Creative Participation

Remix Culture in the Age of Digital Reproduction

Creative participation is the negotiations and positions of the consumer towards the producer or the spectator towards the participant. This case study highlights on the entertainment and artistic aspects, more specifically on the remix culture of the amateur or creative participant. The digital age has given room for creativity and participatory ways of creations and re-creations or appropriation. The era of passive consumers are over, web 2.0 has made room for creative participation, emergence of a whole new culture and art form or genre called the remix culture, a collage, a recombination, appropriation, and mash-up of online materials, content and elements such as videos, images, music, and art pieces to create new meanings or new products. It is a participatory way of putting together old, new, different cultural and digital contents to create something new which allow for the public to freely influence change and interact with their culture.

Remix culture is mostly associated with amateurs, the objective being that, they take the works of professionals and create their own content around it, it is quite common to see a remix of a remix of an amateur who has recreated another amateurs work, there is a very complex interactive negotiations within the remix culture and creative participation in general.  There are various reasons why people remix media contents among other things, one reason that dominates all is the creativity aspect, it’s a major contributing factor, the urge to create something new, though there are some that do these remix for its cheaper ways of passing information across or make a video or music clip at no cost at all, others do it for school projects or assignments, some actually do it out of curiosity of which they get a very creative content as end product.  In this age children as young as two years old are using technology, it is the tool that come handy to them, they are surrounded by it, so naturally people in this age develop their creativity around these technologies, in their playful ways with the technology their creativity come to lights which has given room for all these new cultures we see around us today, the remix culture is no exception to that.

The remix culture is a widespread phenomenon in today’s world, it has given rise to ingenuity and ways of expression through various digital media forms, within this culture they are all producers as well as consumers. This culture has great social benefits in our society today, aside giving room for creativity it also give room for democratization of media content, inventions and gives Optimistic perspective and brilliant ideas to products.  Remix culture as a read write culture has deep roots in the world’s history more specifically in American history. The famous Walter Disney himself build upon and mixed other people's content which gave him his breakthrough and fame in the media industry, his creativity flourished through other people’s content such as already exiting books and stories, he created his contents out of these already existing once by making them into  screen plays, movies and cartoon characters alike. The tolerance towards the use of other people content to express read write culture give rise to opportunity and creativity especially in this technological age where technology is our tool of inspiration.

Innovation and creativity comes with free ideology, allowing for our amateurs today to freely operate within the digital medium without restrictions will lead to great inventions and innovations, it is in this respect that Larry Lessig in his speech for creative participation argued that restricting the amateurs today of the usage of content will lead to us “making pirates of our children” whether legal or illegal they will make use of the content available to them.  In order to not make them insensitive to the law its deem necessary to revise rigid laws that has outdated its time and are unrealistic, ways must be paved for new laws that better adapts to the generation of today and allow for the freedom of usage of content to a reasonable degree. Allowing for remix culture or creative participation at this point means living life against the law, this is a generation that rejects  copyright laws because the world today romanticis digital culture into young people and through digital culture they realize their inventiveness and potentials.

The study revealed loopholes in the copyright law system of the digital age that might need new and less rigid laws in order to safeguard the creativity of users-generators.

References

 Larry Lessig http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

                        Lessig  freeculture chpt 1

Remix video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKk00OYKhU

Remix video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

Remix video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhlHUTBgAMw

Image            http://emptyset.org/primal-screen

Facebook - the end of privacy or the beginning of a new era?

Invitational Rhetoric

Facebook is the largest social network community that has pervasively grown from a couple of users to over one billion users globally, it was established by Mark Zuckerberg a computer programmer, an internet entrepreneur and four others in the year 2004. it is now a company on the stock market traded as NASDAQ: FB and the world’s largest social network that is free of charge.

It’s amazing to think about the level of growth in such a short period of time, this poses questions such as is this social network the new revolution? Is it a new era? What is going on in the world? It is the end of privacy? Is it a way of controlling the masses? Is this what it means for the world to be a global village? These questions and money others are what we as users and people in the world of this era are confronted with and ponder about everyday. I hope by the time we look at some facts about this social network and discuss it, most of these questions might be answered to all you folks out there who have the same questions running through your minds just as me and possibly have a point of view on it.

The social network provides a breeding ground for socializing, communicating in a global society and its a source of information for most users since they use it to be abreast with news from different sources on the globe others use it to search for lost friends and family. it’s an effective means of spreading news, it gives us the choice to have personalized newspapers with contents that we have chosen by ourselves to be shown on our timelines, it is one of the tools for capturing moments by sharing things with friends and family like never before. It expands the scoop of friendship beyond the consideration of friends as someone you know physically. This is a touching story of Facebook "friends you may know" that a man used as a tool for his memory recovery.

This video is an example of how we develop friendship in these circles, a man scans through the pictures of "friends you may know" with the hope of recognizing someone he may remember, he used it as a tool for his healing process whether its effective or not at least he had a starting point and he is grateful to FB for having such a platform that he could use to aid his healing process. there is no doubt in my mind that if this man ever becomes successful in his endeavors he will be eternally grateful to this social network.

These two videos also gives an insight that Facebook goes beyond keeping abreast with news and friends, it might be a new era making great impact on our culture and the way we relate to things and people, structuring our style of communications and relationships.  This video is a remarkable story that shows how a young man through Facebook broke barriers and went beyond the constraint of a nation and helped others that were deeply in need to bring about change in the lives.

Reaching out to people in need and having a sense of fulfillment by seeing the progress that comes with it, it’s indeed a great achievement to be able to put a smile on a child’s face through such a platform.  It’s quite impetus how the children who wanted puppies got their one million likes on Facebook within hours of posting their plea for “like”, it kind of make you think about how powerful a medium it is, to consider gathering a million people in even weeks can be a very hectic task, so to be able to attain that in just hours speaks for itself.

Celebrities’ politicians sportsmen connect to their fans directly on Facebook and create personal relationship with them, relationships that might otherwise not be possible if not through a social platform like FB, I read one instance where the Danish Prime minister posted a status update and his admirers realize he will be out jogging so they joined him and went out jogging with him, it’s incredible how a social network can break the rigid hierarchy barrier in society. Rumors spread as fast as wild fire in social media however it also give chance for participants to go directly to pages of people concern to know the truth of the matter at hand. Sometimes it’s hilarious how Facebook kind of spread a disease and then gives an antidote for it as well. It seem to make the world more open and connected like never before.

Privacy is one of the critical issues when it come social networks like Facebook, there are series of programs, software that snoop on user conversations, collect data and send to marketers, advertisers, and companies alike, according to statistics about 32% of users are not aware of this, social listening, even if the intention might be genuine, is it then not necessary for a user to be fully aware that the conversations he or she engages with on Facebook platform will be handed over to other people for their own benefit?. It was quite surprising to me when I see these statics about Facebook.

Though businesses invade consumers privacy by listing to Facebook conversation, there is substantial percentage of people who are aware of this situation, the questions is what do they think about it? Do they really care or not? Of course some care and clearly some don’t. It is not only companies that snoop on people in these platforms but also Central Intelligence Agencies around the world use it as a tool for monitoring peoples life and controlling the masses.

Just as the video discussions mentioned, they use it to monitor where people have been and even where they will be via the Map application and status updates and conversations. The CIA has replaced most of its online security programs with Facebook this saves them substantial amount of money and time this is a platform that people willingly give out their information on and trust that their information might be safe. This poses a question as to whether Facebook is the most powerful pervasive population control tool ever created.

I read a few articles about employers soliciting information about their prospective staff on Facebook, using their comments and conversations as basis for getting to know them better in order to offer them jobs. It is quite interesting that FB doesn't seem like just a social platform but also is being used as an extensions of one’s self.

Works Cited
http://www.netbase.com/wp-content/uploads/NetBase-Social-Listening-InfoGraphic.jpg 

Facebook statisitics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sThcwmx3rs 

Facebook CIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdLX29-ofo

A fulfilling dreams with fb status update

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpO_M6kpOVc 

rebuilding his memorie with facebook people you may know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl1ujzRidmU 

facebook parenting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTXM5VTGL5s 

get puppy with one million likes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AedxIRo2_0

View of New York City through the Eyes of Media (Remix)

Will you say you know New York City just because you see it through the eyes of media?

The city of New York is one of the epic centers of modernity with hegemonic ideologies of human progress through social and cultural constructions of how people should think and do things ”natural” through the proliferation of mass media, Increasing role of science and technology, Urbanization,Capitalism, Surveillance, and Consumerism. The city through media has portrayed itself as the greatest city in the world, where almost everything happens, from sky scrapers, great architecture, good businesses, great financial markets, fashion houses,theaters, huge population and a multicultural life experiences.

There is a growing desire from people in other lands and even within the United States to migrate to New York and live in the thick of the urban populace, these desires are modified by popular currents that capitalist society, mass media specialize in formulating and conveys an image of the city as a city that strives for success for its people through various mediums such as advertisements, music lyrics, imagery and business opportunities . Hence the city’s nick name ”The Big Apple” ”City of Dreams” among others. It's believed that if one can make it in New York, then one can make it anywhere in the world. Base on this ideology the movie titled “New York, New York” in which Liza Minnelli sung the song ”New York New York” in 1970s was made. Then the song was re-sung by Frank Sinatra a few years later which made the song even more popular. Through out the transition and remixing of the music, the main theme of the song was kept, conveying the same message as New York being a great city with hopes and dreams that one want to be a part of. Alicia Key also recently re-sung the same Song and kept the theme so that its easily recognizable, conveying the same message as predecessor. 

Passim these times the view of New York as a city of dreams still stand firm. People still have the same perspective of New York as it was in the era of modernity. In today’s society the western culture are still the information society. It is not only through the music that we got a perspective about New York but also through other media forms, information is passed on to other parts of the world that gives a clear linear perspective of how New York should be perceived. Its an example of how society transcends its hegemonic cultural ideologies on to the masses and creates a narrative that other worlds follow.

There is some sort of media form every where in the city space of New York, from bus terminals to bill boards, everything can be a form of advertisement. New York is one of the biggest cities in the world. They say that New York never sleeps and it is lively even during the night due to neon bill boards and night life. How has New York City changed with the time? New York itself is a kind of remix and consists of many cultures. It has changed from “melting pot” to “salad bowl”. Media play an important role in New York City in terms of public sphere and consumer culture as media advertise in the city. Media events can be simultaneously local, national, and global, they can involve an extraordinary range of producers, sources.

Our remix also shows some of the media culture that connects us ”cultural others” to the city of New York and make us feel as if we are culturally inclined to the city. Movies such as “The Godfather” etc are timeless classics that has been watched by various people from different countries which gives them a perspective of the good,bad and historical life of New York city, a series such as “Wall Street Warriers” are also one of a kind that gives us an inside view of what goes on within the cultural setting of a trader's life and what the pros and cons of trading is like. Though they are just movies and series or TV shows, to a very high degree they are a representation of what the society is like and what one should expect to see in the society.

A view of the city space of New York shows brands and advertisements. It's interesting to note the social impact of the expansion of mass media from forms such as print and voice (such as black-and-white text-dominated newspapers and radio) into media that combine image, color, movement, text, and sound. These advertisements in city spaces are unavoidable,as one is confronted with variations of advertisements from street food to fine restaurants, consumer goods, food chain store, clothing line chains, Businesses, all sort of products and services through various media form such as newspapers, magazines, television, movie theaters, billboards,public transportation systems,website, and in many other contexts in which we may not even notice. These advertisements are in a range of things we need and thing we might never need in the course of our lives. The ideas of these products are sold to us and we buy into the ideologies of the advertisements with the aim of raising our social status, or making ourselves look or feel better or just for buying sake. With such advertisement decorations on city spaces, capitalism is at its, best people tend to buy and buy in the name of being trendy. These are the kind of images and ideologies that media sells to us consciously or unconsciously we buy into them and appropriate our lives to conform to these media cultural ideologies. We are controlled by the media culture that present products to us and the culture is controlled and manipulated by governmental powers. This posses questions such as are we really in control of what we buy? How true are the perspectives that we have on things? Are our ways of reasoning mediated by what we see around us, if so then how can we say we are in control of our own lives?

We as writers of this blog have never visited New York, our perception of New York city is propelled by various media forms available to us. It makes it very interesting to know how media culture is  embedded into us, making it blurry to even know when something is one's own idea, for this reason, I think  the next time we want to buy new Converse sneakers we will think about it deeply and analyze whether or not we are propelled by media.

Works Cited

 http://www.chogha.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/page216.html

 http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/modernit.htm

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_New_York,_New_York

http://ameblo.jp/cleo-world/entry-11458345624.html