PhD Proposal
This early PhD proposal was not what I ended up doing, as it is always dependent on what is available and possible, not what one would actually want or choose. But this was my favoured topic, and I originally tried to do a PhD in this in 2008, but wasnt ready. The topic though itself has taken on new resonance as the Fediverse (particularly the work of Saunders, 2002) actually talks about very simialr ideas to he ones I was having back in 2008 nd then again in 2014. As of 2023 I have just published my fiorst paper writing about the Fedivsere in realtion to ciovoc led smart cities.
Ive submitted a proposal for a PhD based on the concept of completely open digital rights management. Whether or not this is even possible remains unclear, however what is certain is that gated systems of rights protection do not work. Recent research has shown me that many more in the digital product industry as well as those involved in the wider context – network economists, web 2.0 protagonists and even those in the education sector are starting to speak out about the (mis)management of digital intellectual property and the possibility of approaching it in new and especially fairer ways.
To me, digital rights remains a hugely exciting topic, and I believe that PhD is a perfect place to investigate other conceptualisations of systems or frameworks to protect and share intellectual rights in a digital age. I am most interested in ways of harnessing the semantic and social web to encourage dissemination and at the same time formulate alternative reward mechanisms available to all in the chain of digital product creation and delivery.
UPDATE:
I have taken up PhD at University of Malta, but in an alternate area of interest: Technology Enhanced learning, specifically, augmented (smart city) reality learning. See a later blog entry for more on this.
