21st Century Creativity in a Copyright World: How Can the Potential Be Realised?

On Tuesday 26th April, World Intellectual Property day, UK podcaster Dean Whitbread contributed to a seminar organised by QUT Law Faculty's Intellectual Property: Knowledge, Culture, and Economy Program, in conjunction with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. This groundbreaking event took place in Second Life, the online multiplayer virtual world created by Linden Labs and was entitled:

21st Century Creativity in a Copyright World: How Can the Potential Be Realised?

The participants were able to interact using Second Life's self-designed avatars and TeamSpeex, an audio conferencing application which enabled most of the assembled participants to speak to and hear each other in real time.

Listen to the audio from the event here (60 minutes - 50 MB)

"The rapid pace of technological change that we are experiencing requires us to always be aware of the balances inherent in copyright law; we must attempt to provide adequate protection to copyright owners, while at the same time allow for a rich culture of experimentation and innovation. Particularly, we must be careful not to close off new avenues for expression and creativity before they have a chance to develop. Join us for a discussion of the current context, covering fair use/fair dealing, blogs, mash-ups, parody, and much more.

"Virtual worlds are becoming increasingly popular and diverse. As more and more people are becoming involved in these virtual spaces, we are changing the way we think about place, social relationships, economics, property, and many other aspects of social life. The immersive nature of these worlds challenges us to consider questions of space . .the experience of presence (or being there) and copresence (being there together). (Ralph Schroeder, Being There Together). These worlds provide an excellent opportunity for interaction, learning, and research, as well as raising some very interesting questions about culture, regulation, property, and society." - Nic Suzor.

Speakers included:

Richard Neville
Toby Miller (UC Riverside, QUT Vice Chancellor Distinquished Visitor)
Professor Brian Fitzgerald (QUT)
Professor Mark Perry (UWO)
Peter Coroneos (Internet Industry Association)
Mia Garlick (Creative Commons)
Dean Whitbread (funk.co.uk)
Dr Axel Bruns (QUT)
Anne Matthew (QUT)
Nicolas Suzor (QUT)
Dilan Thampapillai