I Copy to Create and Create to Copy?

It's true. We all do it. Our world is just a remix of everything else in the world. Why do I say this? Well, my eyes have been opened to the controversial topic of "intellectual property and content control" - and if you haven't already heard - it's a DOOOZY!

In short, when copyright didn't exist, people could take anyone else's material and do anything they wanted (pass it off as their own, modify it, use it, or even better - build on it to make it better). That's where we found the most advancements in technology as people were free to build to make the world better. Then, they realised - with everyone stealing everyone's ideas and taking credit - why would people create? So the patent was create

As Boldrin says it was "a way of rewarding somebody for coming up with a worthy idea" - the US Constitution says it "promotes the progress of science by securing ... exclusive right to their discoveries."

Well that's all well and good - very logical. But now - everything is patented and now nobody can create anything without getting down to some hefty legal matters! As Boldrin states: "intellectual property law needs to strike a balance between providing sufficient incentive for creation and the freedom to make use of existing ideas."

So that got me thinking. Our world operates off building off each other's ideas - it's what inspires us. One single person will never have all the answers - but collectively - we just might. As Lessig notes, scientists build upon the work of other scientists - it was a necessity! One may have spent a lifetime discovering one theory... so someone else would have to take over. "Creators here and everywhere are always building upon the creativity that went before and that surrounds them."

And I think that is the way it should be.

Here, I would like to throw in a word that we often use in design: "referencing." Every designer and artist creates, inspired by other works and often "referencing" other works (even if it is subconsciously without knowing). It's just how it works. Nothing is original anymore - we take aspects of ideas and build off it. The first step in the creative process (drilled into us from our design course) is to RESEARCH and find REFERENCES and INSPIRATION. So just like science, art and design NEEDS existing ideas to function. In fact, we have even been taught to "reference" our inspirations as not only a sign of respect but also to give credibility to the work.

In terms of how a balance can be met with the crazy world of copyrighting today in music and more importantly it seems - technology - I'm really at a loss of words. All I can say is that, when it comes to art - I think referencing is fine - great, needed and beneficial - but just plain stealing someone's work without crediting them is just wrong. People need to use common sense and show some respect.

Cover bands and Appropriations of Art is referencing and I love it! It's not stealing someone's work, it's building a whole new meaning around that work.

Examples:

- Mona Lisa and Starry Night appropriated together (as seen at the top)

- Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz covered by Me First and the Gimmes Gimmes

If you are interested in reading further about how the world has become a remix: this guy, Kirby Ferguson is amazing and his videos rock! Everything is a Remix.

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

All Work and No Play makes workers...something something

As we continue on through the fast-paced course that is DIGC202 - I realise that essentially, we are being shown a small piece of the puzzle each week about the new media industry that is THE INTERNET and Global Networks. Each week, we discuss the benefits this medium has given us, as well as debate the ethical issues which arise which contradict our society and cultural conventions as we know it.

This week, we looked at the idea of how being constantly connected can have quite the impact on our work lives. M Gregg writes a really comprehensive and thought provoking article about this very topic - using the term "function creep" - where the workplace is now flexible, thanks to the internet, so we find ourselves sometimes called to work outside of work hours, away from the workplace. It's a great article and I definitely recommend you give it a peruse. Essentially - it looks like the boundaries that existed in the past in regards to work and leisure have become blurred. Work being something you do, rather than a place that you go - and with our handy little smartphones in our pockets, we can take our workplace with us wherever we go! Bradwell puts it simply: Time outside of work has become a precious commodity. Elise and Matt both shed some great ideas about this work/leisure clash and the effects if you wanted to read further into the topic.

It's becoming obvious to me that we are indeed living what Deuze calls a "liquid life" - “a precarious life, lived under conditions of constant uncertainty.” New information, products, and ideas are being produced every second of every day which can be sent to us at anytime on our phones, emails and laptops without our control. Honestly, sometimes it can be hard to keep up. Technology has allowed us to live our lives at such a fast pace compared to the past (where instantaneous communication was not possible) that it seems to make sense to me that the things we do in life such as work and leisure will become, consequently, fast-paced too.

So it seems that the great convenience of instantaneous communication and networked societies has a price. As Deuze quotes: "each year we have to work harder in our free time to consume all those things that we have been working harder to produce in our work time". We are addicted. We WANT to be connected. As much as we say we don't want a world where work can reach us in the privacy of our homes - if we know there is a message about work ready and waiting on our phones - let's face it, we will want to know what it says. If you really don't want to have your privacy and leisure time interrupted, then it's your choice to turn off communication and switch off - most will choose not to though.

Bradwell estimates that people spend an average of twelve hours a day using media. "Media has become such an integrated part of our lives that most of the time we are not even aware we are using media." It's just a part of life - and it is a picture of the fast-paced life that we now lead. There's no turning back and we will evolve to be able to handle it. I think most of us are handling it OK......

I feel pre-tty bad for work-a-holics though...

A Brave New World

The idea that struck a chord with me during the lecture this week was the notion that with the advent of the internet, we are able to live a whole portion of our lives separate from our bodies. What I mean is, that we are able to separate the "information" (our mind) from its "physical carrier" (our body) and travel virtually anywhere we want, do, learn and see things whilst keeping out butts planted firmly in our chair.

That is nothing new to anyone, it's pretty obvious I know. The reason I mention it is because so many of us in the world are spending a lot of our time with our minds online; in a sort of alternate world - "Cyberspace" I guess you would call it - interacting with each other virtually but not physically, living our lives virtually, but not physically.

Kevin Kelly calls it "the new economy." John Barlow calls it "the new home of the Mind."With this new world, comes new rules, a new language, a new culture and a whole new way of thinking in terms of politics.

And what an amazing world it is! Judging from the idealist world described in the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, there is complete equality (as all nodes in the network are equal, regardless of race and gender), true freedom of speech, ("anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity"), and autonomy ("we declare our virtual selves immune to your [Governments of the Industrial World] sovereignty even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies").

This world is instead built off the logic of networks. Kelly explains that we "clothe the globe with a network society," connecting everything to everything - making a world that Barlow believes to be "more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before."

So wow - a world completely free from any authority and control? My first thought is - wouldn't that cause complete havoc and chaos? Well, I guess so in a way and in a way not. We see cases of internet bullying, cyberstalking, unethical behaviour (see: gate-crashing of virtual funerals on WOW for example) and networking to cause crazy riots. But on the other side: we see unified communities with free open source software, forums with people helping others, people tagging each other in facebook photos to relive memories and overall sharing of information for education and entertainment.

Just like our real physical world, the virtual world can be a world of good and bad - and to an extent, it is a world that the user them self can influence to be what they want. Hopefully, we will continue to build towards the utopian vision of this "new world" of ideas, information and relationships.

Thought Vomit about Social Networking and Sharing

Why do people feel the need to share Everything? From sharing their status updates, to updating their location on Foursquare, to sharing photos 2 minutes after the event finishes - our world is steadily becoming one where privacy is just a myth.

Of course, a lot of this is personally driven. If you yourself, don't want to share - you don't have to. However, if you look at the trends of social networking, it's becoming harder and harder not to be a part of it. Some will be stubborn but it doesn't stop other people from talking about them, posting photos of them and updating location updates saying they are at this location with them. Either way, you can't completely control your privacy anymore.

While some say that social networking alienates people, most would argue it brings them closer as they can keep up to date with what everyone is doing and instantly communicate to each other. Only thing is, it is done virtually rather than in person.

Another thought about information being completely virtual is that it is hugely easier to track. it is a scary thought to think that every tidbit of information that is posted onto the internet inclusive of passwords and personal details, every photo or attachment that is emailed, every video that is uploaded - is most likely going to be kept forever (and accessible if you know how).

That leads to the topic of Surveillance. We are living in a Surveillance Society - I definitely believe that. It is going to be the topic of my major project so you will probably be hearing more about it so I won't go into it in this blog. I just thought I'd share some thoughts - inspired by watching a video on TED about our world's need to share. Why not check it out?

GOTTA SHARE by Gel

The Puzzle that is Art and Regulation

It's only Week 2 and already there are blogs and tweets buzzing around like crazy with ideas, opinions and debatable issues being raised. Of the ones I've read, it has been passionate discussion about the ethics surrounding the gaming industry. If you feel like reading some more into this, Kyle, Tegan and Samuel all voiced some interesting opinions and the comments that ensued are equally as interesting. It really is a topic which I think could be debated about long into the night... and yet amazingly - that idea is but one tiny fragment of the entirety of debatable issues when it comes to global communication networks!

Lessig's article "Four Puzzles From Cyberspace" touches upon four more themes, each one presenting "a window into one aspect of cyberspace." Contrary to the apparent opinion of the class yesterday, I actually did enjoy reading this. In particular, the two things that struck a chord with me were surrounding the topic of Regulation and the contradictory nature behind the virtual and physical persona.

Let me explain. Lessig discusses the idea of regulation through the example of the state of "Boral" where gambling has been made illegal. With the advent of the internet comes problems with regulating this law as while the governor has the power to "move the server out of her state" she has not "succeeded in reducing Boralian gambling." Why? The internet makes it hard to regulate who is responsible, and even though the server is no longer in the state - it can still be accessed. Space is no longer able to be regulated.

This made me think about sites such as Pirate Bay, which are able to exist by taking advantages of this "loophole." It really is an amazing concept and I don't think anyone is really complaining because, well, it gets people the music, the movie, the program that they want and need. Well, actually no - there are probably quite a few people complaining what with copyright issues and the inability for the artist or producer of the material to even know who has accessed his or her work.

Being a graphic designer and musician (albeit not a great one), I can in a way empathise with this problem. It takes a lot of hard work and time to make the work and it really would be good to know just how popular it is and who your audience is. Back in the day, it was easy to know who watched a television show because you could look at tv ratings. Now? Thanks to the internet, people could still be watching it on tv but they could also be watching it at home on their computers, or on Youtube or a million other sources. Before, one could tell how popular a song was by the sales of the CD and the attendants at a concert. Now? Well, let's see, we have avenues such as Youtube to see a concert, file sharing sites such as Piratebay, online players such as Grooveshark, the list goes on.

I am in no way condemning all of this at all. I am a rather poor Uni student and I won't say I have never used any of those avenues myself. I just wish there was a way for all of this to be regulated in an easy way so the statistics of "media audiences" can be given accurately to those who would appreciate it; it is their work after all. Sites like last.FM which track what people are listening to (with their permission of course) is probably a good start and the way of the future.

All gee, this has gotten a little longer than I expected. I suppose I will keep my rant and rave about the contradictory online persona for another day. Thanks for reading!