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.

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.