Computerworld just published a short (and friendly, despite the “hot seat” title) interview with MIT professor and CC board member Hal Abelson. Much of the interview concerns Creative Commons and MIT OpenCourseWare, but is worth reading for some perspective even if you already know everything there is to know about CC and OCW. My favorite bit:

[I]n traditional CS departments, people think about human-computer interaction as one person interacting with a machine. But what’s it like when you think about whole societies interacting [with machines]? That’s also human-computer inter­action.

In this case the box to be thought outside of is both literal and figurative. For better and for worse copyright is one factor that shapes individual and societal interaction with machines. Is CC an improvement over “all rights reserved” copyright in terms of HCI? Think about that…