was Seth right?

Jay, I'm not sure "balance" is the right word, it seems to me that what people may be concerned with the project being not only fair but welcoming to ...well... non-liberals...
If you think this is something you really *can* offer, it would be great! (but definitely not easy...)
If this is not something you can do (or would care to do), I think it would be much better (and clearer for all) to just limit it to those of liberal persuasion... and maybe suggest that the project is "mirrored" by some conservative initiative... and a separate independent one, why not?

Delia

P.S. re: "This is someone I respect and admire a great deal, and more so after his decision to execute this turn in his studies."

I didn't know what to make of this (it seems a bit odd, to me... I mean, *adding* a new interest would be one thing but out of the blue deciding he is just not going to do any more of his extreme fair use thing etc... begs the question "why?" -- I think Lessig may well have very serious reasons that he is just not disclosing...). D.
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48520)

oh, Jay... you don't *really* believe Lessig's stuff, do you? -- I mean, it's so way out there I don't see how he, or anybody else, thought there was ever any real chance it was going to become the law -- and thank God it didn't! it would have made terrible law -- (interesting intellectual arguments if you are tolerant to the extreme... and I am not...; he may have much better luck with things like science fiction)

Delia

P.S. alright! looks like another thing we disagree on...

P.P.S. it's already past midnight, I gotta go to bed... good night, all! D.
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48524)

re:"And I don't think you understand how academics work."

Well... I certainly don't understand academics a la Lessig (or any "academic based" advocacy group). I don't think anybody *should* understand it... that's not academics, that's lobbying!

Delia

P.S. If you think the law is terrible *now* -- you should have seen just how much MORE terrible it could have been if Lessig's ideas prevailed; but...as I've already said, I think we are much better off that *didn't* happen... D.

P.P.S. Sorry if he's a personal friend or something...
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48530)

Jay,

re: I don't think anybody *should* understand it... that's not academics, that's lobbying!
You sound like a commissar. Scary."

huh? I think you missed the context: it was simply a way of saying the what Lessig and organizations such as the Berkman Center, for instance, do is just NOT academics... and, yeah, it's NOT *conventional* lobbying either... it's lobbying the academia! (something that shouldn't be allowed...)

Delia

P.S. and yes, that's *my view* on the topic, of course, and by the looks of your responses I can see a lot of merit in dropping it... (unless, of course, you can show that having "academic based" *advocacy groups* does NOT result in lobbying the academia or that lobbying the academia is in itself quite ok... I'd be listening... ) D.
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48538)

Jay, (you may not have intended it that way but) it certainly appears that Tim has been less welcomed(I mean, if he's had different opinions, he's always been gentle about it -- unlike me..., I'm afraid:) --; yet I always seem to get answers from you and my comments appear to post instantaneously...) : this is what I meant when I said make sure you *can* make EVERYONE feel just as welcomed as the next person... otherwise, make it clear to people that's not a realistic expectation so they can make up their mind whether they still want to participate D.
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48541)

Jay,

I think you are missing the point, entirely... anybody should be allowed "to push" for whatever policy they want (however unwise, Lessig NOT excepted...).

They should just be honest as to what they are really doing... (don't call it academics and don't do it in an academic setting if the outcome of your "academic inquiry" is set from the outgo... I don't see how that could possibly qualify as academics...)

The big problem I see with "academic based" advocacy groups (Dan Gillmor's term), such as the Berkman Center -- Lessig had the original endowed professorship, if I remember right -- is that they result in a perversion of academia and a perversion of true scholarship (they are just impervious to opposite points of view, as far from academic principles as you can get...).

Delia

P.S. Just look at what has been the Center's effect on academic freedom at Harvard, for instance? Marginalizing people like Arthur Miller... who certainly deserves a prominent place at the discussion table when it comes to Internet and Society ...

A true academic group would have *equally* welcomed both Lessig AND Miller... and be glad to have them BOTH... and there would have been no advocacy going on (the two very different views would have been presented as valid alternatives)D.
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48543)

Jay, I hope you *are* indeed missing the point (and it's not something much more sinister going on...) -- Seth sort of warned me that I walked into a Kool-Aid-drinking-cult and shouldn't expect normal reasoning... at the time I though he was just funny but I'm not so sure any more...

Delia

P.S. anyways, I gotta go... good luck with your project! D.
(http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/19/otb_amze.html#comment48546)