Copy Grounds

This semester we read selections from one of my favorite books on the pitfalls of theorizing of intellectual property–James Boyle’s Shamans, Software, & Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society. Drawing on examples from a diverse range of topics including genetics, fiduciary trust, and artificial intelligence, Boyle demonstrates how classical liberal theory attempts to resolve the tensions between public and private spheres through an appeal to romantic notions of authorship. James Boyle is currently the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law and the co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School. We were delighted to have him answer a handful of student questions and his responses are featured here.

Copygrounds: Do you think contemporary technological developments and social practices have devalued the notion of individual authorship to a significant degree? That is to say, does the emergence of the Internet, “remix culture”, file-sharing, and other collaborative systems signal a departure from romantic notions of authorship? continue reading…

Adrian Johns’s Piracy: The intellectual property wars from Gutenberg to Gates goes a long way toward contextualizing contemporary legal battles over copyright in the digital age. His research provides us with a detailed and insightful history of the debates surrounding intellectual property. Adrian’s work has been invaluable to my own understanding of the relationship between technological development and intellectual property law. We were very fortunate this semester to have Adrian answer a handful of student questions after having read a selection from his book.

Copygrounds: Do you feel there is too much emphasis on economic incentive in contemporary U.S. copyright law? When it comes to the topic of how to reform copyright law a major concern among the students in this class (many of whom are aspiring filmmakers, artists, and game designers) is the potential loss of control over their work and their ability to profit from it. Does the expansive scope and duration of existing copyright protection serve the interests of our aspiring content producers?

Adrian Johns: In some ways there is clearly too much emphasis on economic incentive in the current legal structure – although one could also argue, I think convincingly, that the problem is not over-emphasis as simply a mistaken notion of where the incentive lies. The grossest example is the Sonny Bono Act, which extended the term of copyright protection and attracted the unsuccessful challenge of Eldred vs. Ashcroft. continue reading…

Along with aspiring filmmakers our class is also home to a growing number of ambitious video game producers. We have lots of fun each semester learning the ins and outs of 3D modeling. But we also spend considerable time learning about the video game industry itself. This semester we read a portion of Greig de Peuter’s and Nick Dyer-Witheford’s Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the field of game studies. The authors’ work is grounded by the concept of immaterial labor—a reoccurring concept in our class. This book insightfully explores video games through a cultural, social, and economic lens. We are honored to have Greig de Peuter respond to some of our questions below.

Copygrounds: Is there something substantially different about the immaterial labor associated with video games as compared to radio/television? Much has been made out of the passive nature of the engagement with these latter technologies, but isn’t the process of interpretation or the creation of meaning similar for both? Or more broadly, do you see continuity or a significant break in the transition from so-called ‘industrial labor’ to ‘post-industrial labor’?

Greig de Peuter: A short answer is that there are continuities and discontinuities. As students in the course know, there’s a tradition of reception studies that’s challenged simplistic assumptions of audience passivity and emphasized the active agency of mass media audiences in the meaning-making process. Even so, it wasn’t unusual for early game-studies scholars to herald the interactivity of computer and video games as a democratizing advance over the viewer or listener’s position within one-to-many broadcast media—an exercise in contrast that obscures continuities like corporate ownership structures and marketing-led content design and so on. Looking back, early celebratory perspectives on interactive entertainment might be read as rehearsing some of the ideas later associated with the rhetoric of user empowerment now surrounding Web 2.0. continue reading…

Well another SXSW has come and gone here in Austin. Aside from taking in all the great music and movies last week, we here at Copygrounds spent an evening documenting the event known as Plutopia. This year Plutopia hosted some really cool interactive installations all thematically focused on the concept of play as transformative. Some of us volunteered to help put on the production while the rest of us captured hours of great footage. A number of our students will be working with this footage in the coming weeks as part of their final media projects. Many of those projects will be posted right here on Copygrounds.

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Jessica Litman’s book, Digital Copyright, was among the first books I read on the subject of intellectual property. Her book provides a fascinating history and critique of the process of drafting copyright legislation in the United States. I consider it a must-read for anyone seeking to familiarize themselves with U.S. copyright law and the challenges presented by recent technological developments. So I was very pleased when Professor Litman agreed to answer some of our questions. This semester we are reading her article entitled Creative Reading. Professor Litman is currently  the John F. Nickoll Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. She is an expert on copyright and we are privileged to have her join our discussion.

Copygrounds: What is the road to copyright reform? In other words, is a statutory reversal of either the expanded duration or scope of copyright even possible? Or conversely, would it be possible to expand fair use provisions through an amendment to the Copyright Act?

Jessica Litman: I think the most plausible road to copyright reform is that the current beneficiaries will seek reform of provisions they are finding unworkable, and proponents of countervailing reforms will take the opportunity to attach their proposals to the legislation.  Thus, Congress enacted the provision allowing bars and restaurants to play radio and television without licenses from ASCAP and continue reading…

Copygrounds partnered with Third Coast Activist recently to bring you this amazing speech by Robert McChesney recorded on February 6, 2011 here in Austin, Texas. Robert is one of the leading scholars of mass media and an ardent critic of the commercial media system.

a Last Sunday special event presents Robert McChesney from Copygrounds on Vimeo.

In taking up the topic of Internet pornography this semester we were fortunate to be joined by not only from Prof. Robert Jensen but Jennie Ketcham as well. I was very pleased recently when Jennie graciously agreed to answer some of our questions. Jennie’s past experience as a performer in the adult entertainment industry allows her to bring valuable perspective to this discussion. And considering the feelings of despair that this topic is capable of inducing, Jennie also brings a much-needed levity to our conversation. Below are Jennie’s comments on both our discussion with Prof. Jensen and a number of student questions.

Jennifer Ketcham: What a great lecture… I admit, I am green with envy. I have one professor that speaks as eloquently, and inserts the occasional lame joke (not that Dr. Jensen’s jokes were lame ahahh) to lighten an otherwise grim topic. You students are very lucky to have had him for the day, and thank you again for including me on the topic. continue reading…

In recent weeks our class has been discussing some of the moral panics accompanying the increasing popularity of online social networking sites and services like Facebook and Twitter. These panics have typically centered on the misuse of communication technologies and the implications this has for issues like personal privacy, education, sexual predation, etc. Yet the emphasis on the potential for abuse–real though it may be–diverts our attention from the problematic way in which many of these communication technologies are structured even for proper or authorized use.

Mark Andrejevic is a scholar who offers a more critical assessment of online social networking sites and services. Prof. Andrejevic has written extensively on monitoring and surveillance in the digital economy, including numerous posts to the Department of Radio-Television-Film’s very own critical forum on television and media culture—Flow. We were fortunate enough to catch up with Mark recently and have him tell us some more about his critique of online social networking technologies.

Copygrounds: License agreements and shrink wrap contracts have come under criticism and have been subject to numerous legal challenges. Do you think that terms of service for online social networking sites like Facebook are similarly problematic in continue reading…

What would a course on new media be without a discussion of porn? Pornography is so ubiquitous on the Internet it no longer makes sense to consider them separately. While it’s difficult to say just how much bandwidth consumption results from the use of online pornography it’s safe to assume the amount is significant. What’s more, the content of Internet pornography is seemingly more extreme and oftentimes degrading than the mainstream porn of just a few short years ago. In order to help us make sense of the relation between technological development and online pornography Professor Robert Jensen visited our class last week to discuss the feminist critique of pornography. Our discussion is presented here for your consideration.

Robert Jensen: I’m Bob Jensen. I teach in the journalism school and for the last twenty two years I’ve been thinking about pornography. Now that does not necessarily make intuitive sense. Journalists are not pornographers. What the hell is going on here? So how did I get here? Twenty continue reading…

I recently had the opportunity to ask Tiziana Terranova a handful of questions about her concept of free labor. My own work has been greatly influenced by Prof. Terranova’s particular analytical approach to the study of social relations in the digital economy. Therefore, I am especially pleased to share her responses to our questions here.

Copygrounds: How does your concept of “free labor” differ from other historical forms of unwaged work? For example, the domestic work of housewives or the work of raising children may both be seen as integral to the continued reproduction of the capitalist system and are often unwaged. Moreover, these types of labor may also be both enjoyable and exploitable. What sets your concept of “free labor” apart?

Tiziana Terranova: When looking at the concept of ‘free labor’, you need to remember that it was formulated about 12 years ago, that is at a very early stage of what people called ‘the digital economy’. There was much debate at the time about the economic transformations triggered by the specific properties of information. The article, that constituted my research output after a grant continue reading…