Class Prep: Creative Commons

We're going to discuss Creative Commons and the work of Lawrence Lessig in class today. The article I'm discussing is: "Cyberlawyer 2.0" The Economist. London: Dec 8, 2007. Vol. 385, Iss. 8558; pg. 27

The article covers Creative Commons, a non-for-profit organization founded by Lessig as an alternative to traditional copy right standards. Artists/Creators can choose the degree to which they want to copyright/protect their work, the idea being that many artist actually want to share their work for free but at the same time have some sort of acknowledgment, not necessarily in the form of royalties.

According to the author, some were surprised when Lessig announced he's "switching" his focus from copyright issues and CC to fighting corruption. I guess on the surface this may appear to be a complete turnaround but really it's essentially a shift in strategy.

On Thursday, March 20, at 1:30 pm EST Lessig will present his "Change Congress [beta]" campaign at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Since most of us will be in class and unable to attend, here's a link to the webcast : http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=46510

I'm guessing it's going to run simultaneously.


I'll be putting up more info regarding our discussion after class.

Cool Links:YouTube Scholarship & Awards plus iCommons Summit

Found these cool links while doing research for class.. check it out:

YouTube offers Vacoover Film School Scholarships: YouTube has teamed up with The Vancoover Film School to offer some scholarships.. this totally makes sense especially if your into film/video/multimedia etc. More info: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=geZRtusAPuA


Youtube Awards: http://www.youtube.com/ytawards07


Call for Submission for the 2008 iCommons summit of Creative Commons (we're going to discuss CC in class today). Deadline March 31. Check it out!!!http://www.icommons.org/isummit08/call-for-submissions/

Tech Talk Presentations

Earlier this month, we had our Tech Talk Presentations - brief 5 minute overviews of new media applications. They were all really great, here are a few highlights:

Tiesha: "Music Media": I enjoyed the presentation and learned about the flash drive phenomena. I didn't know that artists were handing out/selling their songs via this medium.

Sergey: "Mapquest": I've used mapquest and googlemaps before but I wasn't aware of the Mapquest's beta site or the new features it offers. I really liked the real time gas pricing and mapping information and the ability to transfer the directions to your phone in a simulated GPS style.

Sarah: "TV on the Internet": Great historical overview. Watching TV online is great- you can pause at your leisure, miss a few episodes and catch up later, or if your really into the show watch it as many times as you want without having to be confined by the schedule established by the TV Networks schedule. Though one thing that bothers me about watching shows online is some sites like CW wait a few days, sometimes as long as one week before posting current shows and then take them down some time later.

More comments on the way :)