Fortunately, I was able to follow at least some of what was happening through the ever fascinating tweets of EDUCAUSE attendees<\/a>, and the conference organizers (bless them) streamed many sessions<\/a> on the web, so those of us who couldn’t attend don’t get too<\/em> terribly left behind.\u00c2\u00a0 I haven’t watched all the sessions, but two in particular that I want to keep thinking about:<\/p>\n I first met Gardner Campbell (@gardnercambell<\/a>) through an NMC Summer Conference<\/a> several years ago (another conference I was sad to miss this year) and I’ve been a faithful reader of his blog Gardner Writes<\/a> ever since.\u00c2\u00a0 His passion for teaching, and for exploring the use of technology in teaching in meaningful <\/em>ways, has been illuminating.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s the kind of faculty member I want to learn from and collaborate with, and he’s always been unbelievably approachable for such a rock star.\u00c2\u00a0 ;)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So when I heard he was taking the pro-Twitter position in a Point\/Counterpoint session, it seemed like a must-see and I wasn’t disappointed.<\/p>\n From now on, when administrators and faculty ask me what the point of Twitter is, I’m not even going to discuss it, I’ll just send them a link to this video.\u00c2\u00a0 If they aren’t convinced after that, there’s no hope.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thanks to Gardner and Bruce Mass for a great debate and a terrific resource we can share with others.<\/p>\n The other “must-watch” video from the conference is really a must-watch for more than just educators.\u00c2\u00a0 Netizens everywhere need to be thinking about this issue<\/strong>, especially in light of the ACTA treaty negotiations that were leaked this week (see the Electronic Freedom Foundation’s take<\/a>, ReadWriteWeb<\/a>, Wired<\/a>, and more – universal sentiment is “BAD – VERY BAD”).\u00c2\u00a0 I’m beyond outraged about ACTA and hope to make a separate post on that topic soon.<\/p>\n In any case, Lessig delivered a powerful talk about copyright that I hope you’ll take the time to review.\u00c2\u00a0 You won’t be sorry you did.<\/p>\n These issues, of copyright and intellectual property, are not abstract for many Second Life users.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, I often imagine that these Second Life content creators (the ones who make the virtual clothes, hair, buildings, cars, etc. that you can buy in Second Life or on the web) are likely some of the very people who downloaded pirated music, software, or movies without a second thought in earlier times, but now the tables are turned after experiencing what it is like to create something from your own imagination, market it, sell it, and have it stolen out from under them.\u00c2\u00a0 (Reminder to self, experience is truly the best teacher. )<\/p>\n I refer to the great angst and gnashing of teeth over content theft in virtual worlds.\u00c2\u00a0 Linden Lab responded to the lawsuit<\/a> filed by SexGen bed maker this week, a group of content creators staged a 48 hour period of creating nothing to protest content theft<\/a>, Ben Duranske urged everyone to register their copyright<\/a> with the US government, and the very controversial Emerald Viewer team filed a DMCA notice to Google about the much vilified Neilife viewer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Oh, and by the way, Michael Risch at the West Virginia University College of Law makes a compelling case that the rule of law has been an abysmal failure in virtual worlds<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 From the abstract:<\/p>\n The article finds \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unsurprisingly \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that virtual worlds now lack many of the elements of the rule of law. Which aspects fail is more surprising, however. Provider agreements and computer software, the sources of regulation that are most often criticized as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153anti-user,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d provide the best theoretical hope for achieving the rule of law, even if they currently fail in practice. On the contrary, widely proposed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reforms,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d such as community norms, self-regulation, and importation of real-world law face both theoretical and practical barriers to implementation of the rule of law in virtual worlds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What are we to make of all this copyright\/IP mess?\u00c2\u00a0 I dunno.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t have any easy answers either.<\/p>\n But I have long argued that one of the greatest benefits of being involved in virtual worlds like Second Life is that you get to see some of the great issues of our time being played out in another context, a different context than the “real world” – a smaller context – and that this gives us a new perspective with which to view what’s happening in the “real world”.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It’s so difficult for me to articulate this thought, I wish I could do a better job of it, but it’s the primary reason I feel like educators – no – academics and intellectuals of all stripes – should be involved in what’s happening in virtual worlds.\u00c2\u00a0 This copyright issue is just one of many examples, it’s fascinating to see how it plays out in the context of a conversation at EDUCAUSE versus the context and conversations of Second Life.<\/p>\n On one hand, we hear Lessig imploring educators and edtech IT folks to find ways to honor the rights of content creators in ways that do not turn our kids into terrorists.\u00c2\u00a0 He says, and I agree, that the creativity unleashed by mashups in the digital age cannot be stopped.\u00c2\u00a0 We hear Lessig warning us that by forcing people to live a a life outside the law, we undermine the very rule of law that democracy requires.\u00c2\u00a0 He urges us to help find a third way, a middle road between copyright extremists on both ends of the spectrum.<\/p>\n In another context, in the microcosm of virtual worlds and Second Life, we hear that the rule of law has yet to even emerge, all while we watch from the sidelines as real life courts are asked to adjudicate a potentially precedent-setting case about virtual content theft. \u00c2\u00a0 We hear some virtual world content creators arguing they must have the right to back up their work, to port their work, the products and artifacts of their creativity, into whatever medium they desire, whatever grid they happen to be on.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Other content creators are arguing that so long as the tools to make this backup\/portability possible can also be used to steal THEIR content and creativity, these tools should NOT be available.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though they already are.\u00c2\u00a0 And, I think they are here to stay, no matter how much Linden Lab tries to enforce some kind of 3rd party registration for viewers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Much to think about.\u00c2\u00a0 And I wonder,\u00c2\u00a0 what would the content creators who staged the 48 hour “create nothing” protest say to Lessig’s point?<\/p>\n I’ve run out of time to finish this post, and didn’t even get to the other big stories of the week.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll add some links to remind myself, because they all play into this conversation even if I can’t synthesize it all at the moment:<\/p>\n Linden Lab offers standalone “behind the firewall” servers at $50k a year price<\/a> – are they crazy?<\/p>\n Dusan talks about the Lab being at war with itself<\/a>, and humanity at war with ourselves, and with technology – what?\u00c2\u00a0 I want to respond to this, I want to argue some of us ARE stopping to think about it – obsessively thinking about it even -\u00c2\u00a0 but it’s just all happening so damned fast (see this post, I can’t even get a few hours to properly synthesize):<\/p>\n But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Masonic feeling to the whole thing: we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not just individual actors contributing to the common good, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re individual actors contributing to the evolution of digital spaces that have no governing body, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hoping that in so doing our collective contributions will lead to a common good, without always stopping to have much of a conversation about it, although we start to get worried if it happens all over again: if Google actually turns out to BE the next Microsoft, although it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s typically only the big, easy-to-spot targets that we worry about \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the rest of it is too granular, too innocuous, the metadata is invisible to us, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all held in those windowless rooms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nPoint\/Counterpoint:\u00c2\u00a0 Disrespectful and Time-Wasting, or Engaged and Transformative
\nThe Mile High Twitter Debate (Gardner Campbell and Bruce Maas)<\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2491\/4085158735_1e8c558dc5.jpg\" "\\"Educause09")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt’s About Time:\u00c2\u00a0 Getting Our Values Around Copyright Right
\n(Lawrence Lessig)<\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2745\/4085158693_55312ac2fd.jpg\" "\\"Educause")
<\/a><\/p>\nOn Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights, & the Rule of Law in Virtual Worlds<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/shoppingcartdisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/5thofnovember.jpg\" "\\"5th")
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