1) Selber and Eilola state that we now live in a "remix culture." What counts for originality in a remix culture?
Note: Not asking what originality is "worth," but rather, what it is in a remix culture? Is it simply something no one else has ever done, or does existing in a remix culture change the definition?
2) What are some ways that you might bring Fair Use into the classroom?
Note: not for the purpose of practical application, but in order to get students thinking about the politics of fair use and copyright law, and how vague and unclear they are, and the whole debate of collaboration vs competition, and importance of free access, etc.
For fear of sounding overly "Everything is a Remix," I think I would question back whether or not there IS originality in a remix culture. Most of the articles emphasize that community and collaboration are a fundamental aspect of creative culture, whether explicit or not. It kind of reminds me of the common gripe I hear about movies these days, with everything seeming to be an update or remake of an old movie/book/comic etc., but at most stories' cores they are simply the reiteration of centuries' old tropes being remastered for present-day audiences...so, again, I would say originality might not exist, depending on how specific we need to get. I think the current thought, however, would argue something more along the lines of intent and manipulation for originality, moving that even if a work utilizes elements that are extant, if the work creates new meaning through its manipulation of the elements then it is considered original (although, original and individual are also two separate concepts that I think I/we might be unintentionally conflating).
ReplyDeleteI loved the idea of having students remix a song or poem into emojiis or meme's from Travis' lecture last week, and think that might help open the conversation about originality and Fair Use. I also think using famous cases of artists utilizing other's work according to Fair use, from all extremes, and discussing their success and whether it fits within the definition of Fair Use (like looking at Kenneth Goldsmith poems or Marcel Duchamp pieces and then looking at "classic" literature like Shakespeare or Dickens and seeing where they've borrowed and how, then looking at unsuccessful cases and seeing how they've failed when the others didn't, etc). I also think it would be cool to do a collaborative exercise with two or three students and then maybe have them go through and identify what was their "original" work and then maybe discuss how the piece as a whole can't function without all of their work...? And maybe have students create something, probably media-heavy, and then once they're finished tell them to trace the copyright of each element in the piece?