Cultural Production In A Digital Age

Cultural Production In The Digital Age: Barriers and Incentives
11 October 2007 Kathy E. Gill

Web 2.0 technologies change how we interact with digital cultural objects. We are no longer merely a consumer; we are also a producer.
This is a shift from the late 20th century model:

What are the cultural industries?
News media
Advertising industry
Television & movies
Music
Fashion
What else?

Traditional Model
Mediated Communication:
One-way Mass Communication Model
Transition to circular (Osgood & Schramm) interpersonal model

In a Digital World, It Is Easier to Borrow, Copy, Manipulate

This means it is technically easier to express ourselves in new, creative ways.

The pejorative: The cult of the amateur
SuperBowl Commercials
YouTube Democratic Presidential Debate

Quotable
“[N]on-commercial cultural production and unconstrained expression within the Internet undermines capitalism’s production of meaning.” p135 - from Michael Strangelove, The Empire of Mind (University of Toronto Press, 2005)

The Clash
Culture as a freely flowing current of ideas and practices runs head first into culture as intellectual property

The Barrier: Copyright
Copyright originated in a time when the view of authors was romantic: "originality was elevated to being located in and belonging to the self of the author" ... words created by these authors were considered "original" and thus distinguishable from mass-produced commodities. (Lessig, presentation, Copyright, Cultural Production and Open Content Licensing)

Copyright Expansion
In 1709, copyright lasted 14 years
Today, 60-90 years

Copyright Reach
Originality was required in copyright law, historically
Today, only de minimis originality (examples from book)
Watch YouTube Clip

Copyright Scope
A movement from protecting the "copy" to the "idea"
Watch YouTube Clip

Incentives
Change the licenses
Creative Commons
Free Art
GNU

General Characteristics
Right to access or use
Right to make copies
Right to make modifications
Right to distribute
Right to create derivative works

Digital technologies enable a "Tinkering culture" -- a "read write rip burn culture"

Sources
Image - graffitti http://www.slideshare.net/imootee/web-20-and-media-20-presentation
Lessig, L. (n.d.) Copyright, Cultural Production and Open Content Licensing. Retrieved 10 October 2007 from https://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/pubsfolder/liangessay/view

Cultural Production In A Digital Age

by Kathy Gill on Oct 16, 2007

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