the timboucher experience

I mentioned the other day how I want to have a freely available copy of my book online, plus associated reference materials, no matter how I end up choosing to have it published. Beside’s Laurence Lessig’s Free Culture, I’d not really heard of too many people doing that. But while perusing info on copyright and intellectual property law on Wikipedia, I came across mention of Cory Doctorow who released his novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, under a Creative Commons License. Wikipedia’s entry on him states:

Doctorow’s first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, is a utopian novel set in a future Walt Disney World where scarcity has been abolished and economic transactions are mediated through a reputation system similar to Slashdot’s “Karma,” measured in units called Whuffie. It was published in January 2003, and was the first novel released under a Creative Commons license. The license allowed readers to freely circulate the electronic edition, and that electronic edition was released simultaneous with the print edition. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was re-licensed under an expanded Creative Commons license in March 2003, to allow non-commercial derivative works such as fan fiction.

Pretty cool that there are people moving in this direction. I think it’s the right thing to do. Also, here is Doctorow’s website. While we’re at it, here’s a brief history of copyright law, and here is a post I wrote about the origin of copyright and the concept of authorship.

• Yahoo Creative Commons Search
• OurMedia.org: Training Ground for the Media Revolution
• The Impersonals - get it? The “IM-personals”? Get it? GET IT????
• Intellectual Property Blah blah blah
• Formal Public Domain Dedication