View my original post about Remix here!
Objective:
Become acquainted with copyright as a historic, cultural, and economic paradigm and its value and pertinence to creative works
Explore the changing nature of copyright in the context of “Remix Culture” and the “Fifth World”
Examine your own and others values and paradigms of ownership and authorship of cultural media
Evaluate the meanings of real and fake and examine their intersection with personal and cultural identity and authenticity
Reflection:
After watching the TEDtalk “Laws That Choke Creativity” by Larry Lessig he introduced a new way to think about the creativity of individuals. He discusses the theory of a read write culture and read only culture. This read only culture is one that is owned, vocal cords have been lost, and the creativity is being consumed but the consumers are not the creators. This idea of cultures within creativity was such an interesting one to me. I have never thought about this read write and read only culture before. I have just always assumed that there have always been those individuals who manage to have their creativity seen by others in some form. Larry discusses the way to revive the read write culture is to allow user generated content, allow for the celebrating of amateur culture, individuals expressing themselves for the love out of it and not for the money. The way in which Larry finished his talk hit me the most. He expresses that the children of the audience are different from how they were when they were children. The reasoning for this difference is because of technology. “Technology has made us different.” (Larry) After he said that it made me think and he is right. If you look at different generations and how technology has helped in them evolving the difference can probably be seen. It just makes me wonder, what if the individuals who created the many forms of technology were not allowed to do so because of Larry’s whole theory of the laws that choke creativity, how would different generations look like.
The topic idea of copyright and the laws that are enforced to ensure that copyright does not occur goes hand in hand with the evolution of technology. Looking back at the TEDTalk by Larry the most interesting aspect of his talk was when he mentioned the two different cultures, read write and read only culture. He expressed the notion that with the rise of copyright laws it had turned individuals to be a part of what he claims to be the read only culture. This concept of different cultures was so brand new to me. I knew about the concept of copyright but not that it was leading to diminish the creativity of individuals. “RO culture speaks of professionalism. RW culture touches social life differently. It gives the audience something more. Or better, it asks something more of the audience. It is offered as a draft. It invites a response.” (Lessig 85) Both RO and RW cultures are both essential for are culture. But, it is the way in which we find the balance between the two cultures that is needed in order to not take away from individual expression.
Future:
In the future I hope to be a part of the read write culture. I feel that sometimes it’s so easy to be consumed in the read only culture because we are so consumed in what we have to do next on a daily basis. Sometimes it is very hard to pause what you are doing to take time to express one in whatever outlet we use. In today’s society we think about the ways to be successful and not about the things that brings us happiness.
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