’s vision for digital culture was broadly recognized as a great idea in terms of cutural policy. It all starts with the selection of a project, an existent cultural process developed by groups such as indigenous tribes, quilombolas, cultural groups in favelas, academic centers at universities, or the like. The “architecture” of a hotspot is both structurally simple and broadly innovative. It is established with a broadband connection, infrastructure made of recycled equipment and, most important, technical workshops on open source audio and video editing software, enabling the cultural groups to digitize their creativity and publish it under alternative licenses. The project mixes (1) free software, (2) advanced concepts on copyrights and (3) an awareness that the appropriation of technology by the people is the emergent social movement which supports the generative dynamics of the digital era. According to Gil:

“We need to relocate what is now centralized in the hands of few. The majors of the cultural industry haven’t left anything for the peripheries. That’s why today the role of the Brazilian state in formulating public policies is to empower the micro manifestations so that they become able to occupy the public spaces while being protagonists of the promotion and protection of diversity”
[pt] Brasil lead American countries on policies for artistic expressions – o Abismal

The one complaint made by Gilberto Gil on the day he presented his departure to president Lula was related to the low budget for his ministry. While Gil’s critics from different positions generally talk about good ideas being poorly implemented, on the website of the media giant Globo network — where they use to represent Gil the minister as a cartoon mumbling esoteric nonsense — 53% of readers voted ‘terrible’ in judging his term. His achievements were in the face of much hostility.

But, the final assessment that is yet to be made about Gilberto Gil’s term at the helm of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture is whether his achievements are enough to lead us to believe that culture can be trusted as a locus for activism and progressive change in the global networked society.

Like managing to jam with widely different musical partners, anywhere, under all conditions, Gil seems to embody the ‘use of culture’ as a communication tool that both enables and invites broad participation. The invitation for cultural exercise is to be found mixed into the tropicalist vibe of his speeches on digital culture:

To act upon digital culture is the concretization of this philosophy, which open spaces to redefine the form and the content of cultural policies, and transforms the Ministry of Culture… Digital culture is a new concept. It comes from the idea that the digital technology revolution is cultural in its essence. What is at stake here is that the use of digital technology change behaviors. The plain use of the Internet and of free software creates fantastic possibilities to democratize access to information and to knowledge, to maximize the potential of cultural goods and services, to amplify the values that form our common scripts, and therefore, our culture, and also to potentialize the cultural production, generating new forms of art.

In a recent speech, Minister Gilberto Gil affirmed that Digital Culture initiatives present a built-in revolutionary device, and are able to play a fundamental role in shaking away the inertia of the traditional politics that has excluded much of society from public life. He talked about a bottom-up unrest happening everywhere, which he sees as a very positive sign of the emergence of a non-governmental political movement that he believes to be a direct and evolved result of recent cultural and counter-cultural forces which have been increasing their ability to influence public policies. He talked about ‘Peer-acy‘.

For those of us who worked with him, the loss is big. For him, I think it will be great to feel free again to dedicate himself to music. And one thing is for sure: Gilberto Gil’s tropicalist term has transformed the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.

The tones and rhythms of his leadership will live on.

Here is an interesting interview with Gilberto Gil @ YouTube

The open source movement in Brazil, with all its successes and failures, has somehow turned into a cultural trend. In this context, Microsoft’s Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) and its proprietary files’ format became the very symbol of the monopolistic obstacle against the freedom pursued by free software activists, and also the main target of government agencies’ official substitution policies. Where the Linux operating system was still not ready to reign, at least OpenOffice — with it’s ISO approved ODF file format standard — could help breaking Microsoft’s cultural hegemony. And it worked!

In fact, it seems that the strategy has worked too well. Microsoft started to see its multi-billion dollar Office business model menaced by the rising trend of governments giving preference to open standards in their decisions on software acquisition. The tactical reaction of Microsoft in defense of their monopoly position was to blitz for the sanction of their incompatible alternative format Open XML as a second ISO standard. Bloggers decried that the strategy used to carry OOXML through the ISO fast-track process has damaged the standard’s credibility and created serious consequences for the whole concept of open standards. Indeed, Microsoft tactics can bring forth an intense rage among those Brazilians who have worked so long and so hard for open standards, and it is not surprising to see MS portrayed not merely as a monopolist but as a monster.

Although having (barely) followed the procedural norms, ISO has lost (or at least damaged) its credibility by being involved in a process that was corrupted behind the scenes by a series of suspicions, irregularities, lobbies and so forth. If the approval had been reached by agreement, be it through Fast-Track or not, ISO would have maintained its credibility. But by passively conceding to Redmond’s pressure, and not checking the decision-making procedures of the various countries, ISO has damaged its credibility in a permanent way — and somehow thwarted all the other ISO standards.
OOXML = ISO 29500 – Microsoft Wins, we all lose – Linux… e mais coisas

The novel twist is this case seems to be that being open has brought a commercial advantage to open source initiatives based on the ODF standard, and Microsoft was forced to adapt to the new situation. As deep-seated rivals, Microsoft and Brazilian officials who were dedicated to open source were not entirely ready to face each other in an open exchange at first.

From the heights of its self-attributed superiority, and acting with its well known arrogance, Microsoft has come to declare, at the time of the meeting of the “Work Group 2″ — whose goal was to analyze the … comments delivered to the … [ISO standard's process] … in January — that “Brazil should not present opinions if they are not able to finish their analysis”. Well, the total number of Brazilian comments was above 2000 — is this volume not expressive enough?
Unhappily OOXML was approved by ISO – Open2Tech

It must have been the first time that so many countries have engaged in the debate over a technical standard. From the open source side, the communities are proud of their ODF/ISO-26300 standard, which aroused the giant Microsoft to wage a global war only to make their spec match ODF’s status. From the other side, huge commercial interests are at stake when Microsoft-based third-party vendors around the world are at risk of being excluded from contracts because the company has no ISO approved format. National delegations were in charge of the vote, and bloggers are decrying that ‘non-technical’ issues have influenced the decision.

When we read in blogs and in the tech media about what happened in many of these countries, where tech groups were against the approval, but the local NB [national standards body] staff opted to vote YES or absent, we must recognize and praise the excellence of what was accomplished in Brazil by ABNT [Brazilian Association of Technical Norms], showing a behavior that stands as an example to other NBs around the world!
OpenXML was approved… what now? – Free Software Movement from Paraná

There were many countries at ISO who, out of cowardice and / or incompetence, failed to vote. Among them were our neighbors Chile and Argentina, and also other ‘important’ countries such as Holland, Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Luxemburg, Malysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnan, Zimbabwe and Kenya. All of these were absent. Terrible!!! Now office suites software will be like cell phone chargers, bivolt (with ODF and OpenXML).
(Comment from Free Software Movement from Paraná at Open XML: Did they really win?)

Vitorio has talked about these countries, and it was really sad, but it was worse to be aware of distortions in important votes such as Norway’s, whose group has openly asked to change their vote to NO — it was like 24 voted NO, and 2 voted Yes, but Norway’s vote came out as YES… It is sad! We won’t talk about other irregularities such as in Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, Poland, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden and many others including the US. That phrase they use, “Money Talks”, is true. I can imagine how ashamed are the tech people from these countries who had distorted their votes. They study, research and find out that it does not hold as a standard. They vote against it. But still their vote comes through as ‘Yes’ or ‘Absent’.
(Comment from Movimento Software Livre Paraná at Open XML: Eles realmente ganharam?)

A prominent name of this debate is Jomar Silva, General Director of the Brazilian Chapter of the ODF Alliance and member of the Brazilian delegation, who is blogging in Portuguese and in English. His reports are providing an inside perspective on the debate.

According to Jomar, who was at ISO’s BRM [Ballot Resolution Meeting], someone came to him during a coffe break and subtlely asked him not to raise an important question in the process analyzing the OOXML request to become an ISO standard: the non-existence of a mapping from the legacy format (ex: .doc) and the new format (ex: .docx)… If this mapping is out of the OOXML specification, its main goal is invalid. The specification is invalid. The Brazilian delegation wanted to raise the issue of: where is the mapping? But here is another point. Someone asking him to not raise the issue is one thing…. What escapes me is why ISO has not allowed Brazil to present this [line of] questioning? All I know is that the blogosphere will be all around the subject in the next few days, and I will follow closely Rob Weir, Bob Sutor, Andy Updegrove, Groklaw and a bunch of reactions that Jomar’s translated post is receiving.
Wrangling at ISO – Avi Alkalay

It is worth mentioning that even Jomar Silva, a fiery ODF standard advocate, is among the commenters able to find positive perspectives brought by the whole process. Obviously, Microsoft’s retreat from proprietary file formats to open and XML-based (easier to manipulate, produce and consume) file formats is good news. And their commitment to work on translators to support ODF as native file formats in MS Office is something we would not have expected only a few years ago. In the long run, ODF supporters must be in favor of extoling its features and urging the widest use of it as possible and this would not be accomplished by maintaining a fundamentalist anti-OpenXML position in ISO.

We Brazilians, we have won [as a result of] entering such a battle and leaving it with our heads high (with no finger in the eye or low blows). We played according to the rules of the game, even though there were some interested parties that tried to present their version of the rules all the time. We’ve won also, because we left the battle strenghtened. We’ve never been so respected in the IT’s international market, and never before has a debate over open standards captured the agenda of so many people in the world. And thus, we have never before had the oportunity to speak to such a select audience. We’ve won because we gathered Greeks and Trojans in this debate and also because we’ve found out that rival companies can sit down, discuss and build together. This is for me a new paradigm, which will soon bring results to all involved.
Open XML: Did they really win? – Jomar Silva @ Void Life (Void)

All things considered, it does seem senseless to close anyone’s path to openness, and we all must be ready to adapt to new environments.

The most evident feature brought by the wave of new entrants in the sports chronicle on the web is the customized report and commentary produced by teams’ fans. Since TV transmissions of football games started in Brazil, referees are not the only ones to be sujected to biased scrutiny of the fans. The obligatory account of the games by speakers and commentators from major TV networks, regular owners of exclusive broadcasting rights, also suffer the sharp analysis — and fiery reactions — from the opinionated crowd of the many clubs’ supporters.

… fans of Palmeiras [a club from São Paulo] had enough, and there is nothing new in it. But the Internet wave has finally reached a point of breaking the big media monopoly. When it all started, around 10 years ago, HTML could only build a one way channel. Today, any dumb person can do a blog as good as this one that you are reading, and in this democratic media space there is no need to mask your true opinions. There is no need to fashion an unbiased attitude as long as there is room for everybody, and each one will find what they really want. Today, there are websites made by ‘palmeirenses’ (’Palmeiras‘ fans) to ‘palmeirenses’, full of passion and communicating through their own dialect. They are able to praise enthusiastically as only passionate fans can do, and when it comes the moment of criticism comes, it is done in a positive way, not to crush the team. This is all a team supporter, who has until now had his intelligence and desires abused, wants.
A mídia palestrina – Parmerista!

The opportunity to express the full passion for their teams in a public sphere, free from the politically correct ‘impartiality’ and ‘fairness’ of the big media narratives of the games is also a feature for the enthusiasts.

Nothing is more important than the freedom to crush a defeated rival! Nothing. Some readers will ask if it is even more important than the game itself, and I say: Yes! What is the joy of a classic duel of traditional rivals if we get stuck into details such as “the team played with two lines of four…” Football, my friends, is not just a game. I know it seems obvious written this way, but the reaction of the people to Souza’s gestures obliges me to say this. Do you want to talk just about the game, about the “lines of four” (I can’t stand this expression anymore)? So go to a blog about backgammon or chess (by the way, games that I also master…). Football is football because of a potency called ‘rivalry’. Enough of straight laced football media. Don’t let the rival-crushing die!
Não deixem o esculacho morrer! (André Rizek) – Flamengo Eternamente

Amidst the hot exchange between rivals, the ‘impartiality’ and ‘fairness’ of the mainstream media sports coverage is also a disputed issue. A recent survey has showed that the carioca club [from Rio de Janeiro] Flamengo, with 32.6 million followers, has the biggest club fan base in the world. In this context, the predictable trend of the media to please the majority of the audience has generated its proper counter reaction in the blogosphere.

[full disclosure: I am honored to be part of this intelligent and valuable crowd that follow and support the world's most cherished football club, Flamengo]

It is not news for anybody who follows ‘carioca’ football that the press has an inclination to favor Flamengo. Having the biggest fan base, and consequently the biggest consume potential, all newspapers, magazines, radio and TV networks, and Internet portals show a trend to maximize the deeds of the ‘Urubu’ [black vulture, Flamengo's totem animal] in order to satisfy the masses and keep the consumer base. If they were selling bananas, that would do no harm as it would be part of the business. But as information sellers and opinion builders, these media should be more neutral and report the truth. Unfortunately, this is not what happens. Therefore, we created this space to complete and dennounce the intentional coverage gaps of the sports media in its pursuit of ever bigger profits.
Flapress – SecaFla.com

Apart from the steamed up aficionado debate, blogs and forums are accomplishing clever hacks to customize their own media experience of the games. As illegal as it can be, the use of web video streaming services that offers video/chat interfaces to relay the [copyrighted] games’ images has been

Fans of Sport Recife are broadcasting live the games of the Lion [Sport's totem animal] to other supporters who live outside the state of Pernambuco. The viewing, which started out as webcam captures directly from the TV, are now produced through TV capture boards… “I’ve started doing this for the pleasure of helping people from outside Recife who could not watch the Sport’s games. I don’t profit from this, it is a 100% amateur activity. Everything was accomplished through the intensive exchange of information among the forum users”, declared T.A. He received instructions on the issue from a friend living Portugal, who is also passionate for the Sport Recife and much interested in the parallel transmission. Besides Portugal, the ‘audience’ is formed in its majority by fans link in the UK, Canada, and in the Brazilian states of Pará and Goiás. Some of these users agreed to collaborate with the money to buy the TV capture board.
Comentário de André Ferreira em Vote nos Brazucas – Fundamental Vídeo-Conteúdo

Although a relatively recent phenomenon, the growing intensity of the networked exchange among like-minded football club’s fan bases is bringing a new dynamic to the game. The shouted opinions that used to come from the anonymous crowds in stadiums can now reach new audiences, and start making a difference in the now enlarged sports chronicle’s market of opinions. Players must now be responsive to a much larger group of loquacious coaches.

We played badly and ugly, mainly because of the mental faints of Toró and Léo Moura [Flamengo players who were expelled with red cards from the game with Nacional of Montevideu last week, lost by 0-3]. By the way, Toró, I hope the tragedy that followed your ill temper has served as a lesson for the rest of your life. Do you know where you’ve started to fail, young Toró? It was before the ball rolled, when the indomitable supporters of Mengão [big Flamengo] were greeting you and you, contrary to what you’ve always done, dit not salute the fans… The first obligation to anyone wearing the Sacred Mantle in official games is to salute the supporters who pay homage to you with their presence and praise. Neither you, Toró, and nor Souza did that before the game started. AND THE WHOLE TEAM FORGOT TO THANK THE FANS AT THE END OF THE GAME. This is a big disrespect before those who don’t measure the efforts to support the five times national champion Mengão Fuderosão [big f...ing Flamengo]. We demand that this clowny performance is not to be repeated, ever, in any field.
Homem que é homem não chora – FlamengoNET

As already reported here at GVO, Brazilian alternative sports media is also focusing on corruption involving club and league managers, player agents, politicians and sports promotion companies, as well as the big sports media outlets. Surely a good sign of what we can expect from the nation’s blogosphere, given the fact that the 2014 World Cup is coming to Brazil.

No brilhante texto de Dibbell (leia na íntegra), o ministro da Cultura, Gilberto Gil, já atacava “os fundamentalistas do controle absoluto sobre a propriedade” e o seu iminente fracasso. “Um mundo aberto pelas comunicações não pode se manter fechado em uma visão feudal de propriedade”, diz. “Nenhum país, nem os Estados Unidos, ou a Europa, pode ficar no caminho. É uma tendência global. É parte do próprio processo de civilização. É a abundância semântica do mundo moderno, do mundo pós-moderno – e não há por que resistir a isso”. Com esse pensamento compartilhado por uma parte do governo Lula e com o Fórum Internacional de Software Livre (fisl) realizado em abril pela oitava vez em Porto Alegre, o Brasil continua como um dos maiores inimigos da propriedade intelectual como a conhecemos hoje na indústria do conhecimento capitalista, como já vem sendo noticiado pelo mundo todo.
Brasil perpetua-se como inimigo número um da propriedade intelectual, por Carlos Gustavo Yoda – Blog do Turquinho

The Eighth International Free Software Forum was in Porto Alegre , state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the deep south of Brazil — the same city that hosted the World Social Forum for many years — and it is already a global reference symbol for the open source community. Dedicated developers and passionate users from around the world, along with many government delegates who do not necessarily belong to the former two groups, gather to spend four days conferencing, networking and partying. But the fact is that the event fuels the connection between theory and practice. In this global showcase, government open source initiatives are prominently displayed and are always an important part of the event. This year, theOLPC initiative was one of conference stars.

O governo federal lançou oficialmente nesta quinta-feira, durante o Fórum Internacional Software Livre (FISL), um site que disponiliza para uso de toda a sociedade os programas de código aberto produzidos por instituições governamentais. E este é apenas mais um passo da consolidação do conceito de software como um bem público, que pode e deve ser compartilhado por todos. Junto dom o conceito de software livre, o conceito de software público ganha força. O resultado prático? Cinco programas já disponíveis no portal, e mais dois a serem iseridos até o fim do fisl8.0. Cada programa tem a sua própria comunidade de discussão, com entrada livre. Qualquer pessoa poderá ter acesso ao código-fonte dos softwares disponibilizados, mediante cadastramento no portal.
Muito além do Portal do Software Público – Blog JB

Falo das crianças da Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental Luciana de Abreu, de Porto Alegre (RS), uma das instituições escolhidas para o projeto piloto do programa “Um Computador por Aluno”, do MEC…. Conversei um pouco com Ketilen Cardoso, 10 anos, que não desgrudou na máquina um só instante durante o papo. Fez uma foto comigo, usando a câmera do OX, para guardar no seu álbum, enquanto me contava que sua atividade predileta é navegar na Internet, em busca de informações. Divididas em grupos, as crianças estão desenvolvendo projetos em sala de aula usando o OX. O tema parte do interesse delas. As professoras vão trabalhando os conteúdos didáticos a medida em que as situações vão surgindo, sem planejamento prévio. “Eles formulam as hipóteses e nós atuamos muito mais como orientadores do que transmissores de conteúdos”, conta a professora Tânia Mara Oliveira.
XO, o destaque do FISL – Blog JB

- The climbing is hard…
- But if we persist, we will make it!
- Thank God we did not use the ballon…
- Yep…
- Too expensive.
- And boring.

O evento acabou deixando saudade. Porém, a sensação de que tudo foi feito com a melhor qualidade. Outros eventos virão, porém nenhum outro é igual à dimensão e filosofia do FISL.
Caras Conhecidas – Where I Finally Can Be Calm

Economy of culture is another important open source arena. According to Ronaldo Lemos, one of the important voices in the Brazilian open source movement and Director of the Center of Technology and Society (of the Fundação Getúlio Vargas) in Rio de Janeiro, recently publicized research findings show how the open business model of the TecnoBrega music scene in Belém — state of Pará, North region of the country — allows musicians to successfully sell content and performance directly to their audiences. The original concept translates into a genuine alternative business model for musicians that embraces openness as a fundamental rule and takes advantage of the digital features that boosts the rapid, cheap and effective distribution of cultural goods. While there are still many ready to label the initiative as undercover piracy, bloggers report and comment on how openness is starting to get a foothold in mainstream thinking.

“Quando você olha para a gente aqui (as iniciativas brasileiras), a primeira coisa que você enxerga é a informalidade, e só depois a inovação. A gente precisa mudar isso, a gente precisa enxergar que aqui estão surgindo inovações, rede sociais importantes, e que precisam ser valorizadas.” Não que palavras sozinhas resolvam alguma coisa, mas é sempre inspirador ver alguém dizer algo de positivo, mas de maneira crítica, sobre os brasileiros. Melhor ainda que elas venham de alguém como Ronaldo Lemos, o homem do Creative Commons no Brasil e manda-chuva do Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade da FGV. Alguém que ganhou destaque internacional ao mostrar, —paradoxalmente, sem nenhum “jeitinho brasileiro”— que é melhor legalizar as coisas que funcionam à base do mesmo jeitinho, do que tentar criar um arremedo de cópia das iniciativas gringas já consagradas achando que isso é a coisa certa a se fazer. “Quando vêem algo como a cena do tecnobrega no Pará, logo dizem ‘olha só esse bando de ilegais…’. Os caras criaram uma rede de produção musical autônoma que se associa aos camelôs para vender CDs e DVDs. E é um mercado extraordinário, funciona direitinho. “
No exterior, inovação e informalidade. No Brasil, só informalidade – GigaBlog

íamos, eu e colegas jornalistas das principais redações locais convocados para o jargão da “entrevista coletiva”, ao encontro de seis altos executivos da indústria fonográfica e da indústria cinematográfica, do brasil e de alhures. o anúncio multilíngüe que eles tinham a fazer era bombástico: num inédito esforço conjunto, está fundada a apcm, a associação antipirataria cinema e música…
trouxeram a nosso (e a seu) conhecimento, então, o recém-nomeado primeiro diretor-geral da apmc: trata-se de antonio borges, que se apresentou contando foi delegado da polícia federal, especializado na área de contrabando. o trabalho principal da apcm, disse o borges, será “de inteligência”, com foco no “nascedouro da pirataria”…
lutando contra a timidez que costuma acometer jornalistas nessas tais “entrevistas coletivas”, remeti uma primeira pergunta ao ex-delegado borges, agora diretor-geral da apcm: “como a apcm pretende se posicionar em relação ao tecnobrega do pará?”. “o trabalho será voltado para a inteligência”, repetiu. “não adianta só prender camelôs nas ruas“, prosseguiu, reafirmando que é preciso descobrir o nascedouro da pirataria e “levar a notícia à polícia”. observei, trôpego, que em muitos casos os tecnobregas não podem ser considerados exatamente piratas, uma vez que praticam economia informal de ponta a ponta, sem copiar ilegalmente material de propriedade de gravadora nenhuma e sem infringir direito autoral de editora nenhuma. paulo rosa veio interceder em favor do (ex-)delegado borges: “tanto o tecnobrega quanto nichos do funk carioca, por se desenvolverem nas periferias e não seguirem caminhos tradicionais do mercado, desenvolveram um mercado próprio, de autoria, distribuição e divulgação próprias. mas o camelô que vende tecnobrega também vende cópias piratas de roberto carlos e ana carolina. eles se aproveitam da cadeia de distribuição do tecnobrega”. paulo rosa então mordeu mais forte: “os tecnobregas só sobrevivem como indústria porque não pagam imposto. é uma concorrência desleal, porque nós, gravadoras, somos obrigados a pagar icms, pis, cofins… e competimos com uma indústria que não paga nada disso. se o mesmo canal distribui tecnobrega e pirataria, isso vai ser combatido”…
argumentei que, caso não criassem do modo como criam, os “concorrentes” do tecnobrega simplesmente não existiriam, pois na atual indústria fonográfica brasileira não parece haver gravadora interessada no tecnobrega. paulo rosa respondeu: “o que o público quer, na realidade, é música de graça. eu também quero viajar de graça, me hospedar de graça…”.
[você sabe, não é nada incomum jornalistas - e artistas, produtores, executivos de gravadora, políticos etc. etc. etc. - viajarem de graça, se hospedarem de graça etc. etc. etc.]
paulo rosa esboçou então uma auto-avaliação, uma auto-crítica: “a indústria tem que repensar também o modelo. nós não vamos ser tão rápidos quanto o tecnobrega. hoje, depois de toda a turbulência pela qual a indústria passou no início dos anos 2000, o pensamento é totalmente digital”. e anunciou, diante de uma pergunta sobre os preços estratosféricos dos cds nas lojas “oficiais”: “certamente a reestruturação da indústria passará pela questão do preço”.
indústria das ruas – Pedro Alexandre Sanches

É preciso pensar em reestruturar, como uma empresa que precisa se refazer para sobreviver. Estamos no ramo de oferecer música aos que querem ouvir música, intermediar, facilitar, orientar, escolher, recomendar, apontar, divulgar, levar e trazer, este é o percurso do mercado. Há lugar para todos os intermediadores, facilitadores etc etc etc. Mas não é mais como já foi – mas a as leis são daquele tempo do mercado organizado por meia duzia de empresas, com acesso administrado à midia de massa e aos meios de produção – estudios, fábricas e as estrelas. Já era – estamos precisando reestruturar, mandar embora os funcionarios que perderam a função, despedir os que não se adaptam, reinvestir tempo e dinheiro em outras coisas que farão o trabalho anterior de outra forma, mais moderna, mais ao gosto do mercado, mais eficientes. Uma empresa de onibus que investe em aviação, e dá certo. É mais ou menos por ai.
Lendo e Remoendo – As Peripécias do Pena

The collision of code and culture seems to erupt as the digital paradigm empowers various ‘revolutions.’ Conflict between the old and new are often expected. Perhaps it is here that we find some hints about why Brazil sometimes shines as a guiding light in the global debate. Thinking of code and culture together as partnering with a similar approach from a government is the line that differentiates the performance of Brazilian Ministry of Culture under the leadership of Gilberto Gil. In a time when former models and concepts are melting away, and political and economic approaches are showing limited capacity as tools to explain and operate the needed transitions, Gil’s ‘Digital Culture’ approach is enpowering innovative strategies that are starting to spill out and influence important national decision processes that were initially out of the reach of a ministry that operates with less than 1% of the national budget.

The transition to Digital TV and the digital convergence in media are among these processes which are now facing critical moments of decision, and once again the Brazilian Ministry of Culture is showing the way with it’s ‘I Forum Nacional de TVs Públicas‘ [1st Public TVs National Forum]. The event will happen next week in Brasilia, gathering representatives from the more than 80 public initiatives among educational, legislative, community and public access TV networks, and will be open to remote participation through a virtual forum.

O Ministério da Cultura (Minc) trabalha em três frentes na preparação para a chegada da TV Digital no mercado brasileiro. Aumentar a produção das TVs públicas e cuidar da infra-estrutura são os objetivos práticos iniciais. No campo da regulamentação, quer criar um grande debate, no próximo mês, quando será realizado o Fórum Nacional de TVs Públicas.
Ministério da Cultura trabalha para aumentar produção e infra-estrutura das TVs públicas – Agência Brasil

O processo teve início em setembro de 2006, como decorrência da atuação conjunta das quatro principais entidades representativas do campo público da TV – a Associação Brasileira de Emissoras Públicas, Educativas e Culturais (ABEPEC), a Associação Brasileira de Televisão Universitária (ABTU), a Associação Brasileira de Televisões e Rádios Legislativas (ASTRAL) e a Associação Brasileira de Canais Comunitárioss (ABCCOM) – e de seu diálogo permanente e construtivo com a Secretaria do Audiovisual do MinC. A proposta era de lançar na mesa de discussão todos os problemas que envolvem a televisão não-comercial, na multiplicidade de canais que a constituem. Canais estatais ou públicos, do ponto de vista da gestão; canais abertos ou fechados, pelo sistema de transmissão; canais educativos, legislativos, culturais, comunitários, universitários, institucionais, pelo conteúdo; canais de vários tipos e tamanhos, enfim, todos identificados pelo objetivo de prestar serviços de interesse público sem finalidade de lucro. E identificados, igualmente, pela carência dramática de recursos, pela falta de amparo numa legislação clara e coerente, e pelo tratamento subalterno em relação ao dispensado à televisão comercial privada.
Uma Constituinte para a televisão pública – Jornalistas em Ação

Defendemos que este novo marco legal revise a consignação de canais feita às atuais concessionárias, evitando tanto o desperdício do espectro quanto a cessão automática de um bem público, escasso e limitado, sem a devida contrapartida por parte das entidades que irão explorá-lo. Queremos a otimização do espectro. Este, deve servir ao interesse da sociedade, garantindo de forma democrática a presença de diversas fontes de informação. Para isso, a definição do plano de canais (a distribuição do espaço no espectro) deve primar por este objetivo e não pela simples acomodação das emissoras hoje existentes. Esta visão passa por (1) uma “limpeza” na forma como o espectro é usado atualmente, retirando canais que infringem a legislação e aqueles que perdem sentido face à modernização introduzida com a tecnologia digital, tais como as que servem para repetição de sinais e as outorgas para serviços de TV paga; e (2) uma ampliação do espetro utilizado, com o uso da faixa que inclui os canais 60 a 69 e da faixa hoje conhecida como VHF baixo (canais 7 a 13) exclusivamente para emissoras de natureza pública.
Carta Aberta ao Governo Lula e ao Povo Brasileiro – Filmeola Livre

The few mature commercial TV networks that today dominate the Brazilian market are not happy with all these novelties. Along side the gang of public broadcasters, digital convergence is bringing into the field new and economically powerful players such as the telcos. The possibility of having to cope with so much new competition is causing the incumbents to shield their present positions by avoiding the open debate. From the perspective of the political debate, the public broadcasting collective movement is easily seen as an assault of Lula’s ‘lefty’ government over ‘free’ media.

Até pouco tempo, a simples lembrança da elaboração de um novo marco regulatório incomodava os grandes radiodifusores privados feito espinho na carne. Mas após a entrada das teles como parte interessadíssima no mercado da tv digital, a ala megaempresarial da radiodifusão se viu obrigada a não ignorar o tema sob pena de sair perdendo… No bojo da convergência tecnológica onde a atual e arcaica legislação precisa ser revista, o empurrão vai bem. Ao menos a pauta da comunicação pública não deve ficar à margem, e as oportunidades de expor as reinvidicações não passarão em branco pelas entidades do setor.
Carta ao Ministro – Relativize

Todas essas emissoras, é claro, não tem público. A audiência delas não passa de um traço, porque o telespectador não tem nenhum interesse pelo evangelho da esquerda. No entanto, estão aí, financiadas por nossos impostos (exceção feita às emissoras de universidades privadas — as mantidas por ONGs não são exceção, porque no Brasil a maioria delas é sustentada por convênios com a administração pública ou patrocinadas pelas empresas estatais). Servem para dar emprego aos companheiros, e por isso vão parasitar o contribuinte por toda eternidade.
Mais uma TV Pública para divulgar o evangelho socialista – O Apaniguado

Open code and open culture are playing an important role in the Brazilian debate over the digital convergence. But in the middle of the general drift toward more openness it is interesting to note a more protective action that Gilberto Gil is also pointing to — the ‘UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions’. After all, a culture that is opening itself to a free flow of global influences has to have a way to maintain and protect the cultural identity of its own territory. As bloggers comment about the issue, an old post reminds us that although we now face new paradigms, history is often repeating itself.

“A convenção da Diversidade Cultural, que foi aprovada em Paris ano passado, na Unesco. É uma iniciativa da Unesco – a Cultura sai da OMC (Organização Mundial do Comércio), vai pro âmbito da Unesco. A Convenção garante aos Estados, às nações, aos governos nacionais, autonomia no tratamento da questão, proteção da sua diversidade cultural, quando assim for entendido, quando assim for conveniente etc. Essa convenção vai ser ratificada, já foi ratificada por quase quarenta países e agora em junho, em Paris, ela entra em funcionamento.” Gilberto Gil entrevistado por Bob Fernandes.
Gil: “Há o perigo dos monopólios e oligopólios” – Bob Fernandes no Terra Magazine

O apoio à cultura conta desde ontem com mais um instrumento de protecção internacional – a convenção da UNESCO (Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura) para a diversidade. Mais de 50 países, entre os quais o Brasil e a China, assinaram este documento que quer ser garantia da diversidade de expressões culturais num mercado em que a concorrência é cada vez maior e a produção artística tem vindo a ganhar peso. Aceite por todos os países da UE, a Convenção para a Protecção e a Promoção das Expressões Culturais foi liderada pela França e o Canadá e teve forte oposição dos Estados Unidos, que acabaram por não a ratificar. O documento que consagra o direito dos Estados a “proteger” as práticas culturais a partir de uma “multiplicidades de meios”, segundo o diário francês Libération, foi visto pelos EUA como um atentado à livre concorrência que visava, sobretudo, a indústria americana do cinema e do entretenimento.
Convenção da diversidade cultural em vigor – Pobreza na Imprensa

O professor Murilo Ramos destaca que políticas nacionais de comunicação arrojadas foram concebidas no âmbito da UNESCO nos anos 80, resultando no Relatório McBride. A aliança neoliberal homogênica da era Reagan / Tatcher tratou de articular a saída dos EUA da UNESCO, esvaziando a discussão. Nesta época se estabelece a ideologia de CS que dá ao cidadão o direito de ser informado, mas não de informar – consumir informação, e não produzir.
Regulamentando a Comunicação Social Eletrônica: Rádios Comunitárias querem influir na política de CS – Ecologia Digital

It is apparent that the Digital Age in Brazil has not only created new issues but that it has put old ones back on the table. As code, culture and policy converge we can expect to see both new and old versions of the perennial tensions between “order and progress” — the very words that are emblazoned on the flag of Brazil.