This lecture was given by Eileen Simpson and Ben White of the Open Music Archive.
-Arrive in the room, electronic music is playing, it sounds like mics gently feeding back.
-Lecturers are multiple (2), young.
-"Flashy" opening AV introduction w/ fast paced images + spoken word.
-Feedback on both mics, feels like the lecturers know this and are making "the best of a bad job"
-Lecturer cringes as she says 'Problematise'.
-Copyright creates the conditions for open access.
-Lecturer says 'Piped'.
-Lecturer says 'We are surrounded by death'.
-On the screen: 'Who's died in Blues, Jazz'.
-A student types incredibly fast on a Macbook pro 13".
-Lecturer references Derrida. Maybe not as young as I thought.
-It becomes clear that the introductory AV spectacular was necessary to offset the rest of the slideshow, which mainly consists of screen-grabs from websites or digital images of old technology.
-Free 'libre' vs free 'gratis'
-As in, Free as in freedom vs free as in free beer.
-Lecturer says, 'Cover the cover' 'Plug'
-At the moment it is very fashionable to do live broadcasting in art - but the quality (as in, quality of content and technical quality) is low. When it becomes ubiquitous, artists will stop engaging with it, just at the point where the quality could be higher.
-On the screen: a digital image of a url of a website printed on paper.
-On the screen: a digital image of a DVD.
-On the screen: a digital image of a vinyl record with "CDR" printed on it.
-Lecturer says 'DJs'
-Lecturer's microphone fades down to silence then fades back in again.
-Lecturer says 'Flipped and reversed'
-There's something lovely about redacted manuscripts - as though you can just sigh and say 'oh well, can't read that!'
-On the screen: a digital image of a VHS tape.
-A man in his 40s w/ black beanie hat and the look of a "working man" opens the door, looks in, is startled by what he sees, realises his mistake, and backs away, letting the door swing shut.
-A student has a collection of objects on his desk, covered with a towel.
-The lecturers' use of AV is accomplished. They know how to operate the auditorium lights, they're showing videos and images, and playing sound, all as part of one slide show. Most lecturers (most people, actually) can barely work their laptops.
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-In the break before the Q&A soft jazz plays, people chat. The vibe is that of a pre-Christmas "get together" at a neighbour's house.
-On the desk beside me, a student has left a pen, a notebook, a glasses case, a pair of glasses and a single mini-egg (purple).
-A student wears headphones and watches the screen of another student's Macbook pro.
-Professor and Lecturers chat. No one is in a hurry to get on with the Q&A.
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-In front of the Professor there is an empty mid-sized bottle of Copella Pressed Apple Juice.
-Two students who arrived in the break are now sitting a few rows down ignoring the Q&A and talking to each other in a Chinese language.
-Lecturer says 'QR code'.
-Professor says 'What's a QR code?'
-Cliff Richard is a subtly malevolent force for several reasons.
1. His role as a "friendly face" in lobbying the government for the extension of copyright on music.
2. His part in the funding, creation, and upkeep of an abominable piece of public art in Birmingham. And, also, his subsequent retraction of that funding for upkeep, forcing the local council to pay for its removal and storage.
3. His horrifying and skin-crawl-inducing relationship with Tony and Cherie Blair.
-The Chinese students in front of me have huge phones that they have to hold with two hands. It occurs to me that at one point, the assumption was that phones would get smaller and smaller. They haven't.
-Retain control, or, perhaps retain integrity.
-A student has a neatly folded satsuma skin on the desk in front of her.
-Lecturer says 'We're all pirates, to an extent'.
-A student has a "sports" bottle of water but the "sports cap" has broken off. He'll have to throw it away, or perhaps, carry it upright in his hands all the way home.
-The false ceiling of the auditorium is very beautiful in an institutional way. The arrangement of lights, spotlights, speakers, air vents and fire alarms is symmetrical. Near the back of the auditorium some ceiling tiles have been replaced. They have a slightly different colour/texture to their neighbours.
-The sound of a student typing on their keyboard is similar to the sound of someone shaking their wrist whilst wearing multiple plastic bracelets.
-The inter-dependant relationship of the professional and the pirate market.
-Next to the student with the folded satsuma skin sits a student on whose desk is an uneaten satsuma.
-A student's question includes the word 'Schtick'.