This week's assignment is all about Intellectual Property and ownership.

The official assignments are below. Please be sure to do the readings. In class I'd like to debate the controversies around Shepard Fairey's lawsuits and the former Napster lawsuit, so please come prepared to discuss.

Read:

• http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#mywork
• http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#howmuch
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/11/05/131091599/the-day-the-internet-threw-a-righteous-hissyfit-about-copyright-and-pie&sc=tw&cc=share
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey#Legal_issues_with_appropriation_and_fair_use
• http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2006/10/copyright_conun.html

For ANYthing you write, please comment on whether/how you think Intellectual Property is different in the digital age.

Some possible things to muse about:

• Go to uspto.gov and do a search in the database for a trademark or company that owns a trademark. Blog about what you find.
• Blog your thoughts about how the electronic world is affected by intellectual property rights.
• Blog two paragraphs defending online music sharing (such as the original napster). Then blog two paragraphs condemning it.
• Read about the lawsuits around Shepard Fairey’s HOPE poster and comment on the case.

This Week's Assignment

Remember, blog assignments are due Monday by 5PM.


Before you do anything, blog about creativity vs. innovation and how they contribute to digital design. Then do the following:

Read Marcel Duchamp's "The Creative Act":
You can find it all over the internet... Marcel Duchamp wrote an essay called "The Creative Act" There is a copy on this page:  http://www.iaaa.nl/cursusAA&AI/duchamp.html

Watch:
Charles Leadbeater on Innovation:  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/charles_leadbeater_on_innovation.html

Then reconsider your blog entry, maybe comment on your own or someone else's with new insight...

Welcome to the Blog: Assignment 1

Read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism

Write:

1. Send Instructor your email address. Register on the blog site.
2. Research: “The Medium is the Message” – who said it? Why? What does it mean? Be prepared to discuss in class, do you agree with this person or not?

Blog about the reading OR find your own web-based article on postmodernism, post it and comment on that.  If you want a specific topic, theorize about why postmodernism is a topic in this class.