It was a pleasure to hear Sherre DeLys and Kate Gauld from Pool share their insights and experiences at our most recent DE Talk.
Click on the video above for highlights of the talk.
Pool is emerging after a year of experimentation (it launched in August 2008) and its great to see that all kinds of possibilities are being explored and collaborative efforts are coming to fruition. Pool is allowing the creative community to connect and explore new ways of collaborating with each other and with the ABC.
Working within a less than ideal framework and with a limited budget, Sherre and Kate are leveraging ABC archives into the public domain, setting up projects with Radio National shows – 360, The Night Air, Sound Quality and Bush Telegraph, and cracking open ways to revitalise tired radio formats to find out what listeners would like to hear.
In the Pool you can use ABC archival commons material, engage in direct conversation with Radio National presenters and upload your original new material for others to enjoy and give feedback, amongst many other functions that are yet to be fully explored. POOL has engaged some unexpected parties to license their work as creative commons material – the Sydney Symphony Orchestra are planning to release some 30-second recordings to Creative Commons to drop into the Pool for all to use.
Kate and Sherre explained their current focus on education and research to forge partnerships with universities. This is important to assist universities incorporate curriculum material for the ‘social media producer’ role developing within digital media. They are looking at approaching the most active of Pool users to become site moderators might be picked from (for more on this topic read Digital Eskimo’s White Paper on the role of seeding in social design).
Pool and ACiD (Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design) are partnering in ongoing research into the impact of the creative commons license on traditional media, and helping people dive into the rich amount of material in the cultural commons. The site has formed a special community – it’s friendly and supportive, and the contribution of the user is not for the ABC’s taking – it’s about sharing rather than harvesting content. The discussion turned many times to what conditions might prove to be the tipping point where the Pool community takes hold and begins self-seeding.
Pool showed us what’s happening on the cutting edge of this user-generated project, and while raising uncertainties and debates that continue to brew – Digital Eskimo feels privileged to have been able to facilitate the discussion.
