Johanna Blakley

Last week, the Lear Center hosted an exhilarating event about changing the nature of the academy and how it does research. Sponsored by Randy Hall, the Vice President of Research at USC, the event brought together a breathtaking array of scholars from across the disciplinary spectrum - many of whom are experimenting with new technologies and developing new methods of interdisciplinary collaborative research.

Why did the Lear Center get involved in this initiative? We saw it as a natural continuation of a long-running project of ours called Creativity, Commerce & Culture . Since 2001, we've been hosting events and publishing research on how new technologies and ownership regimes impact the work of creative people. We've looked at the music, TV, film and publishing industries, who've had a terrible time adjusting to a new digital environment where audiences can easily copy, circulate and remix copyright-protected content without permission. We've also done some ground-breaking research on the fashion industry , which has managed to thrive despite the fact that fashion designs cannot be copyright protected.