Reflect & Write: Copyright and Culture

Text: Siva Vaidhyanathan, “Copyright Jungle,” Columbia Journalism Review September-October 2006. <

Envision Connection: Read in conjunction with Chapter 12, “Copyright Matters”

Background: One of the leading figures in the Intellectual Property debates, Siva Vaidhyanathan is an associate professor of culture and communication at NYU. His best known works include Copyrights and Copywrongs (2001), a book that focuses on the relationship between Intellectual Property debates and creativity, and The Anarchist in the Library (2004), in which he explores the relationship between the Internet and copyright regulation. He has contributed articles to many different publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Salon.com, Nation, and The Chronicle of Higher Education; in addition, he maintains a running commentary on contemporary culture on his blog, Sivacracy.net, and has appeared on both NPR and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This article, which originally appeared in the September 2006/October 2006 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, takes as its launching point the controversial Google Print Library Project (also known as the Google Books Library Project), a plan Google developed in late 2004 to digitize and make available online over 15 million texts by 2014.

Reflect & Write:

  • What relationship does Vaidhyanathan suggest between copyright and journalism? between copyright and authorship? between copyright and culture?
  • In the article, Vaidhyanathan suggests that copyright is complex. Identify at least two places in which he identifies complexities or contradications in the copyright debate. How does this discussion of complexity determine or undermine your understanding of the copyright issue?
  • Look carefully at the headnote for a clue to the intended audience for this article. How is the article tailored to audience? Find at least three places in the article where that appeal to audience is apparent.
  • Vaidhyanathan only fully explains the Google project in the penultimate paragraph of his article. What is the effect of delaying this discussion? How would the argument have changed if he had included this more detailed description of the Google project at the beginning of the piece?
  • At the end of the piece, Vaidhyanathan argues that journalists need to explain “this messy [copyright] system in a clear language to a curious but confused audience.” Look for specific aspects of his article – word choice, structure, strategies of development – in which he attempts to do this himself. Does he succeed? Why or why not?