Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

Theft or Tribute? Copyright Butts Heads With Online Habits

Members of today’s “YouTube generation” have been sharing files and downloading media for free since practically the day they were born. How does their view of remix and copyright conflict with today’s intellectual property law? Spotlight talks with attorney Jaime Wolf and with Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons, about the movement for greater latitude in reuse and remix, and forging a “third way” for future copyright.

Foundations Commit to Help Educate to Innovate

Twelve major foundations announced a half a billion-dollar commitment to help promote educational innovation last week, including leveraging federal dollars.

Report on Emerging Technologies for the Classroom

Which digital tools will have the most impact on K-12 education in the coming years? A new report and toolkit released this week identifies the six most influential technologies educators should be watching out for.

Is New Media Incompatible with Schooling?

In a two-part interview, professor Henry Jenkins talks with Rich Halverson about “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America,” the new book Halverson co-wrote with Allan Collins.

Crowdsourcing Civics: What Mozilla Can Teach Us About Participatory Government

David R. Booth talks with Spotlight about how the internet and open-source software are increasing public participation in local and national policy discussions - and why that’s a good thing.

New Report on Peer Participation and Software

A fuller examination of the issues David Booth raises in his Q&A is available in the MacArthur Series report “Peer Participation and Software: What Mozilla Has to Teach Government” (PDF). Booth argues that the same principles and organizational design that motivate a community of volunteer developers to continually update the Firefox internet browser can be replicated in larger government and civic action.