I’ve just returned from attending a fascinating conference in Johannesburg around improving access to learning materials in southern Africa. The two-day conference, organized by the Consumer Institute of South Africa (among others) brought together stakeholders from the government, civil society, academic and publishing sectors to discuss how copyright and publishing can be developed to improve access to education in southern Africa.

For me, the most important aspect of the conference was the fact that the local publishing industry was being compelled to talk about the products of their industry within the framework of South Africans’ constitutional right to education. And although publishers are often seen as the cause perpetrators of outrageous pricing, I hope that every stakeholder recognized their role in relieving the burden of learning materials costs in learning institutions.

Although the exact figure was disputed, it was shocking to discover that our own Madiba’s Biography, ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’, costs R135 in South Africa when it costs only R47.18 on Amazon.com. Rather than the fact that there is over-charging happening somewhere in the value chain locally, I felt that it was more startling because it illustrates how the internet and ICTs are making information more accessible in developed countries, while prices in developing countries continue to rise.

I was thrilled when Creative Commons was mentioned by a number of participants as a solution to some of the problems that we face here. For example:

- Translations: The Department of Education in South Africa complained that publishers didn’t make enough resources available in local languages because there weren’t enough numbers to make this viable. Creative Commons projects like the numerous communal translations of Lessig’s ‘Free Culture’, as well as the Wikipedia’s use of the GFDL (GNU-Free Documentation Licence) that has enabled over a million articles in 105 languages illustrate some possible solutions.

- Expense of textbook editions: SASCO (South African Students Congress) representatives complained at how lecturers often prescribed the latest editions of textbooks, when there were very few updates to the pages, leading to the increased expense of buying new books rather than opposed to second-hand editions. Open content licences enable authors to quickly and cheaply update materials for rapid online distribution.

- Outcomes Based Education: South Africa’s new curriculum is based on Outcomes Based Education (OBE) which requires a vast amount of resources (other than just textbooks and novels) to be successful. Teachers also require a platform where they can share learning material content, lesson plans and suggestions with one another in order to build new resources. Open content projects such as those initiated by the Department of Education and by organizations such as the Shuttleworth Foundation and UCT’s Free Science Textbooks initiative suggest great strides towards developing more accessible materials.

There were also some excellent presentations by CPTech, Tralac and the South Centre on the importance of the Development Agenda, and the need for as much participation in both multilateral (eg Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights – TRIPS) and bilateral (eg Southern African Customs Union – SACU) consultations by developing countries. According to Tenu Avafia from Tralac, the most pressing concern for southern African countries at the moment is the imminent agreement between SACU and the US, where the US is attempting bundle TRIPS-plus policies into a ‘free trade’ agreement with the countries in the group.

As I said in my presentation, the most important fact that we must take into account when framing arguments around access to knowledge is that the internet and ICTs have changed copyright and publishing forever. Copyright was first developed in order to keep innovators innovating. Back in mid 18th Europe, the only way to do this was to give copyright holders a limited monopoly so that they could capture the monetary value from making copies and adapting their work. But today, there are other incentives for producing and innovating.

This is an incredible opportunity that, if we do not seize, will be lost to other agendas. This conference was a step towards a new agenda for academic publishing in southern Africa – I look forward to what will follow.