The following video is a mashup created for a final presentation. It is based on Lawrence Lessig's quote below.


"After the commercial life of creative property has ended, our tradition has always supported a second life as well.  A newspaper delivers the news every day to the doorsteps of America.  The very next day, it is used to wrap fish or fill boxes with fragile gifts or to build an archive of knowledge about our history.  In this second life, the content can continue to inform even if that information is no longer sold.

Meta-Mashup

Walt Disney: The Original Pirate
Macy's 1st Thanksgiving Parade

As much as I enjoyed Lessig's "Free Culture," many of the topics he discussed seemed downright archaic, especially his perception of file sharing.

For my group's final project, I'd love to do a video mashup from various chapters across the book that relate to the millenial issue of file sharing and how these have been resolved and/or affected by torrenting. Essentially, a mashup about Lessig's ideas regarding fair use and mashups. Relevant passages include:

"If 99.4 percent is not good enough, then this is a war on file-sharing technologies, not copyright infringement." (74)

"But how, and to what extent, and in what form--the details, in other words--matter? To get a good sense of how turning the intangible into property emerged, we need to place this 'property' in its proper context." (84)

"Much of 'sampling' should be considered 'fair use.'" (107)

MASHED

A few good song mashups for y'all: the first is a Beyonce-Fleet Foxes combination (via the Hood Internet); the second mixes Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend. Also, new Girl Talk is real good.

Twitter: The Change Engine (2.0)

Wow! Definitely have a whole new level of respect for people who use iMovie on a daily basis.

Twitter: The Change Engine

Twitter, a social networking application based on the concept of microblogging, has grown rapidly since its 2006 inception, and now claims over 100 million users. In direct opposition to bloated social networking applications that overwhelm their users with functionality, Twitter users log on for a single reason: to post an update (often called a tweet) and to read other’s updates. Furthermore, a strict 140-character restriction imposes brevity of updates and can serve as a vehicle for creativity. When faced with such a low limit, users are forced to concisely state whatever information they would like to get across. This, in turn, makes it easier for others to read others’ tweets without losing attention. This streamlined functionality has been lauded by critics who appreciate the ability to use the application as much or as little as possible.

One of the most interesting features of Twitter is its implementation of “Trending Topics,” which is a real-time Top Ten list the site posts organizing the phrases most often contained in user tweets. The user can customize the list to be specific to a certain geographic region or allow the topics to be ranked worldwide. In this way, he or she has access to what are-in theory-the most interesting conversational topics in the world. The usage of trending topics to unite people from drastically different geographic regions by shared interest perfectly validates the idea of cultural citizenship.

Alternate Reality Games: Ultimate Convergence

Our reading assignment concerning Henry Jenkins' description of convergence culture, "... where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways," reminded me of a 2007 Wired article discussing Alternate Reality Games.

ARGs, according to Wikipedia, create an interface between the real and virtual worlds, often involving "multiple media and game elements," unraveling a story that "may be affected by participants' ideas or actions." They are usually created for promotional purposes-the Wired article discusses a campaign created by the Nine Inch Nails-in the hopes that the higher degree of interaction will yield a greater deal of buzz surrounding the product being advertised.

Recent games have embedded hints on web sites such as Twitter and YouTube; additionally, clues can often be found in physical locations that have some relevance to the game. In effect, the scope of the game is world-wide, allowing people from all over to become players. By using a variety of medium to more effectively engage the consumer, it is evident that advertising companies are savvy to Jenkins' vision of convergence culture.

The Internet: A Girl's World

A revised copy of my essay(originally posted below) can be viewed here!