Free Culture 65 (in Hexadecimal)
July 24th, 2005 by Melody Joy KramerWhile Sid, Gavin, Elizabeth, Andy, and Nelson have taken over Lessig’s blog for the next week, I’ll be here working on a list of books that every college student interested in the free culture movement should read.
Consider it Free Culture: 101 (or in binary… Free Culture 1100101)
If you’re coming to this site via Lessig’s blog, your homework for tonight is to find one good book for our Free Culture syllabus and post your suggestion in the comments.
Class dismissed!
July 24th, 2005 at 11:30 pm
Essay: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin, 1936 (link)
Movie: The Artwork in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility by Keith Sanborn (link
ps - i hope html works in these comments, otherwise that’s not gonna look so good.
July 25th, 2005 at 12:20 am
I would recommend Freedom of Expression by Kembrew McLeod, and not just because I’m quoted in it ;-) The subtitle, “Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity”, is brilliant, because it turns out that he actually relates the story of how Bozo the clown abused copyright law at one point in the book! While it may cover some familiar territory for experienced copyfighters, “Freedom of Expression” is an excellent introduction for people who are not familiar with the issues, and introduces a number of examples/stories which I had not previously been familiar with. I seem to remember, however, that in a few spots Kembrew seems to assume that his audience leans politically to the left, whereas Lessig’s Free Culture is carefully written to appeal to all corners of the political arena. Unfortunately, I can’t find any quotes to back up that statement, so I might just have dreamed his political bias :-P Either way, always know your audience!
July 25th, 2005 at 1:51 am
I doubt I would even be here were it not for the inspiration of “Why Software Should Not Have Owners”, presented on page 45 of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. It is a brilliantly short and simple introduction to Free Software and the copyright principles underlying it, as well as Free Culture. If you’re not sure you should care about Free Culture, it is currently the best persuasive essay available. After that, the rest of the essays give you an insight into the mind of the once “last true hacker”. Though a statist himself, his arguments appeal as well to diehard capitalists such as myself, and I find myself consistently agreeing with them. Finally, the book features an introduction from Lawrence Lessig, author of Free Culture.
July 25th, 2005 at 12:56 pm
I’m fine being the obvious one: Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig.
Marcus of CC Canada gave me a copy of the Guide to Open Content Licenses, published with the support of CC Netherlands — the first chapter or two give a good introduction to the background of open content. It’s online, too.
July 25th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
Some more general background readings with important insights into our copyright debate:
Hegemony and Revolution: A Study of Antonio Gramsci’s Political & Cultural Theory by Walter L. Adamson
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
The New Media Monopoly by Ben H. Bagdikian (or The Media Monopoly, older editions)
Addressing Global Health Inequities: An Open Licensing Approach for University Innovations (scholarly law article available at http://www.essentialmedicine.org/article.pdf)
Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann
July 25th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Not for the top of the list, but one that I think gives some great perspective is “capitalism and freedom” by Milton Friedman. Again, it is not necessarily directly related and does not discuss IP or copyright law at all, but the cause and effect discussions of policy/society and the trade off between the necessity of structure vs infringement of freedom seem pertinent. Definitely made me feel more “informed” in a strictly intellectual sense, and better able to understand some of the implications of the issues free culture raises.
I would more suggest this book in general… maybe not one for the list??
Peace out, word to your mother.
July 26th, 2005 at 10:56 am
I’d check out:
Imagining a World Without Copyright (essay by Joost Smiers and Marieke van Schijndel)
http://www.cut-up.com/news/detail.php?sid=377
A Guide To Open Content Licences (useful guide by Lawrence Liang)
http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/research/lliang/open_content_guide
“Collective Invention during the British Industrial Revolution: the case of the Cornish pumping engine� ( Alessandro Nuvolari)
http://cje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/3/347
Sadly enough the last one is “protected” by the publisher and you need to have somekind of subscription or something like it to read the full text. Kinda strange for a text about the negative influence on innovation by protectism (such as in this case patenting..)
Maybe our ‘reading list’ might be useful (although some of it is in Dutch..)
http://simuze.nl/live/leesvoer.php
Keep up the good work!
BjornW
http://www.simuze.nl
http://www.creativecommons.nl
July 26th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Besides “Free Culture,” I can’t think of any particular books to recommend. But I’d just like to suggest that a free culture syllabus need not only have books. I think a lot of understanding free culture comes down to seeing it in action–listening to banned music, viewing illegal art, using helpful software hacks, etc. I wouldn’t limit the syllabus to merely print media.
July 26th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
Hegemony and Revolution: A Study of Antonio Gramsci’s Political & Cultural Theory - Walter L. Adamson
July 29th, 2005 at 7:17 pm
I’ll cherrypick one of the easy ones and list _The Cathedral and the Bazaar_, which is an iconic text for the free-software side of free culture, and makes the pragmatic argument for why an open environment in a field like development *works* better than a closed one, regardless of the moral arguments.