Remix PowerPoint Explaination

Slide One:

Nothing is new, everything is old elements used to create new ideas.

(picture of a wheel to a carriage to a car)

Slide two:  A remix is simply something that takes an idea or concept and augments or changes such an idea for better or worse.

Slide three:  However, a modern definition of Remix culture simply goes beyond changing old ideas.

In todays world, creation and publication have never been easier.  (youtube, blogger, etc.)

We’ll use an example to explain:  The example of the Hope Obama poster (I’ll explain this)

Slide Four:

Where copyright was once mainly exercised on corporations, meant as a means to protect rather than imped individual creativity, today the amateur creator finds themselves under attack.

Slide Five:

Remix Culture realizes that society can either go two ways, a “read/only” society where things are created by a few elite then simply viewed by the public with no more effort than admiration.  OR

A “read/write” culture where people are encouraged to add on to ideas and develop their own branches based on an idea.  This perspective is remix culture.

Slide Six:

So why not Creativity?

Copyright infringements

Misdirection

Graphic Material

A complete strain on the economic system

Slide Seven:

So, can remix actually serve a good purpose?

(explain the basis of our idea and show our prototype)

 

                                                    

 

As Author Jack Foster explained, every original idea has already been thought up.  Now we simply combine or augment elements of ideas.  This, of course, makes explaining a simple definition of remix culture almost impossible.  The wagon was a reinvention of the wheel, the car a reinvention of the wagon.  Cultural in general has fundamentally survived on remix values.  So why the hell are we wasting so much time and effort on explaining a remix culture everyone already lives in.  Ah, now there is the catch.  In essence, remix culture is not defined by what it is, but by its limitations.  In other words, remix culture is largely defined as a piece of work that uses other elements to present a fresh take or new perspective on something in a manner that is generally considered breaking copyright.  Lawrence Lessig wrote the book on modern remix (I mean, he literally wrote the book called Remix).  He explained that cultures are divided in two categories “Read/Only” or “Read/Write.”  In other words, cultures that encourage people to simply look at things others have created like a museum, or ones that encourage them to view and then create things themselves.  His argument is that the internet has brought our society into a “Read/Write” culture on an amateur level, meaning that copyright laws that once were only practiced on corporations are now being exercised on individuals.

            After once again diving into the actual text of Frankenstein, the connections between the two elements have become even clearer.  The true difference between  Frankenstein the literature and Frankenstein the movie is the actual purpose of the works.  In cinematic form, the movie was meant as little more than a horror movie to help guys get girls to cuddle with them.  The actual novel is significantly less focused on the horror aspects as focusing on the relationship of the creature with humanity.  While originally it was meant to represent an analogue between Mary Shelley’s world and literature (the rights of women, the French Revolution, etc.), such an analogue can still be used today.  “Remix Culture” as defined by Lessig is a creation brought into this world where it finds humanity hostile to it.  In certain light it appears destructive and illegal.  But in essence it has the potential to inspire and create, to push society on an individual level past a “Read/Only” culture.





Prototype For Frankenstein Flash

 

This is the first preview of the conceptualized rough art form for the Frankenstien Flash.  This particular scene depicts dr. Frankenstein (which is portrayed in a modern version as Steve Jobs).  Users can click different headstones they think make up the digital-culture monster.

Why Gideon told me We're all going to Fail this Class

What?  We’re going to what?  I know my heart just dropped.  Failing means no education.  No education means living like a homeless person with only a mangy rat-dog to keep me company.

Well relax, the title of this blog was complete bull.  Before you troll out my comment box or attempt to rip my guts through the noise, just think one second about this though.  You were attracted to this blog because of its misleading title.  According to the only “How to make a Viral Video” that actually went viral, one of the key steps is to use misleading, grabbing titles (see http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos).  Yet Gideon during our digit-cult rendezvous specifically suggested using titles that more specifically addressed the content of my articles.

So which is better?  On one side, crying wolf over and over with attention-hungry titles stabs my credibility in the heart.  On the other hand, I get a larger audience then if I’d simply labels this “Academic Ponders of Titles vs. Attention.”  Ok.  Thanks for hearing me out.  Now you can send me your hate comments.

Midterm Evaluation

I read and reviewed my non-fiction literary work, Niche Envy.  Despite the book’s forlorn sense of hope and overly paranoid tones, I truly enjoyed it.  It directly applied to my life and current studies in advertising.  My fictional literary work, Jurassic Park, has also aided in my understanding of digital culture.  Particularly, it has been highly interesting to see how scientists ran into problems with creating dinosaurs they could have never imagined, just as no one could ever imagine the consequences of the internet (the long tail, trolling, Pedibear, etc.).

            The self-directed learning process of this class has been a love-hate relationship.  The unstructured shape it takes has constantly frustrated me.  I feel like I’m in a constant state of panic because there’s always some project, book, or assignment  looming in the corners and the moment I finally get the hang of it, something new comes up.  But at the end of the day, I look at all the new things I’ve learned and realize I am making progress.

            The social proof other students have provided in blogs, class, and our main project has been highly valuable to understanding how digital culture works with a community.  It’s been interesting to see how our project group functions since each person has very different ideas and styles.  Since many English classes only require individual work, our group does not have set roles I’m use to in my advertising classes.

How the Long Tail Kills the Whole Rat

Most of you don’t remember the Berlin Wall.  Chia Pets.  The real power rangers with colored uniforms based on their race.  The great 90’s, with Boy Bands and reality shows that still hired writers.  And an internet dominated by big businesses.  A time period when the coolest websites could only be found by the fortune 500 companies.  Heck, they were the only ones that could afford to hire the millions of code monkeys it took to make a website back then.

            But with the emergence of the new tech that’s made individual web creation possible, the long tail has done more than emerge, it’s begun to eat the entire rat.  New polls show that big businesses website are undergoing a major downturn in their online views.  It’s probably a mixture of distrust for the corporate man and a complete lack of user interaction.  Think about it.  If you want to find out about a new soft drink, you’re not going to go to the company’s website to be fed a load of propaganda and one sided viewpoints.  You’re going to go to Youtube and see what other people say about it, get it from a real person.

            The big question is what will happen.  Are big businesses looking at their own digital extinction  or will they grow thumbs and learn to adapt.   My horoscope sees a lot of corporations going the way of the Dodo bird as the rest struggle to grow legs and learn to walk.

Die Sackboy!

Listening to Gideon rave about the LBP group each week makes me want to stick my tongue in an electric wall socket.  What makes me want to dowse myself in gasoline beforehand is that I’m actually starting to agree with him.

Video games.  The most effective form of birth control.  Makes you think of fat kids, sitting on couches, staring blankly as their brains ooze out of their skulls.  I imagine grandma yelling at us as we plugged in the old 64, warning us we’d waste our lives and end up marrying to plumbers.  Never did I imagine video games could change the world for the better.

Then I met Andrew Bagley, a specialist in advertising gamification.  Through a slow and painful process, as Sméagol battled with his own possession, I battled with the idea that video games could make a difference.  But after seeing how scientists used games to solve a decade long problem for aids-breakthrough is a couple weeks, and listening to queen of video games herself on TED talks; I’ve finally begun to see the light.

I’m not saying I think video games have an sort of academic credibility… yet.  I still come home to see my roommates veggied out on the couch with cheeto stains on their faces as Halo grenades fly across the screen.  What I’m saying is that I think if groups like the LBP gang continue to do what they’re doing, then video games can serve a greater purpose then brain oozing.

Remix Wiki

This post was on my blog last week but mysteriously dissappeared.  Hmmm... Open source-hating hackers?


The acutal Wiki will be linked to our homepage, but here's the open source wiki:

Explanation of what is Public Domain:

Everything online is not considered public domain. Simply going to google.images and grabbing a photo offline does not mean you can use it. In fact, since everything online is considered publish, its essencely the same as making a copy of "Where the Red Fern Grows" and saying you wrote it yourself.

Only a very small portion of things online can be used without payment and permission, things that have been specifically stated by the creator as being public domain.

List of Public Domain sites:

openclipart.com -- For art and clip art

freesound.org -- For b-roll music tracks and sound effects

any of the clipart that comes with Microsoft office -- For photos and clip art

Frankenwienie Proposal (revised)

Here's the doc we can all add into:


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WqdipqVZ9NIfglWQE4lYNLsnHkUjE4JadHOMpLSyhIM/edit

CCC Evaluation

 

FDR would be proud to know the CCC was still at large.  The project idea is clever and excitable.  It's guidelines and structure seem as stable as my children-hating third grade teacher.  I'll elaborate.

 

First of all, this is something that people want to get involved in.  It’s not a group report on watching paint dry, it’s a story—something that people can get passionate about.  That’s probably the strongest point of the project.

Here’s your biggest problem.  Your goal is…  well, I’ll say “lacking” because I don’t want to get beat up after class.  Sell one copy of your book on amazon?  A total grand profit of less than a dollar and all you’ve proved is that writers live and die poor.  Is money what you’re really trying to prove?  How about the God-give greatness of working together?  That’s something your project could prove, something that could matter.  Believe it or not, a lot of people think crowd sources is killing what makes individualism.  You’re project could be aimed at proving an individual can still keep his/her identity even when working in a group and still accomplish more than just working alone.  And trust me, crowd sources can be a great thing.  Scientist worked for a decade to figure out a certain strand for an aids breakthrough with no luck.  By taking the problem and turning it into a game then crowd sourcing it to gamers, the problem was solved in 10 days.  Here’s the actual article, you can use it for one of your literary reviews:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20108365-247/foldit-game-leads-to-aids-research-breakthrough/

In other words, crowd sourcing can lead to amazing things without destroying individualism (or can it?).  I’d suggest you either take that as a main goal, or find something that really makes a stand more than scoring that whopping one dollar bill.

Otherwise, great stuff!



Proposal Remix Project

 

1. Project Title Monster Mash-Up
2. Description Without remixed projects of literary classics, our digital society, that is growing away from the time old tradition of reading, faces the chance of losing the value and worth of literary classics in our new culture of computer based interactions and technology. However, by the creation and lasting impression of remixed literary classics, the second life and existence of masterpieces in these new remixes will bring further importance and renewed interest to the great works of our* time and society.
3. Project Members Tara Pina (I don’t know how to make that accent), Mikhaela Tait, Gwendolyn Hammer, Curtis Jenkins, Jalena Reschke
4. Social Proof
1. Evidence of informal social proof (from classmates, peers)
1. Tara Pina:
   Damn right I worship terminator.....and would die without the machines...... but jokes aside in all reality, I just don't see the reasoning or necessity because 1) I feel at balance with technology - i am the master not the slave! and 2) I don't need to make myself a guinea pig to find out something that is known just like I don't need to smoke meth for that experience .... ;)
   Greg Williams:
   Great idea +Curtis Jenkins , I will need to check my calendar closely so that I don't miss any specific homework that requires me to use media! Being a media arts major that may be difficult. Have you seen what this fellow from "The Verge" has been doing? Pretty interesting when it comes to media fasting like a boss
   Gwendolyn Hammer:
   I'd participate. If I planned ahead far enough.
2. Evidence of outside social proof (from enthusiasts, experts)
4. Annotated list of potential sources of further social proof
1. Social Proof from enthusiasts- I think this guys counts as an enthusiast, though I’m not all that crazy about starting a conversation with him (based on his language in the video) http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/10/tm-e13/
2. Another option is just providing proof of how much machinima is out there already reenacting novels, such as this and this. I know Lord of the Rings isn’t a cannonized classic, but it proves that there is an audience, at least for popular books into Machinima
1. Professor Kelly and Professor Doug McKinley (Professors of Media Effects)-- very interested in current trends that affect the way the population views media and literature.
2. Professor Callahan (Professor of Communications)-- highly interested in how media changes and the theories involved.
5. Literature Review
1. Links to blog posts exploring the topic from group members
1. http://xxicenturygirl.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast-i-cant-im-connected.html
   http://socialmediacrityandme.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast.html
   http://dyckellis326.blogspot.com/2012/09/reflections-on-media-fast-we-are-so.html
   http://ricksrebecca326.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-media-fast-sunday.html
   http://digitalcommunicationplease.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fast-media-snacking-at-least-it.html
   http://craftonallie326.blogspot.com/2012/09/media-fastunavoidable-failure.html
2. At least three books that establish the relevance and importance of the topic. These can be trade book nonfiction titles or scholarly studies.
1. Frankenstien-- Mary Shelley
2. Niche Envy- by Joseph Turow
3. Fictional Realities- by J.J.A. Mooij
4. Theories of Human Communication- Stephen Littlejohn and Karen Foss
6. Literary Component
1. How might literary works provide content or insight for the project (draw from group members' literary works studied)
1. Understanding just how remix culture operates as well as how communications and media have been affected over time will be important in creating remixes of Frankenstien.  Also, in order to not confuse or presented already known facts, we must research the topic we wish to present.
7. Format(s) and Audience(s)
8. How will the project be formalized? How will it be distributed and to whom? We can put the video on youtube, make a blog diary,
1. via facebook/other social networks
2. flash book
9. Success Criteria
1. Our project will have been successful if we created peices that use new sorce of media to remix the work of Frankenstien in a way that interest the current generations more than the work in it's traditional literary form.
10. Prototype
1. In order to gain the original insight, class participation involved the creation of this poster as well as the media fast that has already taken place. 

 

 

The media fast, itself, was a prototype of part of the project that you, professor Gideon, have already participated in.  In other words, the project has already gained the participation of a large part of the class.