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Freedom of expression is a central tenet of almost every modern society. This freedom however often comes into conflict with other rights, and can be misused and exploited. New media – especially on the internet – and new forms of media intrusion bring added complexity to old tensions between the individual’s rights to reputation and privacy on the one hand, and freedom of expression and the freedom of the press on the other.

How should free speech be balanced with the right to reputation? This question lies at the heart of defamation law. In the following videos, Lord Neuberger and Dr Matthew Collins QC discuss current challenges in defamation law, and the implications of recent changes to legislation enacted in the Defamation Act 2013. Lord Neuberger highlights urgent issues including privacy, confidentiality, data protection, freedom of information, and the Internet.

In this video, he draws attention to recent high-profile events such as the Leveson Inquiry and the phone-hacking trials, and points up key features of the new legislation.

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Dr Matthew Collins QC outlines his perspective on the likely long-term impact of the 2013 Act.

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The Rt Hon the Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury Kt PC is President of the Supreme Court of the United Court of the United Kingdom. Dr Matthew Collins QC is a barrister based in Melbourne, Australia. He is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, a door tenant at One Brick Court chambers in London, and the author of Collins on Defamation.

The post Free speech, reputation, and the Defamation Act 2013 appeared first on OUPblog.

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How can a society balance both the freedom of expression, including the freedom of the press, with the individual’s right to reputation? Defamation law seeks to address precisely this delicate equation. Especially in the age of the internet, where it is possible to publish immediately and anonymously, these concerns have become even more pressing and complex. The Defamation Act 2013 has introduced some of the most important changes to this area in recent times, including the defence for honest opinion, new internet-specific reforms protecting internet publishers, and attempts to curb an industry of “libel tourism” in the U.K.

Dr Matthew Collins SC introduces the Defamation Act 2013, and discusses the most important reforms and their subsequent implications.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dr Matthew Collins SC is a barrister based in Melbourne, Australia. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, a door tenant at One Brick Court chambers in London, and the author of Collins On Defamation.

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The post The Defamation Act 2013: reflections and reforms appeared first on OUPblog.

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Collins has bought a memoir of an Irish traveller bare-knuckle boxing champion.

Craig Adams, assistant editor for Collins, bought world rights in all languages to Knuckle by James Quinn McDonagh, in an unagented deal. The book will be published in spring 2012.

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Today's post is a duplicate of the one I wrote for Guys Lit Wire. Because hey, why not?

Billy Collins has quite a reputation among U.S. readers of poetry as a somewhat folksy, wry sort of poet. He draws large crowds for his readings. He sells large numbers of his books. And all of it, I submit, is well-merited, since he has the knack, like Robert Frost before him, of speaking his poetic truth - however erudite or deep it happens to be - in such a way that most people can catch at least one meaning of the poem - the surface, at least, whether they choose to look into the depths or not.

Horoscopes for the Dead picks up with some of the same themes Collins's readers are used to seeing. There are some especially funny ones, such as "Hangover", which has nothing to do with the movies of the same name, but which finds a somewhat curmudgeonly (yet still funny) Collins suffering from a severe headache:

Hangover
by Billy Collins

If I were crowned emperor this morning,
every child who is playing Marco Polo
in the swimming pool of this motel,
shouting the name Marco Polo back and forth

Marco   Polo   Marco   Polo

would be required to read a biography
of Marco Polo-a long one with fine print-
as well as a history of China and of Venice,
the birthplace of the venerated explorer

Marco   Polo   Marco   Polo

after which each child would be quizzed
by me then executed by drowning
regardless how much they managed
to retain about the glorious life and times of

Marco   Polo   Marco   Polo

It's kind of crappy audio quality, but you can hear Billy Collins read this poem here if you'd like.

There is another poem criticizing the imprecise use of language so prevalent in today's society - a somewhat popular theme with Billy Collins over the past few collections. (I feel constrained to mention that this poem is attributed to a female speaker, as several such past poems have been as well, and that perhaps a wee bit of sexism is creeping in there since imprecision in language is certainly not a gendered trait. But I digress.) Here, for a laugh, is the start of "What She Said":

What She Said
by Billy Collins

When he told me he expected me to pay for dinner,
I was like give me a break.

I was not the exact equivalent of give me a break.
I was just similar to give me a break.

As I said, I was like give me a break.

I would love to tell you
how I was able to resemble give me a break
without actually being identical to give me a break,

but all I can say is that I sensed
a similarity between me and give me a break.

. . .

You can hear the rest of the poem in this reading, again with apologies for the poor sound quality.

Not all the poems are funny, of course. There is the hauntingly lovely "Genesis", which begins as a poem about the original couple and ends as a poem about a specific modern couple. Or his rumination, "Poem on the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Trinity School," which begins with him saying he's been asked to write such a poem, but cannot do so - only to find him wandering the land back through time, to that time three hundred years ago when the school was founded.

Highly recommended for fans of poetry, or for those of you wishing you like poetry a bit more. You are almost guaranteed to find something to your liking in this collection. I leave you with "The New Globe" - a poem that is, on its surface, about the obtaining of

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This week I decided not to make the interns do my work. Here’s a Linked Up with lots of videos and pictures. (Yippee!)

This is a video of a 3-year-old reciting Billy Collins’ “Litany” from memory and no I’m not kidding. [YouTube]

If bio class made you squeamish… [Make]

Ta-dah: the 10 most followed people on Twitter who aren’t celebrities. [Business Insider]

This is some groundbreaking video work. [Guggenheim]

Wanna see a 150-story hotel built in 2:12 minutes? Of course you do! [Gizmodo]

25 Pictures Of Cats And Dogs Photobombing Each Other [Buzzfeed]

Sigh. City living “can affect the brain’s ability to focus…manage self-control.” [Harvard Med]

A Korean artist is making children’s drawings a reality. [Dumage]

Let’s do the flamingo! [Animal NY]

Cat. Island. [Tofugu]

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2009 has been a year of scrambling to write about even a tiny proportion of the books I’ve been enjoying. I’m home for almost a week now so will try to write about at least a couple of books.

I finally got around to reading Hunger games by Suzanne Collins. I admit, despite piles of rave reviews I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of a book about a reality show about children killing each other. But this aspect didn’t actually throw me as much as I imagined – scarily enough it was quite believable. I can see why this book has been so popular. The book is very face paced; I tore through it in an evening (with occasional squeaks of suspense). The descriptions of the district, city and game were had enough detail to lend the story authenticity but didn't interfere with the central role of the game itself. There were many believable characters in the large cast.

However, I wasn’t completely blown away. One reservation is that I felt the book should have been harder in some way, as though everything just worked out too well all the time. Because I read so fast I’m a bit unsure why I feel like this, but suspect it’s because Katniss’s ethical dilemmas are watered down – she doesn’t really have to face many tough choices. Katniss herself (understandably enough) concentrated on survival, which I think made her difficult to understand – occasionally it felt as though I was being told what she felt and believed rather than it arising naturally from the story. Perhaps this arose due to the difficulty of describing a character who is tough but fundamentally caring.

I’m glad that there is going to be a sequel, and that it sounds like it is going to deal with the wider life outside of the game. I’ll be interested to see how Katniss takes what she has learnt of the world back to her district and what impact this has on her area and the wider world. The narrow focus of Hunger games helped give it intensity but I’m looking forward to seeing what Collins can do with a bigger story. In the meantime this is a great book for children and adults who enjoy action stories or science fiction.

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After something of a dry spell in October, I have reverted to my normal state of maniacal reading.


A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE, by Marlena de Blasi. Adult memoir. Improbable romance: an Italian stranger asks an American woman to marry him, almost on sight, so she up and leaves St. Louis to go live in Venice.


THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS, by Donna Leon. Adult mystery. Guido Brunetti at it again. A little disappointing this one, because the villain comes out of nowhere.


WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED, by Judy Blundell. YA, this year's National Book Award winner! Terrific depiction of setting (Florida post WWII) and wonderful characterization--every person in the story believable. If you like noir films...


THE 39 CLUES, by Rick Riordan. MG action/adventure. Siblings Dan and Amy race other teams in a hunt for clues per their beloved grandmother's will. The Amazing Race/Survivor meet The Westing Game/Benedict Society? Game cards and a website go with the book.


YOUNG CORNROWS CALLING OUT THE MOON, by Ruth Forman, illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc. Picture book. I heard the author read this text at the ALA Poetry Blast in Anaheim and was *blown away* by the vividness of the imagery--vivid but still gentle somehow--and her mesmerizing voice. The illustrations are interesting...'fun' rather than 'lyrical', not what I expected after hearing the text read. But I can't wait to read more by this author!


THE LAST ENEMY, by Grace Brophy. Adult mystery. A new series (yay!) with only two books so far (boo...). Commissario Alessandro Cenni in Assisi and Perugia, investigating the death of an American.




IMPOSSIBLE, by Nancy Werlin. YA. A contemporary fairy tale and faery tale. Lucy tries to break a generations-strong curse. WOW, what a read!


THE HUNGER GAMES, by Suzanne Collins. Upper MG/YA, dystopic. Survivor meets Gladiator? I found this book ingenious and utterly compelling, but at the same time, I was bothered by the violence: People die in this story as easily and thoughtlessly as they do in video games or action movies. Twenty of them, only one of whom is developed to the point where the reader cares about them (bad grammar to avoid spoiler). I did a quick perusal of other reviews and nobody else seems disturbed by this in the same way...so I guess it's one of those 'just me' thangs. Maybe this is the point? that a book can function like a video game, and that readers can respond likewise? I'm a dinosaur--I still have different expectations when I read than when I play video games (which I do, on occasion) or watch movies, but perhaps young readers these days respond differently?


FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES, by Donna Leon. Adult mystery. Guido Brunetti again. Liked this one better than GIRL (above), because at least you get a hint of the villain early on, but s/he still makes an entrance pretty late in the game. It's gotta be tough, plotting mysteries...I know, but I still feel a little cheated when I can't guess along with Brunetti.




TAMAR, by Mal Peet. YA. Parallel stories: the Dutch resistance fighters during WWII, and the granddaughter of one of them forty years later. The war story: passion, intrigue, and betrayal; the granddaughter's story, mystery and first love. Sound good? You betcha. Another WOW.


Favorite reads this month: IMPOSSIBLE and TAMAR.

I ought to write up a report on my visit to Mildred Strang Middle School in Yorktown Heights, which was terrific, and NCTE, fabulous, and Thanksgiving, also fabulous. A few of many highlights: all the sixth-graders I met at Strang; Rene Saldana, Terry Trueman, Margo Rabb, Ruth Forman, Susan Patron, tasting menu at Le Reve, Nancy Werlin, Betsy Partridge, Tanya Stone, Clarion's dinner at Biga on the Banks with professor Alexa Sandman, margaritas at Acenar, the NCTE Notables session; cornbread-sausage-jalapeno stuffing, pecan-chocolate chip pie, great gravy. :-)

Hope you all had a good holiday weekend! And by the way, Happy Birthday to my mom!

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My wonder twin buddy Andy has an article in the inaugural issue of The Code4Lib Journal, a publication that arose out of the Code4Lib conference and community. Andy does a lot of work to digitize and make information about the historic Pullman district in Chicago available online, almost entirely as a labor of love and with no real financial or administrative support. To me, he is an unsung hero of the digital world, and I am proud to call him my friend.

Connecting the Real to the Representational: Historical Demographic Data in the Town of Pullman, 1880-1940

“The Pullman House History Project is a part of the Pullman State Historic Site’s virtual museum and web site (http://www.pullman-museum.org/) which links together census, city directory, and telephone directory information to describe the people who lived in the town of Pullman, Illinois between 1881 and 1940. This demographic data is linked through a database/XML record system to online maps and Perl programs that allow the data to be represented in various useful combinations. This article describes the structure of the database and XML records, as well as the methods and code used to link the parts together and display the data.”

andy, local history, pullman

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