About

Over a quarter century, I have been privileged to teach a great many courses on the laws relating to media, communications, entertainment, newsrooms and video games to greatly diverse students across a wide variety of institutions. The bright line that seems to make sense of all the differences is an underlying current of faith in creativity as a force for meaning in life. A force which though sometimes frightening in its implications is ultimately redemptive, affording a fleeting glimpse of our true natures.

The development of this course represents an attempt to understand the limits we place on creativity, the fears that inform those limits, and how the process of traversing both changes both the power and meaning of creativity. The goal of the inquiry is to examine the limitations we place on our own creativity as well as the limitations placed upon us – and understand the costs of both. Where have we gained through our rules and self-censorship? What have we lost?

This course is intended to be scaleable across a wide variety of institutions and students. Because these digital times are lowering the thresholds to be a creator, ultimately the intended constituency for the course should be everyone.

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