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Lessig Revises Book With Public Wiki

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the new-ways-to-weave-words dept.

Silent_E writes "Always wanted to see your words in print? The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Lawrence Lessig is revising his book 'Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace' using a wiki-based, public discussion. The proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated. . All royalties are going to Creative Commons, plus the advance. "

7 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Collaborative book writing by FreeLinux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Lots of technical books are collaborations. That's why so many suck! It's hard to read when the writing style changes from chapter to chapter, ideas do not carry through the book as they should and writing skills vary dramatically.

    I much prefer a single author.

  2. Re:Collaborative book writing by Tackhead · · Score: 2, Insightful
    > I've always thought that writing a book collaboratively is an interesting idea. It's just an extension of the childhood game where you write a word on a piece of paper, fold it over, and pass it along. However, I always thought about a fictional book.

    ...said the Slashdotter, as he posted feverishly to the message board upon reading the story about Lessig's Wiki.

    Yes, Lessig. The Lessig would come and save us all. Lessig, the Kwisatch Haderach of Copyright Law. Lessig, who'd written a cool book or two. Lessig, who had a Ph.D. without becoming a total asshat. Lessig, who'd totally gotten his ass handed to him by the vested interests that run the Supreme Cou[ahem, let's just edit that out in the next revision of the Wiki, shall we, but leave the stuff about the Kwisatch Haderach in. I like that bit.]

  3. Questionable by Ganellon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While this may seem like a compelling idea, I suspect editors will be in much higher demand than contributors. I don't believe this is a successful strategy in producing a coherent volume, since paid authors have a hard enough time getting their works published. Accepting submissions from all comers, particularly those professing some "expertise" in the given subject, is bound to lead to massive quantities of unusable material.

    1. Re:Questionable by truthsearch · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Lessig is quite intelligent. He knows what he's doing is an experiment. He also knows we'll never really know if such a thing is a good idea until someone tries it. While some technical documentation is written this way a book such as his probably has not.

      Also, with a wiki a few good editors could go through what's entered and edit as desired. I'm sure Lessig will have no problems finding an editor or two to help.

      You're quite possibly right, but I hope you're wrong.

      --
      Developers: We can use your help.
    2. Re:Questionable by truthsearch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You obviously haven't read any of his books or articles on his background. He gets more and more media attention as he finds more and more things going wrong with the legal system. His "stunts" draw direct attention to real problems. His contributions have helped software developers more than any other lawyer I can think of. Before most people knew his name he was helping convict Microsoft of illegal activities. He's also the first to really explain the problems in the legal system as relating to computers to everyone.

      Developers in the US are definitely better off with him in the spotlight.

      --
      Developers: We can use your help.
  4. My words were in print long ago. by farmhick · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wrote a letter to the editor of Science Fiction Age magazine in 1993. Not only was it printed, it closed a long running debate about the contents of the magazine. I had gotten tired of reading letters complaining about the one 'fantasy' story in a 'science fiction' mag, and the supporting letters were annoying too. One month, three of the four letters printed were on this topic. So I wrote in and told the guys at the magazine to just make a decision, tell us readers what it was, and stick to it. They would then at least have our respect, if not our agreement. I think they kept the one fantasy story, and I don't remember another letter about it.

    --
    I have to stop wasting so much time reading Slashdot. It's interfering with my crystal meth addiction.
  5. how about Code's CONTENT?! by rikb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ok, so there is lots to say about authoring by a single individual vs. wiki-mediated hordes (and i suppose James Michener's enterprise falls somewhere in between?:).

    but what does the slashDot crowd make of Lessig's ARGUMENTS in Code, about code? what should CodeV2 make sure to address? are you going to weigh in?