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DMS 517: Free Culture


[edit] DMS 517: Free Culture

[edit] Spring 2010

[edit] Course Info

When: Friday 11:00 - 2:40 pm
Where: CFA 244

Instructor: Dave Pape
e-mail: depape at buffalo.edu
Office: CFA 250
Office hours: Tues 2-3, Thurs 10-11, and by appointment

Website: http://resumbrae.com/d/DMS517

[edit] Course Description

Intellectual property rights are an important and all-pervasive issue, for both creators and consumers. As more and more people spend their time creating new works, and as corporations strive to increase their control over creative works, it becomes vital to understand how copyright operates and how it affects us. This course will discuss the current state of copyright and other intellectual property, the effects of digital technologies and the Internet on copyright, battles being waged over copyright. We will explore both cases of "stealing" - hip-hop sampling, Napster, etc - and of "sharing" - the growth of the so-called gift economy, or "free culture".

The sharing side of modern copyright is of particular interest, and we will examine the Free Culture movement through active participation in it - students will be expected to create useful work, and then give it away. The course is open to students working in any medium.

Note: This is not a law class, and the instructor is not a lawyer or legal scholar. Nothing in this class should be taken as legal advice that will stand up in a court of law; consult a lawyer if you need advice on a specific case or activity.

[edit] Texts

William Patry, Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars, Oxford University Press, 2009 (ISBN 978-0195385649)

Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks, Yale University Press, 2007 (ISBN 978-0300125771)

possibly others, depending time and interest

[edit] Grading

There is no specific formula / criteria for grading. Your grade will depend upon:

  • Read up on significant historical topics (e.g. the Betamax case, Napster, GNU) and tell us about them
  • Find interesting free culture projects by other artists, or perhaps projects that suffered from traditional copyright enforcement
  • Participate in Wikipedia or a similar existing project
  • Come up with your own major project and make reasonable progress on it

[edit] Other details

[edit] E-mail

I will send any e-mail relating to this course to your official buffalo.edu address. Be sure that you check this address. Do not ask me to send e-mail to another address instead - if you don't want to use the buffalo.edu mail system, forward your mail from there to whatever system you do use.

Also, be warned that mail from free services like Hotmail or Yahoo has a strong chance of being caught by spam filters. Hence, I recommend not sending me e-mail from such an address, if you want to be certain that I'll receive it.

[edit] Lab Fee

This is a DMS production course, and carries a lab fee of $100. The lab fee covers access to the computer lab and to other equipment that you can use in creating your games.

[edit] Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability (physical, learning or psychological) which may make it difficult for you to carry out the course work as outlined, and/or requires accomodations such as recruiting note takers, readers, or extended time on exams and assignments, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 25 Capen Hall, 645-2608, and also your instructor during the first two weeks of class. ODS will provide you with information and will review appropriate arrangements for reasonable accomodations.

[edit] Plagiarism

Plagiarism is literary theft and a betrayal of trust. The term is derived from the Latin word for kidnapper and refers to the act of signing one's own name to words, phrases, or ideas which are the literary property of another. Plagiarism comes in many forms, all to be avoided: outright copying, or paraphrase, or a mosaic or disguised use of words and phrases from an unacknowledged source. To avoid plagiarism, make it your habit to put quotation marks around words and phrases, or to isolate and indent longer passages, that you are using from someone else's writing. And be sure to cite the source, in a footnote or endnote, or within parentheses in your text. The penalties for plagiarism can be severe: from an F for the particular assignment, to an F for the course, to referral of the case to the Dean of Undergraduate Education for administrative judgment. If you are unsure about how to use and document sources, please consult with your instructor.

[edit] Weapons as props

If you are planning a student production which involves using any prop which could be interpreted to be a weapon [toy gun, BB gun, knife, etc.] and you are planning to shoot on the UB campus or any other public place, you must obtain written permission from Campus Security or the equivalent authority before you shoot. If you do not, you will face serious problems including possible expulsion from the university.

[edit] Sexual harassment

Sexual Harassment of employees and students, as defined below, is contrary to University policy and is a violation of federal and state laws and regulations.

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:

  1. submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment or academic advancement;
  2. submission or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting such individual;
  3. such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work or academic performance, or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment

No university employee of either gender shall impose a requirement of sexual cooperation as a condition of employment or academic advancement, or in any way contribute to or support unwelcome physical or verbal sexual behavior.

Any member of the university community who requires additional information or who wishes to make a complaint or receive a copy of the University procedures to be followed for complaints arising from matters related to the policies outlined above should contact the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Affirmative Action Administration, 406 Capen Hall, 716-645-2266.

Examples of Sexual Harassment

What to do if you are harassed
Do:

Don't: