a lifelong song ([info]alifelongsong) wrote,
@ 2006-07-25 11:05:00
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Current music:Starsailor
Entry tags:free culture, political science

The science of free culture
Quick, name some academics who have contributed to public understanding of the legal issues of free culture.

Maybe Larry Lessig, James Boyle...

OK, what about the cultural aspects?

Maybe Siva Vaidhyanathan, Kembrew McLeod...

How about the technical aspects?

Ed Felten...

Alright, what about the political aspects?

...


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[info]skyfaller
2006-07-25 09:09 pm UTC (link)
Guess you can be the first ;-) ... But what would that even mean? What are the political aspects of free culture? Does that mean "open government", FOIA, things like that? Does that mean more direct democracy, more indivudal input into gov't policies, perhaps things like Jimbo's new Campaigns Wikia? Does it mean more public participation in the executive branch, like the Peer to Patent project?

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[info]alifelongsong
2006-07-25 09:39 pm UTC (link)
Most of the things you mentioned are open government/direct democracy things, which can be considered part of "free culture," but that's not necessarily political science.

I mean understanding the political science of free culture. For instance, at UF the poli sci department is divided into these disciplines: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, public policy, public administration, and political theory. So here are some examples of studying free culture in those areas:

American politics: the deliberative process around the DMCA (i.e. why did it end up with the outcome that it did)

comparative politics: what are the differences between different countries' IP regimes

international relations: WIPO, TRIPs, IP diplomacy

public policy: what are the effects of crafting IP policy in different ways

public administration: the role of the Copyright Office in formulating copyright policy

political theory: influences of different political philosophies in the free culture movement

That's what political science means in relation to free culture. Basically, legal scholars study the law; political scientists study how it got that way.

(Public policy is kind of similar to law; political theory is kind of similar to philosophy.)

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