Larry Lessig on: How creativity is being strangled by the law

Posted on December 9th, 2007 in Class Journals by boatnboys

I enjoyed Mr. Lessig’s video cast, talk, for this year’s TED conference. (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design – their mission: Spreading ideas.) I thought Mr. Lessig did a good job of presenting and defending his argument. His explanation of the role of digital technology and that we need to celebrate the amateur culture and the creative environment it produces makes sense. As does his point on the extremism of copyright laws.
After seeing his presentation, I found his bio particularly interesting; he is a lawyer, Stanford professor, one of our foremost authorities on copyright issues, and chairs Creative Commons, a nuanced, free licensing scheme for individual creators.
I like his use of his Power Point to “reinforce” his presentation. I think it supports the idea; if it is important, repeat it. He successfully uses the Power Point to repeat/stress his important points.

Alan November’s podcast

Posted on December 9th, 2007 in Class Journals by boatnboys

Alan November’s podcast discusses his presentation on “Preparing Students To Succeed In a Global Economy”. Mr. November makes some interesting points; many of which are shared by others, when it comes to how we are (or aren’t) preparing our students for the 21st century. However, we also know that change doesn’t occur over night and some of us believe that necessity is the mother of invention. (Or as Plato said – Necessity, who is the mother of invention.) So maybe it is the optimist in me, but I like to think we are seeing evidence of change starting to occur and that it will not only continue, but at a faster pace. More importantly as our students are faced with the necessity of being more globally aware and technically advanced, there will be many who will rise to and meet the challenge.