This morning, Tim Hwang of Harvard Free Culture posted a provocative critique and vision statement for the future of SFC. Recognizing that “times have changed”, Tim challenges us to consider our role as student activists in today’s salient tensions lest this organization lapse into “irrelevance.” In particular, he suggests four actions to address areas of concern that have not yet received our attention at a national or international level;

1) Create A Preemptive Ultimatum Around Creative Works

2) Connect With the Development Community

3) Encourage Open Access Nationally

4) Promote Data Portability

Tim’s blog post is the perfect starting point for a discussion that we both hope to see carried out in person at October’s conference. I urge you to take a few minutes to read his thoughts and offer your reaction. The conversations around free culture continue to change and so must we.

Critical game-making collective Molleindustria have just announced the release of their webgame Free Culture Game, which is a “game about the struggle between free culture and copyright”. Molleindustria, based in Italy, have made a series of games about social issues, such as Enduring Indymedia, a commentary on the FBI’s seizing of computers owned by citizen media group Indymedia, and McVideogame, a critique of the industrial practices of food giant McDonalds.

The new game itself appears to be an argument about the perpetual nature of the struggle between cultural values of sharing and welcoming new ideas, and a “vectorialist” function that drains those ideas out of the commons. Defeating the vectorialist requires constant, active re-negotiating, and there does not appear to be a victory condition in sight

The release notes follow:
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Dragon*Con 2008 Parade, CC-BY-NC-SA, Tim Dorr

The people involved with Students for Free Culture represent a broad array of backgrounds and affiliations.* Use the conference as a opportunity to meet with SFC members of other chapters with related interests by suggesting an Affinity Group!

* Yes, even Halo cosplayers.

Last year, Students for Free Culture participated in the National Open Access Day of Action, as part of a successful push to pass the NIH bill. This year, we’re doing it again: together with allies SPARC and PLoS, SFC has signed on to 2008 Open Access Day, celebrating our progress in opening access to research and pushing for further gains.

Want to participate? SPARC and PLoS are making it easy. If your university library is on the list of participating libraries (updated regularly), contact them and see what you can do to help. If your library isn’t there, encourage them to sign up, or host an event on your own. We are organizing a video webcast with a Nobel laureate and a PLoS journal editor-in-chief on October 14 at 7 PM EST and 7 PM PST. We’re also working on a “Voices of Open Access” video series for you to screen.

It’s true that Open Access Day is falling just a couple days after the end of the Students for Free Culture conference. However, I will be at the conference as a SPARC representative, and folks from PLoS may also be in attendance, so we can bring swag and start a dialogue about open access while we’re in Berkeley. And once you get home, all you need to do is buy snacks and tune into the webcast–it’s an event-in-a-box!

Besides the webcast and videos, there are plenty of other activities you could do with your chapter for Open Access day. Here are some ideas from last year. Get creative!

If your chapter is participating, register here on the Open Access Day blog to get information on how to tune into the webcast, hear other OA Day planning tips, and win some cool swag from PLoS!

Do you have a project or group you’d like to exhibit at the Free Culture conference this October? There will be on-going exhibition space for which we can provide you with a table, chairs, and power. Space is limited, however, so please put your name up on the Exhibits and Booths wiki page soon.

In other conference notes, the conference wiki is lighting up! In particular, I started a Friendly Couches page for travellers to coordinate low-cost, hi-fun lodging.