Saturday, April 16, 2011

Blog #12

This week's reading from Lawrence Lessig's Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy has several connections to the video we recently watched in class, RIP: A Remix Manifesto. But I'll describe three..

In the section titled Strong Incentives Will Increasingly Drive Commercial Entities to Hybrids, Lessig discusses the importance of innovation and how it is an incentive that "will increasing drive commercial entities to hybrids" (228). He talks about Richard Trevithick's development of a new type of high-pressure engine in 1812 and how "instead of patenting his invention, he made his design available to all for use without charge," encouraging others to build upon it (Lessig 229). In the video, Girl Talk's Greg Gillis says its "beneficial to share ideas" and that it is this sharing of ideas that leads to innovation. Both Gillis and Lessig agree that sharing ideas leads to innovation and that sharing and building upon are essential in any hybrid entity. 

Throughout the video, corporations are discussed and said to be taking over our culture (RIP). Lessig would agree and in the section titled "Sharecropping" Is Not Likely to Become a Term of Praise, he discusses how large corporations are in fact taking over our culture. In this section Lessig describes the ongoing battle between Star Wars fans and Lucasfilm, the production company that owns the Star Wars franchise. According to Lessig, "Lucasfilm offered free Web space to anyone wanting to set up a fan home page," but if fans were to "create any derivative works based on or derived from the Star Wars Properties, such derivative works shall be deemed and shall remain property of Lucasfilm Ltd. in perpetuity" (245). That last quote was actually taken from the Lucasfilm contract, so in fact, corporations are taking over our culture. In this instance, they are most definitely encouraging a more RO culture than RW.

In the video, Creative Commons is discussed throughout. Lessig also talks a great deal about Creative Commons and how it is used to signal which kind of economy a creator is creating for (226). In this section Tools Help Signal Which Economy a Creator Creates For, Lessig highlights both the RIAA (for artists who want their art distributed according to the rules of a commercial market only) and Creative Commons (for artists who want to share their work more freely) and says that they both serve as indicators of what type of economy the artist is creating for. (226) In the video, Girl Talk and other artists are big supporters of Creative Commons and  are obviously more interested in a sharing or hybrid economy, rather than a purely commercial one.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Blog #11

Both commercial and sharing economies are built upon exchange, but it is the type of exchange that differentiates them (Lessig 146). A commercial economy's focus is on the monetary value, while a sharing economy's focus is on the building of connections with people. Lessig says that "gifts in particular, and the sharing economy in general...are the glue of community, essential to certain types of relationships" (143). In a commercial economy, their is no value placed on these relationships and exchanges take place because they have to, people need goods and they use money to get them. According to Lessig, "in a sharing economy, people are in it because they like doing so, or because they like doing such things" (176). "Price is a central term of the ordinary, or normal exchange" in a commercial economy, but in a sharing economy "the single term that isn't appropriate is money" (Lessig 118). To sum it up, "commercial economies build value with money at their core. Sharing economies build value, ignoring money" (177).

The dynamics in these two types of economies are different but I think Lessig makes the the distinction between them to illustrate the importance of both them in our society. One cannot exist without the other, and that's where hybrid economies come in. They both serve different functions and the incorporation of the two will ultimately result in a hybrid economy, according to Lessig.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Blog #10

JibJab's Time for Some Campaignin' is one of my favorite remixes. It samples Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' which was originally released January 13, 1964.

Lessig says that "there are two goods that remix creates, at least for us, or for our kids, at least now. One is the good of the community. The other is education" (78-79).  This remix illustrates Lessig's claim that remix can have a significance in education. I think that this video, while humorous, also generates an interest in politics. Although it is a satire, I still think it is worth mentioning because it gives viewers a glimpse of the politics of today. Lessig talks more about "interest-based learning" but I think it is important to note that remixes that others create can also serve as educational tools.

This remix illustrates Lessig's point that "remix is an essential act of RW creativity" (56). He says that "it is the expression of freedom to take "songs of the day or the old songs" and create with them" (Lessig 56). This remix is a perfect example of taking an old song and creating with it.

Lessig talks a lot about collage in this section and I think this remix illustrates his point about the abundance of digital objects available for use. Lessig says that with digital artifacts the opportunity for wide-scale collage is very different (70) and you can do a lot more today than you could 10 years ago. Images and sounds are being taken from culture and being used to create (71). The makers of this video, or artists rather, have taken images and sounds from our current culture and remixed them in a unique way to create a video that is not only funny and entertaining, but also slightly educational.