in forming thoughts » booky things

larry lessig and copyright

amy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:13:52 +0000

given that my new gig at mcgill revolves around scholarly communication, copyright is something i deal with on a daily basis.
for the record, i believe:

copyright is important and artists should have their works protected so they can make a living
[speaking as a scholarly communication chica] university presses help authors make the best of their work, through peer-review, copy-editing, and layout (check out MQUP’s books – attractive scholarly texts? NOT kookytalk!)
copyright law in canada (and the u.s. since i hear about that regularly as well) is in need of a kick-inna-pants because it is no longer protecting culture but inhibiting it
a lot of scholarly presses are burrowing their heads in the sand in lieu of evaluating their business models

larry lessig (he of creative commons) gave a talk at educause this year, and not only is it one of his best talks, but it looks at the issue of copyright in an academic milieu – something which (i agree) needs re-evaluation.

Unlike

“who are you upsetting?”

amy — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:15:32 +0000

so despite being a librarian, i read very few books. i get most of my information from blogs, magazines, journals, podcasts, and talking to people (some of whom are writing books). some days i think this is a huge failure on my part, and i remember hearing something about multitaskers actually being unable to focus on anything for longer than 5 minutes…

wow, i’d really like some candy right now.

i own Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody – but i read maybe a few pages at a time, because they are just so dense. (i’m not the only one that feels that way. one of the Media Hacks guys – Mitch Joel maybe – faces the same issue.) and i have a copy of Seth Godin’s Tribes (bit of a fangirl since seeing him speak at SLA last year) but again… yet to break the spine on the book.

but TED just posted Seth Godin’s most recent chat about tribes, and it rocks as much as i hoped it would. at the end he posts three questions about leading a tribe.

who are you upsetting? if you’re not upsetting anyone, you’re not changing the status quo.
who are you connecting? cuz that’s what a lot of people are in it for.
who are you leading? cuz focusing on the leading is where change comes from.

i need to think about a few things…

Unlike

book pr0n

amy — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:14:40 +0000

for those of us with too many books and too little space – this is pretty hawt.

quick – make friends with a carpenter!

(swiped from boingboing.net)

Unlike