The Digital Media Project

Public information on the DMP workshop on

Analogue Legacies in the Digital Age
(Barcelona, ES - 2004/10/25T09:00-18:00)

Rationale

The now 800,000,000 person digital environment represents practically the economy of a nation of 50,000,000 people (assuming that the average daily time spent on a device accessing content by existing users is approximately 1.5 hours).  The size of this virtual nation that knows no borders nor is divided by racial or ethnic concerns is growing as a function of several parameters i.e. continued increase of users, increased number of per capita hours to access content due to more ubiquitous and easy to use portable devices, broader scope of application i.e. work, study, entertainment, public information, etc..

All this has come about in a flash because the rate of change of these and other parameters is increasing geometrically, and such has been the change that we are still blowing the lint off the needles of our Dual turn tables while our children are downloading mp3 files.  This surprise attack by a combination of device manufactures, software providers and eager entrepreneurs has also created its own environment, where everything in the environment is replicable ad infinitum and at a cost by no means proportional to the replication of vinyl or magnetic tape.

The consequences of such change have reaped havoc of our ability to plan accordingly and particularly in the language we are used to, our habitual language that we used to deal with concepts such as value, morals, ethics and of course of money, profits, margins and returns. So, we come to realize that there are certain things of the past that no longer fit in the new digital paradigm, these we choose to call Analog Legacies.

Purpose

Clearly, there are many Analogue Legacies. The Digital Media Manifesto sounded just two namely Levies and Geographic Borders, so that it is reasonable to question: 

• Which are the Analogue Legacies?
• Do they represent the nature of the paradigm shift that brought them about?
• Are the many legacies linked into a hierarchy whereby dealing with one we deal with many others?

These are some of the questions we put forward to proponents who wish to defend the continuance or the discontinuance of a particular legacy. 

Important is the work undertaken by the DMP to define Traditional Rights and Usages (TRUs) rooted in the analog space. When endeavouring to enable TRUs by digital means so that the DMP Interoperable DRM platform may enable them, the DMP has taken into consideration  several factors: 

• How they came about
• Who benefits and who bears the cost
• What is the practical balance between the user and the rest of the value chain.

By doing so, we leave the door open for society to make up its own mind and do not preclude the practice of TRUs claiming that it is the technology that has slammed the door in our face!

After the presentations the DMP will compile the information and arguments gathered and issue a concluding statement based on the presentations, this statement can then be discussed further through a reflector and/or ad hoc group on Analog Legacies.

Speakers

First come first served we envisage a maximum of six one hour presentations. 

All presentations are to be forwarded by 18^th October 2004 to Marc Gauvin (mgauvin@sdae.net). 

Venue

The DMP wishes to extend an open invitation to all who wish to shed light on these important issues and share their concerns under the heading of "1^st Workshop on Analog Legacies in the Digital Age" to be held at

Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE)
Sala del Consejo
Passeig de Colom, 6
E-08002 Barcelona (Spain)

Date

Monday 25^th October  2004 from 09:00 to 18:00.

Program

(Please note that italics means that participation/topic is to be confirmed).

Participants

Participation is open to interested individuals. However, all attendees are requested to inform the DMP Secretariat (secretariat@dmpf.org) of their intention to attend.