A Critical Commons

criticalcommons.org for 'fair and critical participation in media culture'.

Post CCi Conference: Brisbane, June 2008

Had a great time at the CCi 'Creating Value: Between Values & Commons', the international conference of the ARC Centre for Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation, with several papers presented and published from staff of the Queensland Conservatorium (links to abstracts and papers, below). 

Mine was a piece oriented around the issues that come in music licensing and its implications for education in Australian universities, Who’s really doing the stealing? How the music industry’s pathological pursuit of profit and power robs us of innovation (perhaps of interest, in the light of the recent Fête de la Musique discussion).

Matt Hitchcock, leader of the Bachelor of Music Technology program presented his work on web 2.0 and collaborative on-line learning in his paper, Making music together: The blending of an on-line learning environment for music artistic practice. 

And Don Lebler, leader of the Bachelor of Popular Music program co-authored a piece in collaboration with international education guru Prof Eric McWilliam, entitled Aligning curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for building creative capacity in undergraduate students: a case study from the con. 

Gern Leonhard's Music 2.0

Author and Media Futurist Gerd Leonhard  has released his new book, Music 2.0, a collection of essays about the next generation of music making, distribution and values systems. The printed version is available for €39.95,  or can be downloaded in an unprotected PDF format. No registration is required, and the Creative Commons license encourages that the book be freely shared on the web. Donations may also be made.


In the following movie, Leonhard talks about his plans for 2008: the Music 2.0 book, his 3rd book "Open is King - the future of Media beyond Control", his influences and the continuing extension of his work into advertising and branding.

Democracy 2.0

I had the pleasure to be invited and speak on a panel at the Creative Commons AU forum, "Democracy 2.0: YouTube + Myspace as tools for political engagement”. Held at the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane's Valley precinct, the event was timely and charged, especially with the Federal election on the horizon, we saw some entertaining, often puzzling examples of on-line migration by our political leaders. Also some terrific mash-ups and social commentary from communities around the country.

You can head over to CCau if you want to register and get more involved. Thanks to Elliott Bledsoe (Vibewire Inc.) and Professor Brian Fitzgerald (Faculty of Law, QUT) for a great event.

Collusion Record Release

Hybrid arts ensemble Collusion has signed their debut album In Depth to Australia's Move Records. In late 2005, I produced and recorded these stunning musicians in the IMERSD studios. The project features first-release works by renowned international composers Paul Stanhope, David Schiff, Gerard Brophy and others. Look out for In Depth (MD3310) in the record stores and forthcoming national tours by Collusion.

Collusion also performed recently at the Creative Commons Australia live showcase, ccSalon as part of the Creative Commons Industry Forum held on 29 November 2006 at QUT's Creative Industries precinct in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane:

Collusion performing with a backdrop of audio/visuals by Andrew Garton

from Toysatellite live as part of the ccSalon. Photo by Ray Allen

Webcasts and Creative Commons Projects

We've built up quite a nice range of learning, research and internet-based practises and outcomes during 2006.

Radio IMERSD is an e-publication vehicle for creative works, licenced under Creative Commons Australia agreements. A range of visiting Australian higher education experts can now be heard via the Twilight Lecture series podcasts. In addition, the site provides a dissemination platform for students and staff who develop their original creative work through concerts, studio recordings and/or other eLearning projects.

Matt Hithcock has developed the Radio IMERSD project and live Jazz Cafe broadcasts. In the case on non-original works, under the University APRA license, broadcast is limited to the Griffith University intranet.

Our thanks go to Matthew Hall of Swaab Attorneys who has played an invaluable role in learning, teaching and advice on digital IP. He has delivered a range of engaging masterclasses at the Con, including the Concert Stream IMERSD project and he continues to provide assistance via his membership of the QCGU Advisory Council.