March 31 and April 2

We are going to be talking about copyright issues as the have played out in terms of the internet. For background on the history and development of copyright you might want to look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FND


The clip's use of Disney characters is particularly satisfying to individuals who favor copyleft since Disney has been especially rigid and aggressive in terms of enforcing copyright to its characters, ideas, storylines - a move that is deeply ironic considering Disney's use of folk materials as well as storylines and characters from uncopyrighted materials. (See http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/05/hijacked_disney.html ).

Other sites you might want to check out as you follow through on ideas raised in the readings include:

Overview of DMCA of 1998

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm

DCMA of 1998 + amendments + testimony

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/primary_materials/legislation/dmca.html

US Constitution

legal basis for copyright = Article 1 Section 8

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/articles.htm

Creative Commons

http://creativecommons.org/

In class on Monday you will do some writing about how the issues raised by Boynton connect to changes in "writing" and conceptions of authorship that result from the nature of cyberspace. At the end of class you can post these reflections to your blog - or you may choose to create a different post for Reflection 1.

Blog 9 (due Monday, March 31) : your first entry to develop writing for your research topic.

Blog 10 (due Monday April 7) : second entry on research topic.

Reflection 1 (on copyright) + Reflection 2 (on Lauren Collins "Friend Game" are also due Monday April 7.

In class Wednesday, April 2, you have an open workshop. During this class you may work on creating the structure for your web essay, or other work for the course. Good luck - and I will see you on Monday April 7 when we take up our discussion of the Myspace Suicide.

I have sent you feedback on Blogs 7 and 8 and your Wikipedia Projects. You did a great job.