Re-Imagining Accessibility
![Shepard Fairey’s “Barack Obama/Hope” image went viral during the 2008 election. Then controversy about the image’s source transformed it into the poster child for fair use in the public debate over copyright and free culture. Now FULAB takes “Hope” as its icon [Image source: Wikipedia]](http://fairuselab.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/shepard_fairey_hope_2008.jpg "shepard_fairey_hope_2008")
Re-imagining accessibility through the transformations of culture -- particularly the transformative promise of accessible technology for people with disabilities -- is the work of the Fair Use Lab. What does Shepard Fairey’s Hope poster have to do with accessibility? Read more: Shape-Shifters in the Fair Use Lab [MiT6 2009]
Remix: Danger Mouse
![Promotional artwork for "The Grey Album" by Justin Hampton. This was not used for the actual cover, but appeared on the Danger Mouse website in 2004. [Source: Wikipedia]](http://fairuselab.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/danger_mouse_grey_album_cover_200.jpg "danger_mouse_grey_album_cover_200")
Will DJ Danger Mouse become the Che Guevara of digital sampling? Consider the case for fair use made by The Grey Album.Blind Photographers
In the moment when Paul Strand photographed her surreptitiously on the street in New York, the social engineers who created a system for licensing beggars never imagined that a blind woman had culture or could make culture. She herself may not have imagined it. Paul Strand probably didn’t give her much credit for making culture, either. Read more: Curiosity & The Blind Photographer [MiT5 2007] See more on blind photographers.Disability As Praxis
I am a parent, homeowner, knowledge worker, and person with disabilities. Oppression is not my true word, but praxis is. In Paulo Freire’s transformative work, I find an affirmation deeper than ideology or political activism -- an affirmation of the dynamic role of disability in culture. I believe the daily praxis of making adaptations and negotiating accommodations represents a significant form of cultural production. Read Disability As Praxis.ADA 20th Anniversary
![President George H.W. Bush signs into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990 as Justin Dart looks on. [Source: ucp.org]](http://fairuselab.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ada_signing_072690_ucp_2.jpg "ada_signing_072690_ucp_2")
On its 20th anniversary, pundits will debate what the Americans with Disabilities Act has accomplished. I still believe what I said in a TV interview after the ADA signing ceremony in 1990. “The ADA will not end disability discrimination overnight. But in a nation governed by the rule of law, getting it in writing is the place to start.” So what is the ADA's legacy? A Generation of Problem-Solvers.
a blind flaneur
Tag Archives: shape-shifters
U.S. Copyright Act, Section 121: The Chafee Amendment
U.S. Copyright Office – Copyright Law: Chapter 1: § 121. Limitations on exclusive rights: reproduction for blind or other people with disabilities63 (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity … Continue reading
Posted in accessibility, fair use
Tagged accessibility, fair use, federal law, shape-shifters
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U.S. Copyright Act, Section 107: Fair Use
U.S. Copyright Office – Copyright Law: Chapter 1: § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords … Continue reading
Lessig on Fair Use in America
To me, this is the most significant, and chilling, statement in Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture: … fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer to defend your right to create. Lessig, Free Culture, p. 187
Legislative History on Fair Use and Accessible Texts
AHEAD, the Association on Higher Education and Disability, has an excellent position statement on fair use and accessible texts for students with disabilities. I will quote from it extensively in the next few days. For now, here is the significant … Continue reading
MiT6 Session on Intellectual Property
If you’re coming to the Media in Transition 6 conference at M.I.T., please come to my session on Intellectual Property. It’s scheduled for Sunday, April 26, 2009, 10:45-12:15 p.m. The room is TBA. Here’s the presentation lineup: Intellectual Property Keidra … Continue reading