Ed Tech Partners Meeting - Monday, Mar. 28, 11:30

Abstract
Creative Commons is dedicated to minimizing legal barriers to sharing creative works like writings, music, and video. Many of these barriers arise because copyright law, as it has come to be practiced, is poorly matched to the realities of the Internet. As a result, sharing on the Internet which could be an great enabler of collaborative creation for humanity, has become mired in legal uncertainties and studded with obstacles that prevent creators from excercising choice in the dispositions of their creations. Creative Commons builds technology and standards to help restore that choice.

Prof. Abelson will also talk about the new Science Commons project that is being incubated at MIT. Science Commons is dedicated to easing unnecessary barriers to the flow of scientific knowledge and technical information. The goal is to encourage stakeholders to create areas of free access, inquiry and innovation using standardized licenses and other means.

About the Presenter
Harold (Hal) Abelson is Class of 1922 Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and a Fellow of the IEEE. He holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from MIT. In 1992, Abelson was designated as one of MIT's six inaugural MacVicar Faculty Fellows, in recognition of his significant and sustained contributions to teaching and undergraduate education. Abelson was recipient in 1992 of the Bose Award (MIT's School of Engineering teaching award). Abelson is also the winner of the 1995 Taylor L. Booth Education Award given by IEEE Computer Society, cited for his continued contributions to the pedagogy and teaching of introductory computer science. He is co-director of the MIT-Microsoft iCampus Research Alliance in Eductional Technology, co-chair of the MIT Council on Educational Technology, and serves on the steering committee of the HP-MIT Alliance. In these capacities, he played key roles in fostering MIT institutional educational technology initiatives such MIT OpenCourseWare and DSpace. He also consults to HP Laboratories in the area of digital information systems.

Ed Tech Partners is a group with representatives from many organizations on campus that meets regularly to discuss topics relating to the development and support of educational technologies at MIT. For more information, please send email to edtech-requests@mit.edu.