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Open Media Boston Presents: NWU Digital Media Conf

44 Live Views 3 In Crowd How Can Creators Make a Living When We Are Expected to Give Away Our Work for Free?"* This panel will feature a broad discussion of the biggest questions facing writers and other creators in this digital age. New technologies are doing amazing… How Can Creators Make a Living When We Are Expected to Give Away Our Work for Free?"* This panel will feature a broad discussion of the biggest questions facing writers and other creators in this digital age. New technologies are doing amazing things in terms of allowing instantaneous communication between hundreds of millions of people around the globe. They are also inspiring more and more people to publish work of all kinds in all media for audiences large and small. But can people with the talent and drive to find an audience and sell their creative work still do so with a reasonable hope of supporting themselves ... and keeping control of the rights to their work? Is copyright relevant anymore, should new rights regimes replace it, or is there some kind of middle ground? Is all talk of creative rights outdated and antithetical to creative freedom? Will trades like journalism, book writing and documentary film making survive as is? Or change completely? Or even disappear? Will new developments like "citizen journalism" replace these traditional trades or augment them in some positive fashion? Are media corporations providing a public service by encouraging amateur creators to publish their work for free? Or are they simply exploiting amateurs and using them as a way to replace more expensive professionals? Panelists include Dan Kennedy (moderator) of Northeastern Univ. Journalism Dept., Zach Seward of Nieman Journalism Lab, Topper Carew, noted TV Producer and Writers Guild member, Lisa Williams of Placeblogger.com, Felicia M. Sullivan of Organizers' Collaborative, and Jason Pramas of the National Writers Union and Open Media Boston, plus welcome statements by Richard O'Bryant of the John D. O'Bryant African-American Institute and Jeanne Harnois of the National Writers Union More