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"In this article we aim to focus on the position which Free Software movement has in this more broad Free Culture movement, and to emphasize the reasons to why Free Software needs to be an integral part of Free Culture, that we wish to create and cultivate."
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What is a Free Culture
Before talking about Free Culture we should establish some kind of a definition of Free Culture, in that it would seem logical we should first define "culture" and then identify what it is that makes this culture to become a free one. It is not an easy task regarding the term "culture" tends to mean various things in several contexts of use. However, if we look at some most common contexts we can see what culture in general may consist of and reach a better understanding of what it is, and in the end, what turns it a free one.
That said, we can recognize "culture" as a system of beliefs, ethics and morality, various methods, approaches and solutions to common problems, common human behaviors, sense of creativity and ultimately the outcome of any of the above in interaction (for comparison see: Wikipedia and dictionary.com definitions from which this was partly derived).
It is enough to observe one individual in society to recognize his culture. He has a system of beliefs, his own ethical and moral standards (as part of his shaping worldview) which affect his approach and methods to dealing with certain challenges and solving certain problems. All of this also reflects in the way he behaves, both privately and as part of a group. And all of that sure affects his sense of creativity through which he creates. All of the above mentioned dimensions therefore interact with each other to form ones culture.
However, it is through social interaction that this culture becomes a broad social subject applied to the whole society with all of these dimensions (his culture, in a sense, morphs into our culture). Social interaction occurs when these individuals communicate with each other, share with each other, inspire each other, ultimately affect each other and each others sense of culture. This process of social interaction results in an overall cultural growth in a society and is thus essential if a culture is to live and progress.
It is our assumption that this social interaction must be allowed to happen freely. It should not be restricted by any social system governing our society to a point where these social interactions become restricted or a privilege instead something common.
Some of the activities that can be recognized as a "process" part of social interaction include sharing ideas and views, creating and sharing music, movies, images, software and other artistic or arguably non-artistic creations. Sharing is fundamental to a social interaction and freedom to share is therefore one of the fundamental freedoms necessary for a culture to grow and evolve.
That is our definition of a Free Culture, a world in which social system (through law) does not restrict social interactions, in such a way to make them incomplete and reserved only for a privileged few. Smothering sharing and building upon culture means smothering these, to culture healthy, social interactions which in turn means smothering cultural development.
In our view, Free Culture movement that rises today should fight all forces that try to impose any anti-cultural restrictions through both law and the malicious technology as its extending hand.
In this article we aim to focus on the position which Free Software movement has in this more broad Free Culture movement, and to emphasize the reasons to why Free Software needs to be an integral part of Free Culture, that we wish to create and cultivate.
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