Month: May 2009

Every Monday evening I teach a class but I am the only person in the room. It is a graduate educational psychology course which is supposed to be offered face to face and also at a distance. I guess the face to face students have decided they would rather have their dinner and watch me online. Anyway, I sit in this classroom with some fancy technology and a lot of empty seats. Because the technology is not fool proof (or Mark proof which I hope is different), I arrive early and make certain I get things up and running. Usually I can and this leaves me with time on my hands. One of the unusual things about this room that has captured my attention over the weeks are the “statements” on the wall. I was going to call them platitudes, but I looked up the meaning of platitude and decided this might seem derogatory. I will call them statements. This evening was my final virtual face to face meeting and I was able to get the technology working so I decided to spend my free time using my cell phone to capture some of  these statements.

What is it about such statements that would warrant painting them on the walls of a perfectly good classroom? I think we take comfort in simplicity. I think this is what bothers me – I don’t think the world is simple. I keep thinking of complexities and exceptions. I am guessing adding this complexity to the wall of knowledge would not be appreciated.

One of my recent self-imposed strategies for personal development (translate entertainment) is to force my way through books that present very different views on the same topic. My colleagues who are clinical psychologists would likely be fascinated by this behavior, but to my knowledge they do not read blogs so I think most will continue to assume I have a grip on reality. Anyway, I have completed this exercise with several topics. The most recent is copyright. Perhaps you have not read many recent books on this subject, but I can assure you that it is possible and you will find suggestions in the following material in case you feel the need.

I have read several books by Lawrence Lessig over the past couple of years (The Future of Ideas, Free Culture). You may recognize the name and you may recognize his association with the concept of “Creative Commons”. You will find multiple references to Lessig in this blog (some should surface via the automatic “related post” feature. In general, I am a supporter of copyright and tend to see Lessig as much more liberal on this matter.

Anyway, I recently came across a reference to works by an individual who evidently had come into what is by now a fairly public disagreement with Lessig. A fiction writer, Mark Helprin, wrote a piece for the NY Times with the title “A great idea lives forever. Shouldn’t its copyright“. In response (at least as I can follow the story), Lessig opened a wiki site, pointed to the NY Times article, and asked folks to write a response. Helprin reacted to the wiki and eventually put together a recent book (some new material and some reprints) entitled “Digital Barbarism” (Helprin interview). This book focuses on multiple themes – the opposition to copyright, the limitations of collaborative text in contrast to a work that is the responsibility of a single author, the decline of culture, etc. NPR has an page with multiple links associated with this discussion – an excerpt from Digital Barbarism, a short interview with Lessig, a link to the Lessig wiki, etc.

Dueling books. What a great idea? Get folks to purchase the next salvo and pitch in to keep the controversy going.

Thanks for making it this far – there is a point here somewhere and it may surprise you. I turns out that I can agree with many of the positions taken by both authors. My concern is that others who have read less of their content may take a side. BTW – this is what I think Helprin says many do. I am not certain that you will make the effort, but listen to the Lessig audio. He does not claim anything in print is fair game for copying. I am also in fairly close agreement with Helprin and argue that those who feel copyright is retarding education, economic development, or whatever are probably living in an ivory tower, wealthy from works completed before they decided content should be free, or making their living giving speeches about free content. As far as perpetual copyright goes, that idea does seem excessive. You may find Helprin’s style a little too wordy – he generates an analysis and takes a position like a fiction writer. I get the feeling that saying this may brand me as somewhat backward culturally and he may seek me out to tell me so. The prose is somewhat entertaining and I am starting to enjoy it now that I am past the point of assuming that I was about to read was a legal or functional analysis.

I sometimes wonder if folks want to think their behaviors are justified and latch on to a related idea without a full consideration of the context within which it was embedded. They pass their perceptions around and the frequency with which similar snippets are encountered lends further justification. Simple is not necessarily good when life is complex. Simple is not good when it prevents one from dealing with the messiness of important issues.

BTW (I use this improper form knowing full well it has not been approved by the more literate among us), the image of Mickey Mouse is not necessary for the continuation or improvement of educational practice. I agree that holding the rights to the image of a mouse is silly, but just what do we assume we must borrow from the owners to do a better job. We are not talking here about patents and other legal impediments that prevent access to life saving drugs or devices that may assure our survival. We are describing words, sounds, and images. You are completely free to offer your interpretation of these forms and can do so without making a second copy. In addition, as an educational exercise, your efforts to do so likely has far more benefit anyway.

Don’t be evil (sorry if I copied this phrase) and don’t be lazy.