My latest InfoWeek column is online — it’s a column that asks the question, “Is it possible to have a democratic online game?”

Can you be a citizen of a virtual world? That’s the question that I keep asking myself, whenever anyone tells me about the wonder of multiplayer online games, especially Second Life, the virtual world that is more creative playground than game.

These worlds invite us to take up residence in them, to invest time (and sometimes money) in them. Second Life encourages you to make stuff using their scripting engine and sell it in the game. You Own Your Own Mods — it’s the rallying cry of the new generation of virtual worlds, an updated version of the old BBS adage from the WELL: You Own Your Own Words.

I spend a lot of time in Disney parks. I even own a share of Disney stock. But I don’t flatter myself that I’m a citizen of Disney World. I know that when I go to Orlando, the Mouse is going to fingerprint me and search my bags, because the Fourth Amendment isn’t a “Disney value.”

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The Locus Magazine poll for the best science fiction of 2006 is closing soon — the poll is open to everyone, and invites you to select your favorite works published last year for receipt of the prestigious Locus Award (I’ve won it twice: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom won Best First Novel in 2004, and I, Robot won best Novelette in 2005).

I’m especially excited about the Best Novelette category, where I’m eligible twice: first for my story When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, about the geeks who babysit the Internet after the apocalypse; and I, Row-Boat about robots who find religion in Asimovism after the humans all leave the planet. Both stories have been picked up for several reprints, including some of the Year’s Best anthologies, and I’ve got Locus Award hopes there, too! If I had to pick one (and I do) I’d pick Sysadmins. I think it’s got a little more heart.

2006 was an incredible year for sf. In the best novel category, we have two books by Charlie Stross; Karl Schroeder’s magnificent post-singularity pirates-in-a-Dyson-bag adventure Sun of Suns, and Vinge’s groundbreaking Rainbows End — along with Rudy Rucker’s sweet, smart Mathematicians in Love. Oh, and Jo Walton’s haunting, blistering Farthing and Peter Watt’s dark and savage Blindsight, his best book to date.

The Young Adult category has three Scott Westerfield novels — and Larbalestier’s wicked Magic Lessons.

I’m also going to have a hard time choosing my pick for the Best First Novel — for me, it’s a toss up between Klages’s Green Glass Sea and Buckell’s Crystal Rain.

In Novellas, I’m torn between Bradley Denton’s “Blackburn and the Blade,” Greg Egan’s “Riding the Crocodile,” and Bill Shunn’s Nebula-nominated Inclination.

In Best Short Story, there’s Gaiman’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties and Rosenbaum’s The House Beyond Your Sky, neck and neck for my vote.

I won’t go into the other categories — but my oh my, what a fine body of work we all managed to field in 2006. A vintage year.

I’m giving four talks in San Diego next week (three versions of a copyright talk, one talk about writing) through my Fulbright and the North County Higher Education Alliance. All the talks are free and open to the public:

Thursday – April 19, 2007

2:30-4:30pm – Cal State San Marcos

Clarke Field House (Copyright talk)

Friday – April 20, 2007

9-11am – Palomar College/Room P-32(Copyright talk)

1-3pm – MiraCosta College/Room 3601(Copyright talk)

Writing talk: Friday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 204 of the San Elijo Campus, 3333 Manchester Ave., Cardiff.

Link to copyright talks, Link to writing talk

The Chronicle of Higher Education just published a profile of me and my USC undergrad course, Pwned. It’s a great piece! My pal Siva Vaidhyanathan has liberated it from the Chronicle’s paywall and posted it on his blog.

Update: Here’s a de-paywalled version on the Chronicle’s site — thanks, Henry!

Mr. Doctorow has little taste for what he calls the “maximalist” view of intellectual property — the notion that copyright is something to be enforced strictly rather than something that should strive to be as invisible and as flexible as possible — and the subtitle of his course is meant as a bit of a provocation. “Is everyone on campus a copyright criminal?” the syllabus asks, alluding to the overwhelming majority of college students who have swapped music, movies, and software on peer-to-peer networks. If the answer is yes, he suggests, then something has clearly gone wrong.

With his new course, Mr. Doctorow has joined the growing ranks of scholars preaching that copyright law needs a makeover. Professors like Lawrence Lessig, of Stanford University; Siva Vaidhyanathan, of New York University; and Edward W. Felten, of Princeton University, have taught courses that sought to poke holes in traditional views of copyright. But while those professors made their names in large part through academic books and research projects, Mr. Doctorow has taken a decidedly different route. He doesn’t hold a college degree, and he earned his reputation not through scholarly work but through a blog.

Next Thursday, March 29 at 6:30, I’ll be doing a drop-in signing and meet-and-greet at the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego. They’ve got a stack of copies of Overclocked (my new short story collection) in stock. I hope to see you there!

When: Thursday, March 29: 6:30-7PM
Where: Mysterious Galaxy Books, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite #302, San Diego, CA 92111, 858.268.4747

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