Our Digital Media Project is hosting what I hope will be a fun, joyful
event on creativity in the digital space.  It’s called Signal or Noise II
and will be held here on the Harvard Law School campus on April
8.  We promise that it will be more about art and generativity and
creativity than it will be about the dry aspects of the law.  The
conference revolves around three themes:

1.  Is all art derivative?  Is the borrowing that goes on now
in an old tradition or is it somehow different?  Is the
distinction between new and derivative meaningful?

2. New technologies are enabling new genres and new business models, as
well as having an impact on existing ones.  What are the changes,
and will overall creativity benefit?

3.  Artists have a spectrum of reactions to downstream uses of
their work.  Some believe they should have the exclusive right to
make use of them, for commercial purposes or otherwise, while others
want the ability to refuse certain uses, and still others encourage
reuse for any purpose by anyone.  Understanding what drives these
reactions can help to define what rights and interests society should
provide to them.

Please sign up here.  As per tradition, the event will end with Food For Thought dinners around Cambridge with notables from the online media space as discussion leaders.