Lessig, L. (2007). Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity [Streaming Video]. TED. Retreived March 22 2011 from: http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html
The Lessig video covered some of the issues covered in the Collins readings and formed a strong argument through the use of different historical contexts and examples of the creation and development of media materials.
Lessig uses an example by Susas (? Forgive me if spelling is incorrect) that historically we have had a Read/Write culture (RW), a participatory culture, where songs and stories of the day had been passed down and adapted through generations and that it was with the advent of machines that could now tell these stories and sing these songs to us that we became consumers as we could not talk back or interact with them – thus we became a Read Only culture (RO) which has become indicative of most of the 20th century.
It’s these technological developments which make us address the laws of the day and that we need to sue common sense to ensure these laws are applicable and fair to all parties within a culture thus ensuring no monopolies on culture. Today’s media laws are designed to control and regulate content creations and distribution but are tilted too far in favour of copyright owners and thus produce an uncompetitive marketplace which doesn’t not encourage a culture of development and change. RW culture has been revived recently via digital technologies which enable user driven content which is produced for love and not money; and is indicative of the remix culture of today’s youth who taking existing media and change it into something new.
Lessig shows three examples of what remix culture can do when you allow consumers to use material to produce new meanings out of the material - (Re)Creativity. The remix culture is a product of the reduced barriers of entry financially and technologically and has meant that it is now a societal norm which is accepted amongst their culture even if the law does not agree with their assessment.
Lessig does at this point balance his view point to stress that he is not taking sides with the extremes of media piracy, and nor does he support the extremes of current copyright law which was an excellent point to make as the video could easily be taken out of context at times as being an anti-establishment rant rather than the balanced analysis of the media landscape which I think it is.
He goes on to note that user generated content is new competition for copyrighted material and that in the end the audience will decided what it wants and what it needs, going on to present the idea of new licensing structures to allow the production of this competitive content that would mean it was free for use in a remix culture, and that businesses behind the framework of this free RW culture need to embrace it to enable its growth so more and more quality free content is available to compete with paid content.
He concludes his talk with a couple of key points:
· Artist choice is the key for new technologies to have the opportunity to develop and grow
· Generational Changes – RO vs. RW older generation watch TV and new generations make TV; highlighting that new technologies make generations different just as the generation before TV would have thought differently.
· Finally and importantly Lessig highlights that old media laws applied to an online culture makes new generations live a life where they are constantly living against the laws and seen as folk devils and subject to moral panics.
Lessig like the Collins reading raises some important points in relation to the restrictions being placed on a culture that is subject to the hegemonies of an incumbent media paradigm which is used to creating media and pushing it out to the audience. The problem is that in today’s digitized era this pushed content is easily transformable by technologies now accessible to large sections of society, a society that has been creatively stifled through unfair copyright restrictions that were designed to regulate and centralize distribution of the media content. However online this distribution has been decentralized through many web2.0 platforms and also the mobility of the internet which has meant consumers are now free of time and space but not of the current laws.
I guess if you are breaking one law, you might as well break them all. I guess we are all pirates.
Lessig, L. (2007). Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity [Streaming Video]. TED. Retrieved March 22 2011 from: http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html
The Lessig video covered some of the issues covered in the Collins readings and formed a strong argument through the use of different historical contexts and examples of the creation and development of media materials.
Lessig uses an example by Susas (? Forgive me if spelling is incorrect) that historically we have had a Read/Write culture (RW), a participatory culture, where songs and stories of the day had been passed down and adapted through generations and that it was with the advent of machines that could now tell these stories and sing these songs to us that we became consumers as we could not talk back or interact with them – thus we became a Read Only culture (RO) which has become indicative of most of the 20th century.
It’s these technological developments which make us address the laws of the day and that we need to sue common sense to ensure these laws are applicable and fair to all parties within a culture thus ensuring no monopolies on culture. Today’s media laws are designed to control and regulate content creations and distribution but are tilted too far in favour of copyright owners and thus produce an uncompetitive marketplace which doesn’t not encourage a culture of development and change. RW culture has been revived recently via digital technologies which enable user driven content which is produced for love and not money; and is indicative of the remix culture of today’s youth who taking existing media and change it into something new.
Lessig shows three examples of what remix culture can do when you allow consumers to use material to produce new meanings out of the material - (Re)Creativity. The remix culture is a product of the reduced barriers of entry financially and technologically and has meant that it is now a societal norm which is accepted amongst their culture even if the law does not agree with their assessment.
Lessig does at this point balance his view point to stress that he is not taking sides with the extremes of media piracy, and nor does he support the extremes of current copyright law which was an excellent point to make as the video could easily be taken out of context at times as being an anti-establishment rant rather than the balanced analysis of the media landscape which I think it is.
He goes on to note that user generated content is new competition for copyrighted material and that in the end the audience will decided what it wants and what it needs, going on to present the idea of new licensing structures to allow the production of this competitive content that would mean it was free for use in a remix culture, and that businesses behind the framework of this free RW culture need to embrace it to enable its growth so more and more quality free content is available to compete with paid content.
He concludes his talk with a couple of key points:
· Artist choice is the key for new technologies to have the opportunity to develop and grow
· Generational Changes – RO vs. RW older generation watch TV and new generations make TV; highlighting that new technologies make generations different just as the generation before TV would have thought differently.
· Finally and importantly Lessig highlights that old media laws applied to an online culture makes new generations live a life where they are constantly living against the laws and seen as folk devils and subject to moral panics.
Lessig like the Collins reading raises some important points in relation to the restrictions being placed on a culture that is subject to the hegemonies of an incumbent media paradigm which is used to creating media and pushing it out to the audience. The problem is that in today’s digitized era this pushed content is easily transformable by technologies now accessible to large sections of society, a society that has been creatively stifled through unfair copyright restrictions that were designed to regulate and centralize distribution of the media content. However online this distribution has been decentralized through many web2.0 platforms and also the mobility of the internet which has meant consumers are now free of time and space but not of the current laws.
I guess if you are breaking one law, you might as well break them all. I guess we are all pirates.
Lessig, L. (2007). Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity [Streaming Video]. TED. Retrieved March 22 2011 from: http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html