Julianna Yau’s blog

Following closely on the heels of CopyCamp is the Technology in the Arts conference, being held at University of Waterloo. And although I find the barcamp model to be very exciting, I must admit that I like knowing ahead of time what the schedule shall be so I can plan my time (I’m a perpetual planner). There’s a fantastic session lineup at the TIA conference, and trying to decide which ones I want to attend was as difficult as it was for CopyCamp. I was surprised by my initial desire to attend sessions which would present familiar topics (like their session on CMSs or session on copyright law, technology and cultural management).

I reasoned myself into sessions where I would be exposed to information which I don’t already have or can’t get through my contacts. For example, I’m very interested to hear about The Evolution of Technology at the Canadian Music Centre, but I know people who know people at the CMC and can probably get that information outside of the conference. However, I’m not as connected to the museum world or b-boying movement.

This will be an interesting conference to attend following CopyCamp. I’ll be unencumbered by my full-sized laptop, and hopefully be able to take more notes with my Eee. I’m not sure whether I’ll have internet access, actually. I sent the organizers an email about that yesterday, so we’ll see what they come back with when the traditional work-week resumes. Based on what I could gather from the UWaterloo website, I don’t think I could get access to the university network even as an alumna. I don’t expect to be able to connect to the network, which will be a delicious piece of irony. I’ll probably more easily be able to connect at one of the Williams coffee pubs near campus than trying to finagle access from the university itself. Of course, I could always just go home for lunch instead…

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I pulled the information from the proposed sessions from the CopyCamp2008 wiki into the main session list for CopyCamp2008. I also added my notes to the page for the Making a Living as an Artist in the Wired/Wireless World session, which has more questions and things to consider than actual answers. But it feels like we’re getting closer to answers…

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So I didn’t do nearly as much on-the-fly blogging as I planned.

And by “didn’t do nearly as much”, I mean “didn’t do any”.

It was an overwhelming and invinigorating amount of information to be presented in a short period of time, particularly with the initial barrage at the Speed Geek sessions. These were perhaps the most daunting, because I wanted very much to capture the information in text, but because we were standing for a few minutes at each presentation, I couldn’t type any notes. Even if I had the foresight to bring a [paper] notebook with me, I would have been at a bit of a loss because there was no easy way for me to write properly without a stable surface. Neither of these posed to be challenges for some of my colleauges, one of whom had no problems with pen and paper, and another more impressively typed on a half-open laptop held with one hand.

What was surprising is how many people I already knew but had not met in person… and what was more surprising is how many people knew me and read my blog (hi!). The surprise came not because it was a large number, but because I didn’t think I had more than 4 real readers, despite what my traffic logs tell me.

The main thing I wanted was more time. There were many, many persons with whom I wanted to speak (or speak more), but there simply wasn’t enough time for that to happen… particularly because everyone wanted a piece of everyone else. Although Misha told us that the unconference model came from people realizing the real work at conferences came from coffee breaks, I still had the strong feeling that many of the connections and indepth discussions I had were with no more than 2 other people outside of the sessions.

I came away from CopyCamp with a few predominant thoughts:

• the SAC proposal is gaining ground, and we’re generally moving with much more directive toward viable solutions to unmonetized file sharing than we were a few years ago (and even a year ago)
• creators and creator groups are NOT interested in stopping the dissemination of their works, but are interested in being able to receive proper compensation for the activity; how this should happen is still a big unknown, and there is still apprehension about whether open licencing of works will allow creators to earn a living; there are increasing numbers of creators who are willing to test the waters, and everyone is curious about the outcomes
• the focus is still very much on music, with some peripheral mention of film and 2-dimensional visual art; I did meet Ryan Taylor, who is with the Metal Arts Guild of Canada, who is also interested in finding a way to make use of the amazing groundwork being laid by the music industry to stay ahead of the game for 3-dimensional visual art (particularly 3-dimensional visual art which is intended to be unique)

Something which was mentioned briefly (or maybe someone said something else which triggered this thought… or maybe this is a halucination in my own memory) was the need to look at what creators are making now and whether the new models will be able to match that. This is, sadly, not the same as new business models being able to solve for problems that already exist with current infrastructure. Although it would be nice (and ideal) for us not not merely maintain status quo financially, but to push self-sustainability of creators to a more atainable reality, we must decide whether we want to create a new business model to keep status quo or to finally address the larger problem of how creative output can be funded.

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Today was Day 1 of CopyCamp 2008. It was mostly a reception/meet-and-greet for us to get to know each other. Misha did a great job of mixing up the crowd, but many of us (including myself) ended up gravitating to people we knew afterwards. In my defence, there were some people (several from Ottawa, like Russell McOrmond, April Britski and Janice Seline) who I see very rarely, and others (like Sam Trosow and Chris Moore) with whom I’ve had mostly online conversations.

Tomorrow, I will try to post my raw notes during CopyCamp. Wireless Toronto has setup a network for us at OISE, so I should be online as long as I can balance being an unintentional wallflower to get to an outlet and not maxing out my battery.

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I haven’t been blogging much recently because I’ve got too much going on with my art practice. Not only have I recently finished a sculpture and uploaded about a million pictures of it, but I also sold another sculpture, am moving my studio to an artist co-op and am participating in a studio open house.

Tomorrow is Day 1 of CopyCamp, and I will also be attending the Technology In The Arts Conference next week. I’ll be blogging those events, but probably not much else this month. I’ll leave current events to Michael Geist and the folks over at Digital Copyright Canada.

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CopyCamp is a place to meet people making art and making waves, an opportunity to discover how the Internet can work for artists and fans, and a chance to debate the value(s) of copyright with some of the key players. It is an event in which participants drive the programming, and debates are genuine round-tables. There are no observers: everyone has something to offer and is expected to contribute.

Volunteers are invited to take part in this event by being available to assist with various different activities during this two day event. r Areas in need of support include: assisting with room set up & strike (ie: moving chairs/tables, tech support set up etc), with the registration desk, with note taking during discussions/sessions, with photography, assisting participants and participating in the wiki/blog on the website.

Volunteering at this event will be of particular interest to those interested in internet, and copyright issues.

Location: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) 252 Bloor Street West, (St. George Subway Station). Dates: April 29 and 30, 2008 Time: from noon on Tuesday to 7:00/8:00 p.m. on Wednesday

If you are interested…we encourage you to contact:
Angela Rebeiro – Volunteer coordinator
Email address: iggy@sympatico.ca/ Cell: 416-899-9477

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AN UNCONFERENCE FOR ARTISTS ABOUT THE INTERNET AND THE CHALLENGES TO COPYRIGHT

For Immediate Release

Toronto, April 3rd 2008… COPYCAMP 2008, an “unconference” for artists about the Internet and the challenges to copyright is now open for registration at www.copycamp.ca.

Organized by the Creators’ Rights Alliance and held in Toronto at OISE (The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), CopyCamp will bring 100 artists, geeks, lawmakers, and copyright activists together to explore issues surrounding new models for making art and making a living on the Internet. It continues the discussion initiated at the first CopyCamp held in September 2006.

The “uconconference” format means the event is focused squarely on conversation between participants. And the participant list is being carefully crafted to ensure a wide selection of viewpoints and perspectives.

The event kicks off on Tuesday, April 29th at 5pm with a welcome reception including a structured “World Café” conversation, to get participants talking and meeting each other. On Wednesday, April 30, the event will run all day (9-5). The day will start with a “Speed Geek” session- lightning-fast presentations on a dizzying array of related topics. The rest of the day will be spent in small self-organized sessions. Participants will collectively create the agenda for the day, and talk about the topics they are most passionate about.

Lots of great sessions are already being proposed. Thus far there are sessions proposed on Reaching an Audience (singer, songwriter Andrew Cash), on Indie labels (Tina Siegel of Fading Way music), on Net Neutrality (open source aficionado Russell McOrmond), on the Songwriters Association proposal for monetizing the Internet (Don Quarles and several others from SAC), on What’s Appropriate in Appropriation (Kristian Clarke of CAR/FAC Ontario), on the art market model, CYBER@ARTS, pioneered by the Playwrights Guild of Canada, and the Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques (AQAD) (Michel Beauchemin of AQAD), and an “Ask a Techie” demo session hosted by Julianna Yau who will help introduce technophobes to online social media. More sessions will be added up to the day of the event, and on the day itself.

Artists will be attending from Quebec and across the country. In addition the CopyCamp Team is delighted to announce that Maori artists Moana Maniapoto and Toby Mills from New Zealand will be at CopyCamp again this year.

CopyCamp will be facilitated by Misha Glouberman, host and producer of the Trampoline Hall Lectures.

Artists or others who want to take part should visit www.copycamp.ca to register. General admission is $200.00, members of the Creators Rights Alliance pay $100.00, and unsalaried artists pay only $50.

– 30 –

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CopyCamp2 registration is now open. If you’re tight for cash, you can request a subsidy (although, the price levels this time are much simpler and lower).

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I’m a bit behind on blogging because I’ve been engrossed in a sculpture, but I wanted to remind people that CopyCamp2 is fast approaching. I attended a planning meeting for it on Friday, and what’s been “planned” is exciting. This year’s CopyCamp is scheduled for April 29th and 30th, starting on Tuesday afternoon, and continuing through the evening and the next day, Wednesday.

Here’s the Facebook event for CopyCamp.

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Another CopyCamp is scheduled for April 29 and 30, 2008 at OISE (University of Toronto). The CopyCamp website doesn’t have much on the upcoming unconference, but still has much information from the first one from 2006. I wasn’t able to make it to the 2006 CopyCamp, so I’m looking forward to attending this year.

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