Blogging Pedagogy

There is an article in the June 19 "New Yorker" about James Joyce's grandson, Stephen James Joyce, and his infamous battles with Joycean scholars over copyright issues. It mentions that Lawrence Lessig is filing a law suit against the Joyce estate for "copyright misuse," in defense of a Stanford English professor whose work was censored due to pressure from Joyce (scroll about half way down for the relevant paragraphs). It seems to me that this case would be interesting to follow with 306 students in the Fall--I wish I was teaching Lessig now! Though Joyce comes off largely as a cantankerous jerk, I do think the piece raises some interesting arguments for both sides. I can sympathize, as I think some students might, with not wanting your crazy aunt analyzed academically in a book, but I obviously also have a stake in the academic freedom to do so.