Off The Grid

So sorry I havent been posting. Have been under the weather and my workload has been backing up. It may be another 2-4 weeks before I can post again. Hope to see you back here then. Peace.

Off The Grid

I've started a new job working at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium of Music, and am having a little time off this space at the moment. Should be back into things in a few weeks perhaps around mid May - hopefully sooner.

Sal

HLS EdX Course on Copyright

(Yes my holidays are going well ;) but...)

I just found out that EdX (Harvard and MIT) are running a course in Copyright Law from 28 January 2013 which goes for 12 weeks and requires a minimum of 8 hrs per week study. Applications are open until January 3rd 2013. No legal background is required but there will be a limit of 500 applications accepted. The course instructor is William Fisher III. Applicants must be 13 yrs or older and have a good grasp of English. Certificates of completion and written assessments will be given to those who pass. The course material will be made available publicly, so even if you don't wish to do the course, perhaps you might still want to take a look at that, when it becomes available.

Further Information
EdX, HLS1x Copyright <https://www.edx.org/courses/HarvardX/HLS1x/2013_Spring/about> at 27 December 2012

Off The Web

I'm taking a break for the next few weeks to enjoy the beach and the summer sun. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog this year - it has been a lot of fun writing it - so thanks for being a great audience. I think what I write about is a little obscure so its great to know that over 1,000 people a month read my blog. Have a fantastic Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I hope to be back around the end of January 2013 but it depends a little on whats happening with events in cyberspace - I'll try to keep you uptodate if anything big happens.

Sal

CSIRO: Air Guitar T Shirt

A few years back I heard about the CSIRO developing an Air Guitar T-Shirt. The fabric of the shirt has fine conductive fibers woven into it allowing arm movements to be detected and fed back to a computer through a wireless receiver. Tonight I have been searching the web to find out if the product ever made it to market... so far I havent been able to find it. Please let me know if you know where I can get one! There is also a tambourine t-shirt.

Check out the YouTube video demonstration of the guitar t-shirt:



Further Information
CSIRO Solve, TEXTILES: Shirts Fashioned for Rockin’ Science (November 2006) < http://www.solve.csiro.au/1106/article3.htm >  at 18 October 2012

The Sydney Morning Herald, Hi tech T-shirt really rocks (13 November 2012) < http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/air-guitar-down-to-a-t-shirt/2006/11/13/1163266457568.html > at 18 October 2012

Off The Grid

Just a note to say its unlikely I will blog over the next 2 weeks - too much going on - including my 40th birthday,

Peace xx
Sal

Creative Commons Social Media Posting Guide for Non Profits

Sign the Petition for Internet Freedom

Sign the EFF Petition for Internet Freedom! HERE

Playing for Change Foundation

I have been meaning to write about the Playing for Change Foundation for sometime now. Dedicated to the notion that peace and change can be achieved through music, the foundation seeks to provide musical education to people around the world. They write:

The Playing For Change Foundation is dedicated to creating positive social change through music education. We are driven by the belief that peace and change are possible through the universal language of music. By providing children a safe place to learn, flourish and express themselves, PFCF helps provide a creative alternative to the struggles many of these children face daily.

On 22 September 2012 the Playing For Change Foundation will host its annual day of action where musicians and others can come together to celebrate music and make a change in the world. In 2011 this special day saw 225 events hosted in 41 countries raising around $62,730. Take a moment to check out their website, and if you can, get involved!



Further Information
Playing for Change Foundation <http://playingforchange.org/> at 4 May 2012

Review of Australian Contract Law

On the 22 March 2012, the Australian Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, announced a review into Australian Contract Law. The discussion paper released by the Government considers whether Australian contact law could be reformed to:

• enhance accessibility, certainty and simplicity
• set standards of conduct
• better support innovation and participation in the digital economy
• better meet of the evolving needs of businesses particularly small and medium businesses
• make the law more elastic to promote long-term relationships, and
• harmonise and internationalise contract law. 

I would personally like to see reform that would prevent exceptions to copyright law from being contracted away on a non commercial basis but I am not sure how I would work that argument into these areas. Other points to consider would be the complexities and liability arising from End User License Agreements, most of which are incomprehensible and rarely read.

If you would like more information about the review or would like to make a submission you can read more about it here - the review is open for a period of 3 months with submissions due 20 July 2012.

Further Information
Australian Attorney-General Department, Review of Australian Contract Law (22 March 2012) < http://www.ag.gov.au/Consultationsreformsandreviews/Pages/Review-of-Australian-Contract-Law.aspx > at 29 March 2012

Off the Grid

Just a note to say thank you for reading my blog this year. I'm averaging around 500 page views a month and since blogger started counting page views there have been well over 7,000!! I cant thank you enough for making my little side project feel so worthwhile and I am honestly surprised that there is that level of interest in it. Wishing you, your family and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... I am taking a few weeks off but will be back better than ever towards the middle/end of January.

thanks again and ho ho ho!
Sal

Off the Grid

I am having a break from this space for the next couple of weeks with academic commitments taking up most of my time. Unless something significant happens this space will be a little quiet.

I'll be back soon.

Sal

Happy Holidays

I'm taking a couple of weeks off from blogging while I share the festive season with my family. Thanks for all the comments and for reading my blog this year. I hope next year we see some more changes in the digital music industry including a move away from litigating individuals and new technology developers. Drive safe if you are traveling this time of year and have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Sally

Off the grid

Just a note to wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I have made an executive decision not to post to this weblog for the next couple of weeks unless something amazing happens between now and then. I have a had a big year that among many other activities has included two international conferences, attending an Australian conference, and I am teaching Intellectual Property Law at the moment (summer semester). Thank you for reading my site and your support, I hope you have found it interesting, informative and on the odd occasion a little entertaining. Best wishes for the holiday season and I hope you will return next year to follow more of the major developments in the music/internet scene.

Sal

Career Suicide in Progress - A Poem For the Brilliant

By Sally J Hawkins
(this is an email I sent today to Larry Brilliant who remains an advisor to Google despite is more recent redeployment to Skoll)

Larry is a brilliant man with talent of depths unknown
He rides the skies of making dreams and seems a wonderful type of guy
There is a young lady sad and lost with many a dream that dies
She needs some help to find her way and therefore in hope she writes

A long and difficult tale goes here but there is simply just not time
To tell the troubles that she has faced and to explain in depth just why
The hand she needs is to relocate to a land where her talent can thrive
And to do just that there is but one last thing to for her to try

A busy parent in a country town in Australia way down south
Is not the place that she needs to be rather Berklee in Boston now
Part way through a PhD in IP/Internet Law
With political music the central focus she hopes to find a new door

A fellowship program, scholarship, a supervisor and a new life
Would only be possible with the help of another like the man to whom she writes
Aspiring for a career that dances to Hammond’s Song of the Unicorn
Challenging the basis of regulation, in Boston she can’t go wrong

In the long term the Future of Music Coalition or academia is for me
But the laws and changes that need to take place are not in my coun-t-ry
The spark within me will never die and I will never quit
A chance from you would mean the world and to make my mark on it

With a smile and a wink this poem is penned (or typed more accurately)
Please write back and let me know if there is any chance you might help me
I have not approached David Kusek but you might if you wish
He is VP of Online Ed and the author of a book not to be missed

Thanks for taking the time to read my plea and listen to what I have said
If it would help my CV can be sent and you can find me on the web
My blog address is listed below and my email on the header
To meet with you or have the chance to talk would also be pleasure.

Yours sincerely

Sally J Hawkins


http://www.ocarr.blogspot.com
http://www.ocaustralia.blogspot.com

FridgyDidge

I just love this photo of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's fridge - it's cool! (pun intended).

Licensed under: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Generic 2.0 License
Quinnums PhotoStream Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinn/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Off The Grid

You may notice that this weekend I have posted a number of new articles that some might say take a fresh approach to thinking about political music and the digital environment. I hope you enjoy them.

I am, however, preparing for a conference and for the next two weeks will be off the grid unless something major happens on the internet. I apologise for leaving this space for the moment. Please take a look at my other site OpenContentAustralia http://www.ocaustralia.blogspot.com/ at the end of the month to catch up on other developments in this area.

Capitalism and the Alcoholism of the Music Industry.

UPDATED: Imagine, if you will, the digital music environment as a person. The body, by analogy, is the music industry. The brain is controlled by the directors of the four major record labels with a small space for independents. The speech and actions of this person are therefore predominantly made and influenced by those in the majority who themselves are ‘under the influence’ of capitalism. Indeed this greed is an illness which well equates to alcoholism.

Reflect a little on what this person says and does. The expression is predominantly of one type – it talks about love, it talks about pain, personal struggle, and it entertains. It is often repetitive, reminiscing about times past and sometimes abusive. Much like a real person heavily intoxicated by alcohol it cannot rationalise the world’s events, it focuses on things that are subjective and is incapable of holding a sustained conversation about critical issues that face society.

It is unstable, it is obsessed with getting more of the substance which keeps it feeling this way. It is constantly reaching for the bottle – drinking every last drop of musician’s talent and then discarding them for another over and over again. Its behaviour fractures communities and it offers itself as a poor example to the young people around it who, through ongoing exposure, see this as the normal, as the acceptable and as the example by which others should live.

But it cannot see itself in the mirror. It is blind drunk and beyond being able to help itself. It has a poor memory of the events that have taken place in the past and has not learnt from its mistakes.

Capitalism is the music industry’s alcohol. Its dependency drives the need for it to get more all the time – so why does it act in such a destructive way? The answer lies within the structure of the brain.

The directors of the four major record labels owe a fiduciary duty to their corporations. This duty compels them to act in a way that ensures the greatest profits are produced. In the process of securing more and more money they seek to influence others to create freer (liquor licensing) conditions. Public choice theory describes the cycle by which major corporations threaten and pressure governments to enact new laws which work in their favour and this person, this drunk, exerts its irrationality on those that should be more concerned with helping society.

Indeed it stands on the precipice of self destruction. Despite its addiction, despite its nonsensical speech, despite its influence over governments, it is failing at an ever increasing rate to get enough money into its system. Each year the revenue of the major labels drops. Some of this money is channelled into independent artists who are now able to take more control over the body to create new expression. But on the whole, the industry is getting sicker and sicker.

Furthermore, while the industry explores the new veins and arteries of its recently evolved limb - the digital environment - network neutrality and the contamination of this new part of the body by capitalist priorities threatens its adaptation forever.

So what can we do to help stop this illness?

One approach would be to take this person aside and speak to them about their problems. Explain to them that what they are doing and why it is so destructive. This has already been tried. Academics such as Professor Lawrence Lessig, Professor Terry Fisher and Professor Neil Netanel and many others in the mainstream media and on the internet have tried to ‘intervene’ by writing about these issues. There have been open arguments with representatives of the record labels. They are aware of our concerns and yet they still do nothing.

Another approach is to cut of its supply altogether. File sharing networks are, in essence, the means by which others try to ‘steal’ the alcohol away from this person. But the illegality of these actions only enrage it more and help to perpetuate the discord between the industry and the world leading it to demand more protection and support for its habit. Indeed, the music industry needs some money to function otherwise it will suffer from withdrawal symptoms and be incapable of functioning at all.

Another approach is to wait for capitalism to take its course. The Corporations law and the fiduciary responsibilities of the directors should, at some point, create a tipping point – an acquired brain injury. They should arrive at an equilibrium whereby these companies have lost so much money and are so desperate that they eventually help themselves by introducing a collective licensing regime. But I do not trust them to do this in a way that will be inclusive.

What we actually need is for the government to step in.

This body needs a new brain – there needs to be a shift in control of the industry itself to ensure a democratic governance structure is in place with the capacity to think and act rationally. This will enable the industry to be healthy with enough money to support a professional sector of creators that are free to express themselves to the best of their ability. We need the internal controls to be in place to ensure that in the future, adaptation to new technologies is quick and effective.

More Information
Wikipedia, Alcoholism (17 May 2009)
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism> at 17 May 2009

The Icing

I haven't been able to verify it from another source yet but I was just reading an article on Digital Music News which I found hysterical. Apparently DJ Dangermouse (of The Grey Album fame) and Sparklehorse have released a new album titled 'Dark Night of the Soul'. The trick is that the CD (R) is blank - they are having a dispute with their record label (EMI) and cannot release the music. The music however is available on the net, so all consumers are getting are the liner notes with a 100 page booklet of photos and the instructions to 'Use It As You Will'.

Too funny - when will these labels learn?

More Information
Digital Music News, Danger Mouse + Sparklehorse: The Art of Releasing a Blank CD... (15 May 2009) <http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/051409danger> at 15 May 2009

Wikipedia, The Grey Album (6 May 2009) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_Album> at 15 May 2009

Essay Prize & World IP Day

The Australian Copyright Council has just announced that submissions are now being accepted for the GC O'Donnell Essay Prize. The winner, who is to write a paper of between 5,000 and 10,000 words, is to demonstrate original thinking as to the protection of the interests of authors. A prize of $3,500 will be presented to the winner on the 15 October 2009 with entry to the competition closing on 30 September 2009.

On a separate note, Sunday 26th April 2009, is World Intellectual Property Day. The theme for this year is 'green innovation as the keys to a secure future'. A number of countries around the world (with, it seems, the exception of Australia) have organised events to promote innovation and the role of IP law in encouraging investment and creating the momentum and market for development.

There is currently a review going on in Australia regarding much needed changes to the patent system. Those that are interested should visit the IP Australia website and download the relevant documents with a view to making a written submission by Friday 8 May 2009.

The patent system in Australia, and indeed in many parts of the world, is often blamed for inhibiting innovation rather than encouraging it. This is particularly apparent with respect to software and hardware and has a flow on effect to the production and reception of digital music as well as many other creative and intellectual pursuits.

More Information
Australian Copyright Council, GC O'Donnell biennial essay prize (24 April 2009) <http://www.copyright.org.au/publications/essayprize> at 26 April 2009

WIPO, World Intellectual Property Day (2009) <http://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/2009/> at 26 April 2009

IP Australia, Public Consultation on IP Rights Reforms - Call for submissions on proposed reforms to the IP system (27 March 2009) <http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/resources/news_new.shtml#21> at 26 April 2009

Lawrence Lessig, The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World (2002) <http://www.the-future-of-ideas.com/> at 26 April 2009