Writing Assignment 7: Appendices

Summary: In this exercise, you will create a potential appendix for Owning Bits: Intellectual Property in the Information Age, Volume 1.

Purposes: To give you the opportunity to think about what we have and have not covered in the course. To give you the opportunity to approach some aspect of the course creatively. To give our book more content.

Assigned: Tuesday, 28 October 2003

Due: 8:00 a.m., Thursday, 13 November 2003

To Turn In:

• Bring fifteen printed copies of your work (double-spaced, please) to class. If it is difficult to obtain fifteen copies of your work, please get me one copy of your essay by noon on Wednesday, and I'll make the copies for you.

Background: Each member of this tutorial has selected a particular issue or topic that relates to the relationship between intellectual property and information technology. We have already used these topics as an incentive to identify resources and to discuss these topics. Tutorial members will soon be turning their topics into essays and presenting those essays to the class.

Once the essays are completed, we will combine them into a book. In the next writing assignment, you will choose an order for the essays and write an introduction to the book. Experience shows that a successful collection benefits from material in addition to the introduction and central essays: It can also use a number of appendices that provide additional background information for the reader.

The Assignment: Create a short (1-3 page) appendix for the book. It is up to you what your appendix will focus on, although we will find it appropriate to discuss the appendices as a class.

Sample Topics:

Your appendix might

• provide information on the basics of patent, trademark, or copyright law,
• describe the technology behind the World Wide Web,
• list and summarize relevant laws,
• list and summarize central cases,
• list and review useful resources (Web sites, books, etc.),
• reflect globally on the morals of IP ownership,
• define terms important for the understanding of this material, or
• do anything else relevant to the subject mattter.