What Is To Be Done? Burning Questions of the Digital Age

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Many cyberspace residents feel that America’s current body of law is incapable of dealing with the complexities of digital culture. This serious problem transcends traditional ideology. Our legislators have spent most of their lives seeking and maintaining political office, and many have had little exposure to new media.

For example, in a recent congressional debate, Senator Ted Stevens famously described the Internet as a series of tubes. He further stated that "an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday."

Though humorous, this fundamental lack of computer literacy is deeply troubling when voiced by the man who is leading the charge to rewrite America's communication laws. The Stevens gaffe reminds us that, from You Tube and World of Warcraft to Second Life and Livejournal, educators and students are immersed in a changing media landscape that is virtually incomprehensible to our elected representatives.

Is there any validity to the claim that current regulations affecting digital media are endangering the vitality of our democracy and sapping the economic health of our nation? Do restrictive copyright laws inhibit scholarly debate while weakening teachers in the classroom? Is it true that these laws throw roadblocks in front of artists while doing very little to protect the rights of creators?

After exploring some of these questions, Professor Aaron Delwiche will suggest possible steps that librarians, teachers, administrators and students might take to transform the situation in a positive way.

About Aaron Delwiche:

For more than fifteen years, Professor Aaron Delwiche has studied ways that the Internet can be used to promote global dialogue. With one foot in industry and the other in the academy, he has lived in Osaka, San Francisco, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seattle, and San Antonio. In 1995, as a Project Manager with Free Range Media, he oversaw the Christian Science Monitor's entry into the world of on-line journalism. Working closely with Tom Regan, he published and promoted journalist David Rhode's Pulitzer-prize winning expose of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia . From 1999-2002, as the Director of Interface Development at Lemon Asia, he facilitated Hong Kong's leading interactive agency's regional expansion into Singapore and Mainland China. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, Aaron teaches courses on cyberculture, game design and criticism, film studies, and propaganda. His innovative experiments with virtual worlds in the classroom have been covered by international publications ranging from Wired to The Guardian (UK). Recently, he spent six months in Thailand, studying the behaviors and attitudes of young gamers who congregate in cybercafes to play on-line games such as Ragnarok Online and Lineage II. A devoted gamer, as well as a researcher and educator, Aaron writes a biweekly column on digital culture for the San Antonio Current and is a regular contributor to Terra Nova. In November, he will deliver a keynote address at the New Media Consortium's Regional Conference on "New challenges... new ideas."