The purpose of my “Mashumentary” project was to present copyright issues in media form. I used media from the Internet to create a “media mashup”, a new work legal under fair use. There is some information that I gained in my study that I didn’t put on the video due to awkwardness, so I will provide it here.
Survey
I found that within the people I surveyed, most people were in a group that might be defined by the term copy moderate. There is a good majority of people who just don’t know, don’t care, and who don’t really understand copyright law. Others still may buy CD’s, but don’t think file sharing is ethically wrong. Some feel as though the super capitalist ways of the companies controlling media have sucked the teat of greed far to long and need to embrace the coming revolution.
Interview with singer, songwriter, and recording artist Jim Bizer.
Responses by Jim are notated by ***.
Ian: How long have you been playing music?
***Jim: I started playing French Horn, and guitar shortly after, at age 8; so I’ve been playing music for 44 years.
Professionally?
***I played my first paid performance at age 14 and have continued since then – this is my 38th year as a professional musician.
Recording?
***First started experimenting with a sound-on-sound recorder in high school. Acquired a 4-track tape machine when I was 22 and made many “demo-quality” recordings, some of which I gave to friends, some of which I used for promotional purposes. From the mid 80s to the early 90s, I did quite a bit of work in pro studios, including production of my own songs (in hopes of a record contract), sessions as a sideman on guitar, bass and keyboards on other artists’ projects, as well as producing music for television and radio. It wasn’t until 2001 that I finally released an independent commercial recording of my own songs. Since then, I have released another solo CD, one as part of a band, contributed to numerous compilation recordings and recently released a duo CD with Jan Krist.
Do you belong to a record label?
***I never did land that elusive “record deal” and in retrospect, I’m just as happy I didn’t. The Yellow Room Gang, a songwriters’ collective that I’m part of, has an informal “label name” to help support each other’s independent recordings.
What was the first medium in which you recorded your songs?
***Recorded on reel-to-reel tape and distributed on cassette tapes.
What impact has the changing trend toward electronic media and the Internet. i.e. file sharing, had on your work?
***Definitely a double-edged sword – the Internet has made global distribution possible for independent artists and having songs (and video) available for streaming on the web has tremendously simplified the submission process for getting gigs. The flip side is that recorded music is now so easy to duplicate and share that a lot of music that once would have been purchased is being given away, which makes it much more difficult to make a living at writing and producing music. I haven’t been heavily impacted by this (yet): working in the “folk” genre, there’s still a strong emphasis on physical recordings. My music is available on iTunes, Rhapsody and numerous other download sources, but the large bulk of my sales are CDs (maybe because one person downloaded my tunes and is now giving them away…)
What are your general feelings toward file sharing?
***Ambivalent – this brings up the entire issue of combining art and commerce. Part of me is uncomfortable charging for and putting a price on my art. Another part of me wants (and feels I deserve) remuneration.
File sharing is great way to get lots of people hearing music they wouldn’t hear otherwise: good thing. File sharing means many people will never pay for the music they listen to, making it much harder, perhaps impossible, for the 98% of recording artists who are barely getting by: bad thing.
How does one protect their intellectual property? Should definitions be revised?
***It’s clear that the new technology has made the old system of compensation obsolete. Perhaps some improved method of copy protection could restore viability, but certainly at the cost of convenience and everybody would hate it. Should we abandon the concept of intellectual property altogether? But then how would we support artists and inventors? Sorry to say, I don’t have answers.
There are artists around who have their work available to the public to share, download, add, and revise. These individuals call themselves the copyleft. How do you think these sorts of sites and communities will change music? Do you think this is a bad thing?
***It could be a good thing creatively. It may mean that eventually people will not be able to sustain a career making music. Which may not be entirely bad – it might help solve the art vs commerce dilemma. Seriously.
The advances in electronic media have undoubtedly transformed the way we listen to music and how we view all media. The explosion in popularity of the mp3 format has created a monster: a living creature; a society of online personas sharing screens. A society created on a foundation springing from the idea of sharing. Napster, and the proceeding online revolution made it possible for individuals to obtain music and other media without going to the record store. This has affected the way artists produce and distribute their music. So this raises the question, how is this affecting our culture?
***Also interesting that most often, people consume music privately, listening to their personal music players that no one else hears. In the past, listening to music was a collective experience (even whether some wanted to listen or not!)
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
My Web Report
Ever since I was old enough to read I was playing video games. I can remember sitting in my family room, controller in hand, maneuvering a little pixelly character named Mario across an equally pixelly environment, evading and conquering hordes of pixelly villains to save the beautifully pixelled princess. Video games have come a long way since then and the industry’s evolutionary process has always intrigued me. So, for my “State of the Web” report I decided to evaluate the two links leading me to an article entitled "Game Master"and a video named" Gaming 2012" which is a podcast. The article appears in a subcategory of the site called profiles, which is exactly what the piece is. John Seabrook is the author of the profile and appears on the video. When perusing the site I found the New Yorker headline with the man in the top hot and monocle alluring, but found the plethora of advertisements quite annoying. There’s a lot going on the page and a hundred different links to click hyperlinked to countless words. This distracted me from the article a little but when I clicked on “view as a single page” I scrolled down and all the extra noise faded away.
The article, written in 2007, is basically about Will Wright’s life and his career as a computer game designer. It depicts the life of Will Wright and what lead him to create these games and the various ways in which he came up with the idea for them. The narrative is charming at times, but toward the middle it became a little tedious as I found myself less and less interested in Will Wright’s personal life and wanted to read more about Spore. Along with the narrative on Will Wright’s life, Seabrook takes you through a rough outline of the history of video games and correlates it to the story. Seabrook relates how he came up with the idea of some of his games. The most interesting of the stories is how he came to realize the idea of The Sims. Wright wanted to connect more with his daughter so he created a digital dollhouse, which evolved into the game known as The Sims. Seabrook makes note that much of Wright’s inspiration came from books. The idea for The Sims spawned from “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander and “A Theory of Human Motivation” by Abraham Maslow while his game SimEarth was based on the Gaia hypothesis by James Lovelock. Spore, however was derived from Drake’s equation and “Power of Ten”. All this leads up to the discussion on the video game spore, and Seabrook speculates if Spore will change gaming like The Sims did.
The video is helpful because it puts faces to names. In the video Will Wright conducts a basic overview of the game Spore. He conveys his motivation for making the game and what he hopes it will accomplish. He mentions the importance of hands-on learning and admitted that it was his education at a Montessori school that programmed him to be the way he is. At this point Wright quickly walks through the game, after which John Seabrook interviews Wright about the themes found in the article.
I’m not entirely sure how to go about completing the second part, but whenever I see questions with numbers attributed to them, this makes me compelled to answer them as they appear.
1. I picked this site because I have always been a huge fan of video games and have been a hopeless nerd gamer for most of my life. I actually didn’t know anything about spore before I read the article and video actually inspired me to purchase the game.
2. When I first entered the site my impression was that of annoyance. I started reading the article and a pop up appeared asking me to subscribe to The New Yorker magazine, obscuring my view of the text. Clicking around the link on the site is amusing, and there are a lot of articles and blogs available. I was a little annoyed with the way the beginning of the text was laid out, because in the middle of the text there is a randomly generated cartoon that has no relevance to the article. I clicked on the link for the cartoon kit, which made me register for the site. After which, however, I was able to screw around with the kit, which is somewhat fun.
3. I wasn’t very impressed with the layout of the site, and as I said the pop-up ad was very annoying. The other aspects of the site weren’t bad. The type is easy to read and the excess of links on either side fades away when you view the article as a single page.
4. The New Yorker is commonly regarded as a legitimate publication. The author John Seabrook is a well regarded journalist and has been writing for The New Yorker commenting on technology and pop-culture since 1993. Since The New Yorker is a business and attempting to make money, there are a lot of advertisements, which in my opinion distract from the scholarly content of the article.
5. Though not explicitly mentioned in the article, the evolution of literacy is now also tied with multimodal texts, such as video games. The common conception of video games is that they increase illiteracy, and is turning the younger generation into fat lazy slobs. Will Wright seems to present a different model that glorifies gaming as a learning tool.
6. The article and the video seem to merely focus on how the game may change gaming while I wanted there to be a little bit more about how it may change literacy. In order to make a correlation to class themes I needed to extrapolate it from passing comments.
7. I would recommend this site to other students and my friend purely for the content. The advertisements are frustrating, but what can one expect from a business’ website?
The article, written in 2007, is basically about Will Wright’s life and his career as a computer game designer. It depicts the life of Will Wright and what lead him to create these games and the various ways in which he came up with the idea for them. The narrative is charming at times, but toward the middle it became a little tedious as I found myself less and less interested in Will Wright’s personal life and wanted to read more about Spore. Along with the narrative on Will Wright’s life, Seabrook takes you through a rough outline of the history of video games and correlates it to the story. Seabrook relates how he came up with the idea of some of his games. The most interesting of the stories is how he came to realize the idea of The Sims. Wright wanted to connect more with his daughter so he created a digital dollhouse, which evolved into the game known as The Sims. Seabrook makes note that much of Wright’s inspiration came from books. The idea for The Sims spawned from “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander and “A Theory of Human Motivation” by Abraham Maslow while his game SimEarth was based on the Gaia hypothesis by James Lovelock. Spore, however was derived from Drake’s equation and “Power of Ten”. All this leads up to the discussion on the video game spore, and Seabrook speculates if Spore will change gaming like The Sims did.
The video is helpful because it puts faces to names. In the video Will Wright conducts a basic overview of the game Spore. He conveys his motivation for making the game and what he hopes it will accomplish. He mentions the importance of hands-on learning and admitted that it was his education at a Montessori school that programmed him to be the way he is. At this point Wright quickly walks through the game, after which John Seabrook interviews Wright about the themes found in the article.
I’m not entirely sure how to go about completing the second part, but whenever I see questions with numbers attributed to them, this makes me compelled to answer them as they appear.
1. I picked this site because I have always been a huge fan of video games and have been a hopeless nerd gamer for most of my life. I actually didn’t know anything about spore before I read the article and video actually inspired me to purchase the game.
2. When I first entered the site my impression was that of annoyance. I started reading the article and a pop up appeared asking me to subscribe to The New Yorker magazine, obscuring my view of the text. Clicking around the link on the site is amusing, and there are a lot of articles and blogs available. I was a little annoyed with the way the beginning of the text was laid out, because in the middle of the text there is a randomly generated cartoon that has no relevance to the article. I clicked on the link for the cartoon kit, which made me register for the site. After which, however, I was able to screw around with the kit, which is somewhat fun.
3. I wasn’t very impressed with the layout of the site, and as I said the pop-up ad was very annoying. The other aspects of the site weren’t bad. The type is easy to read and the excess of links on either side fades away when you view the article as a single page.
4. The New Yorker is commonly regarded as a legitimate publication. The author John Seabrook is a well regarded journalist and has been writing for The New Yorker commenting on technology and pop-culture since 1993. Since The New Yorker is a business and attempting to make money, there are a lot of advertisements, which in my opinion distract from the scholarly content of the article.
5. Though not explicitly mentioned in the article, the evolution of literacy is now also tied with multimodal texts, such as video games. The common conception of video games is that they increase illiteracy, and is turning the younger generation into fat lazy slobs. Will Wright seems to present a different model that glorifies gaming as a learning tool.
6. The article and the video seem to merely focus on how the game may change gaming while I wanted there to be a little bit more about how it may change literacy. In order to make a correlation to class themes I needed to extrapolate it from passing comments.
7. I would recommend this site to other students and my friend purely for the content. The advertisements are frustrating, but what can one expect from a business’ website?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Is the Internet Causing Idiocy?
I find the notion that the Internet is making us dumb a paradox in which the many different facets of the issue culminate to create a whirlwind of confusion. I tend to disagree on the fact that the Internet is making us “dumb”. It may be making us lazier, or fatter, but not dumber. The argument that the easily accessible wealth of knowledge available on the Internet is corrupting our brains and in turn causing idiocy seems a little extreme. The underlying problem is not whether the Internet is making us dumb, because the capacity of the human brain will never change, it’s how the Internet is changing the way we view and store knowledge. Nicolas Carr, writes in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.”
The Internet has not changed our mental capacity, merely the way we process information. But, hasn’t changing technology always done that throughout history? The written word changed the way we stored knowledge, and with every advance in technology since that point has increased the efficiency in which knowledge is spread. In addition to the way we stored knowledge, these advances changed the way we view knowledge. We’ve become increasingly ADD and this due in part to the medium in which we view, and document our lives. In the past the human brain has been compared to work like a clock, now we say the human brain works like a computer. So, in reflection, if anything the Internet is making us smarter, not dumber. It may be changing the way we think, but who can say this is a bad thing? I guess time will tell.
The Internet has not changed our mental capacity, merely the way we process information. But, hasn’t changing technology always done that throughout history? The written word changed the way we stored knowledge, and with every advance in technology since that point has increased the efficiency in which knowledge is spread. In addition to the way we stored knowledge, these advances changed the way we view knowledge. We’ve become increasingly ADD and this due in part to the medium in which we view, and document our lives. In the past the human brain has been compared to work like a clock, now we say the human brain works like a computer. So, in reflection, if anything the Internet is making us smarter, not dumber. It may be changing the way we think, but who can say this is a bad thing? I guess time will tell.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
“The Rising tide of mediocrity”
Abstract
“Reading a book requires a degree of active attention and engagement. Indeed, reading itself is a progressive skill that depends on years of education and practice. By contrast, most electronic media such as television, recordings, and radio make fewer demands on their audiences, and often require no more than passive participation. Even interactive electronic media such as video games and the Internet, foster shorter attention spans and accelerated gratification. To lose such intellectual capabilities—and the many sorts of human continuity it allows—would constitute a vast cultural impoverishment.” (http://www.nea.gov/pub/RaRExec.pdf).
Edward Jones was bored. He sat in a classroom he didn’t want to be in. He starred blankly at the back of his instructor’s greasy, semi-balled head. He yawned. He rummaged through his black, north face backpack, His fingers wrapped around the smoothly metallic, cold skin of his favorite ipod. One earbud. Then the other. Then, he was dead.
Doodles riddled his notebook. Blankness ravaged his brain. Looking down at his English textbook he evaporated. But it wasn’t the story behind the words. It wasn’t found in the pages in front of him. It was something else. He imagined himself in his cushy swivel chair, sitting in front of his top of the line, personal computer, monster in one hand, mouse in the other, ready to do battle. His mind convulsed with excitement. Aroused thoughts sparked his longing for the upgrade he was about to receive. His character grew in front of his eyes. He lived for upgrades. His lust for respect had brought him to this perfectly mundane life, living inside the experience machine. There he fought without painful repercussions. Rebirth was common there. Birth. Growing. Death. Rebirth. Growth. Everything inside there is arbitrary.
Data stream of consciousness. Constant ones and zeros.
His iphone vibrated. Edward woke up. Edward’s alarm always went off on these days. Time to go home. Edward thought everyone hated him. He would slink around barely behind the scenes. His attempts to socialize always ended in failure, or worse. As time past, his delinquency fast forwarded. He finally took refuge in the one place he felt at home. The mothering nurturer. The fountain of knowledge. The future of our deaths. Lost in some instantaneous stimulus in digital euphoria, he was god. When lost inside, he often liked to pretend his victims where actual, real individuals. The thought of their deaths brought Edward much happiness.
Knock!
Knock!
Edward returned from his cyber consciousness with dislike.
“What do you want?” He screeched.
“Edward! Have some respect! Its your father. Shut up and let me in.”
“No”
After a little pause, Edward thought better about the situation, reluctantly got up to open the door, and walked back to his computer, uninterested. His father sat down on his son’s bed, and played with his fingers.
“What are you doing there son”.
“Playing The Great Experience Machine”. Robotically responded Edward.
“That sounds fun”.
Edward became lost again and left his father with his fingers.
“I have something to give you. My father gave it to me when I was your age, so I thought it’d be appropriate to pass it on to you.
Edward’s father paused in attempt to conjure some sort of response.
Click, click click click click click
“I know how much you like those fantasy games so it thought it’d be perfect, because this is one of the greatest, epic adventures ever written.”
Click click click click click click click click.
No words
“I can see you’re busy. I’ll just leave this here for you. Enjoy.”
Edward’s father gingerly set his father’s book on Edward’s pillow, got up, left the room, and shut the door.
Edward twitched, stopped playing, and picked up his book.
Post Script
“…our faith in positive social and cultural change was not misplaced.”
“Cultural decline is not inevitable.” (http://www.arts.gov/research/ReadingonRise.pdf)
“Reading a book requires a degree of active attention and engagement. Indeed, reading itself is a progressive skill that depends on years of education and practice. By contrast, most electronic media such as television, recordings, and radio make fewer demands on their audiences, and often require no more than passive participation. Even interactive electronic media such as video games and the Internet, foster shorter attention spans and accelerated gratification. To lose such intellectual capabilities—and the many sorts of human continuity it allows—would constitute a vast cultural impoverishment.” (http://www.nea.gov/pub/RaRExec.pdf).
Edward Jones was bored. He sat in a classroom he didn’t want to be in. He starred blankly at the back of his instructor’s greasy, semi-balled head. He yawned. He rummaged through his black, north face backpack, His fingers wrapped around the smoothly metallic, cold skin of his favorite ipod. One earbud. Then the other. Then, he was dead.
Doodles riddled his notebook. Blankness ravaged his brain. Looking down at his English textbook he evaporated. But it wasn’t the story behind the words. It wasn’t found in the pages in front of him. It was something else. He imagined himself in his cushy swivel chair, sitting in front of his top of the line, personal computer, monster in one hand, mouse in the other, ready to do battle. His mind convulsed with excitement. Aroused thoughts sparked his longing for the upgrade he was about to receive. His character grew in front of his eyes. He lived for upgrades. His lust for respect had brought him to this perfectly mundane life, living inside the experience machine. There he fought without painful repercussions. Rebirth was common there. Birth. Growing. Death. Rebirth. Growth. Everything inside there is arbitrary.
Data stream of consciousness. Constant ones and zeros.
His iphone vibrated. Edward woke up. Edward’s alarm always went off on these days. Time to go home. Edward thought everyone hated him. He would slink around barely behind the scenes. His attempts to socialize always ended in failure, or worse. As time past, his delinquency fast forwarded. He finally took refuge in the one place he felt at home. The mothering nurturer. The fountain of knowledge. The future of our deaths. Lost in some instantaneous stimulus in digital euphoria, he was god. When lost inside, he often liked to pretend his victims where actual, real individuals. The thought of their deaths brought Edward much happiness.
Knock!
Knock!
Edward returned from his cyber consciousness with dislike.
“What do you want?” He screeched.
“Edward! Have some respect! Its your father. Shut up and let me in.”
“No”
After a little pause, Edward thought better about the situation, reluctantly got up to open the door, and walked back to his computer, uninterested. His father sat down on his son’s bed, and played with his fingers.
“What are you doing there son”.
“Playing The Great Experience Machine”. Robotically responded Edward.
“That sounds fun”.
Edward became lost again and left his father with his fingers.
“I have something to give you. My father gave it to me when I was your age, so I thought it’d be appropriate to pass it on to you.
Edward’s father paused in attempt to conjure some sort of response.
Click, click click click click click
“I know how much you like those fantasy games so it thought it’d be perfect, because this is one of the greatest, epic adventures ever written.”
Click click click click click click click click.
No words
“I can see you’re busy. I’ll just leave this here for you. Enjoy.”
Edward’s father gingerly set his father’s book on Edward’s pillow, got up, left the room, and shut the door.
Edward twitched, stopped playing, and picked up his book.
Post Script
“…our faith in positive social and cultural change was not misplaced.”
“Cultural decline is not inevitable.” (http://www.arts.gov/research/ReadingonRise.pdf)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Some Noise
I have become increasingly intrigued with the website opsound.com. They call the bringing together of sounds and music a “sound pool”. I was curious to see how one uploaded a song to the website so I did just that. The site declares that, “All material for the sound pool will be released under a Creative Commons license (the "Attribution-ShareAlike license"), a copyleft license in the spirit of open source software license which allows for all kinds of copying, remixing, use, and reuse while retaining an attribution to the original artist.” I clicked on the link and it lead me to another site entitled “Creative Commons”. It basically said that by the terms I’m agreeing to, I’m free to share and remix as long as everyone on the site is cool with it. Fair enough. I then thought it prudent to peruse the Creative Commons website, but found to my dismay that in order to get to the good content I had to donate 25 bucks, which every college student may agree it might as well be 1000. Sigh. Anyway, back to the story about uploading my music to this sound pool. I had to provide a name for the band, an email address, a song title, and a URL. This gave me a little frustration; because I was under the influence I could upload my song directly from my computer. Ah well. Lucky for me I have a musician’s page on MySpace which has been dormant for at least 9 months. Despite my twinge on anger I entered my MySpace URL and song name into the required fields and voila, one of my songs is now available to a number of artists to listen to and remix. If anyone is curious to see if this experiment worked you may go to the website and search the band name IJP, that’ll be me.
As a little bit of a post script to this blog I attempted to download Amplive’s remixes of Radiohead’s In Rainbows (after watching that film on copyright in class), and to my dismay every time I tried to do so I got an error message. It is my belief that corporate lawyers finally got the best of him and he was forced to take it off the internet. I hope this wasn’t Radiohead’s doing. If anyone has information on this please respond.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Copyright, Copywrong, and the Copyleft
Being an artist and musician myself, the ongoing battle between the corporate lawyers and the copyleft interests me greatly. I want to write a paper on the changing laws in copyright and the evolving idea of the copyleft. I want to examine every aspect of the copyleft, immerse myself in the culture, discover what average people think about the change in the art environment, and look at the issue through an intellectual, artistic, and moral view. I will be focusing on the copyleft and music, but by default it also applies to literature and visual art.
The concept of the copyleft actually was formulated as a way to improve computer software. The GNU project defines copyleft as, “…a general method for making a program (or other work) free, and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free as well.” (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/). Their logic in doing so is that of evolution. They want their programs to run as efficiently as possible. By putting their software in the public domain they allow individuals to make improvements on the software making it better for future users. How does this relate to other art? Hard to say, but it’s the idea of putting intellectual property in the public domain for the purpose of creating something better that intrigues me. I also think that human being’s pride tends to get in the way to make this idea possible.
Napster changed the way people acquired music. Since then, the Internet has allowed for constant change in the way people view media. It is this constant evolution that is so intriguing to me. The media library available on the Internet is growing at an astounding rate, and perhaps unintentionally, we have created the largest database of art ever assembled. Isn’t that something that should be praised as one of the great accomplishments of the human race? Some people would say so, while other say that it’s infringing on artist’s rights. There are an increasing number of websites that celebrate the copyleft. One such website, entitled opsound, enables browsers to listen and download songs for free and allows users to do the same while uploading original sounds, or modifying previously posted noises. Their mission statement is as follows: “Opsound is a gift economy in action, an experiment in applying the model of free software to music. Musicians and sound artists are invited to add their work to the Opsound pool using a copyleft license developed by Creative Commons. Listeners are invited to download, share, remix, and reimagine. (http://opsound.org/index.php). My goal in writing this paper is to discover the views of the artists, and the corporations, and how we can evolve in the new environment.
Other sources I will be using include course texts and the following:
Copyright law
http://www.pdinfo.com/copyrt.php
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl105.html
Fair Use
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/copypol2.htm
Copyleft
http://www.copyleft-music.com/
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8384
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Print Culture, Pop Culture, and Music
I have become increasingly intrigued with the relationship between music and print culture. Seeing that the first stories ever told were basically songs in themselves, it is important to think about music when examining the history of print culture. Setting music to words was a way to remember stories before the technology to print material sources were available. With advances in technology, the context of music pertaining to print culture has evolved. Music started as a way to express oneself, and entertain, as a live art, instantaneous and every performance was original. The first major evolution of the culture of music arose when people developed ways to record music. In a huge advancement in society, ways to notate sounds changed the cultural scenery forever. Musicians no longer had to memorize their works, and they could archive their work for other artists to reproduce. This gave rise to music being a form of print. The Baroque period of music birthed the idea of printed music as a distributable good.
As time went on, and technology advanced, new ways of recording arose. Audio recording made it possible for musicians to preserve performances, and distribute their music in a new form. Then came big business. When hungry businessmen discovered that there was a market for recorded music, laws were established to “protect” artists and their products. Pop-culture responded to this evolution in various ways. They purchased devices to listen to records, tapes, compact discs, and mp3s, and were encouraged to buy these new forms of flash media. As more and more music was produced, individuals musically library expanded.
The birth the Internet gave music listeners a new way to obtain art. They could now download directly from the source, and didn’t need to physically go to a store to get a new song, performance recording, or new album. File sharing again changed how music was distributed. I find these changes supremely interesting and I want to do more research, and finally do my research paper on how music is a sub-division of print art, and I will be examining new question and ideas on the implications of these changes and what effect they have on the artists, and pop-culture.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Who and What is an Author?
Who, or what is an author? What is the author’s importance to culture and history, and what motivates the author to write? I think one needs to examine these questions in order to truly understand text and print culture in general. In response to the first question, in all basic terms, an author is someone who writes. On this basis, almost everybody is an author, but does society view this as the case? I think not. The author according to society is an individual that has works published, and has these works readily available to the public. Is the author really valued in modern day society? There are a vast number of talented, struggling artists who create amazing works, yet are ignored. Pop culture is very fickle. Popularity of modern written works does not equate to the artistic quality of the work.
On to the second question, what is the cultural importance of authors? Well, in short, authors preserve culture like nothing else can. Through their art we can get a glimpse of the times. Whether it is on the Trojan battlefield represented in Homer’s the Iliad, or 18th century France represented in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, we are taken to a manifestation of the author’s mind. The setting is, however, ultimately irrelevant. The historically important ideas lie in the content of the story, i.e. the underlying themes, conflicts, and use of language.
This leads me to my final question regarding motivation. Human beings have an intrinsic need to leave their legacy. As time proceeds and technology advances, the ways individuals can leave an imprint on history has become easier. Once someone posts something on the Internet it will remain there indefinitely, floating in cyber space. Next, one must consider economic reasons. Some author’s merely write to make a living, while others write simply to express themselves. Whether this commercialism takes away from the actual art, I’ll lead it up to you, the reader, to figure it out.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Clouds of Cause and Effect
Consideration is a concept constantly clouded by cause and effect
She was the cause
I am the effect
Effortless affection clumsily clashes with caution
Disregard these delusions
They dance with death
She was the cause
I am the effect
Effortless affection clumsily clashes with caution
Disregard these delusions
They dance with death
Pixilated Reality
Liberate my thoughts
You
pixilated my reality
I see in squares
Each one contains
glimpses of emotions
They decrease
with functionality.
You
pixilated my reality
I see in squares
Each one contains
glimpses of emotions
They decrease
with functionality.
Eat Them or Starve
Look at these silly people parading around in placid passiveness. He said that she said that you said blah blah, yakitee-yak. Geronimo! Let’s drown in words. Lights! Camera! Action! Cut! What a drama. Oscar worthy I think. Oh wait, the new found curtain is rising. Don’t miss your call. Who’s entering stage left? Are they even in this production? Applause! They will all say it was a good performance. Who wrote this masterpiece? The author only used the tastiest of ingredients. Oh the flavors of dramatic irony. Comic, tragic, and oh so delicious. Words, words, words, eat them or starve.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Communication and Social Evolution
The evolution of the written and printed word maintains vast implications to the social and political evolution of the world. Advances in communication have spawned major power shifts in history. Throughout the Middle Ages the Catholic Church held a monopoly over the print medium. The main works in print were Bibles written in Latin, copied by scribes, and only understood by the clergy, some motivated scholars, and those of noble decent. The Protestant Reformation changed how religion was viewed and practiced. The Catholic Church’s Monopoly on print was stifled and with that a transformation in communication arose.
This power shift allowed for the dissolving of the feudal system, the collapse of the absolute authority of the Catholic Church, and the rise of the middle class. The evolution of the printing press allowed for the education of the lower classes and created an atmosphere for a blossoming middle class, which would eventually become the bourgeoisie. With knowledge comes power, and for the lower classes of feudal Europe the access to books meant power. After Martin Luther’s The Ninety-Five Theses an individual had the opportunity read religious texts in a language they understood, and no longer relied on the Church for religious guidance. Worshippers gained some autonomy in their religious endeavors. They could analyze religious texts themselves and come to their own conclusions on their underlying meanings.
Pamphlets, Newspapers and other communication mediums also became technologies utilized. Well-motivated people with a little money and an urge to spread their word could feasibly do so. This also contributed to the declining upper classes, Church authority and the rise of the middle class. A newfound class-consciousness arose that was otherwise impossible. Today the modern pamphleteer may be the blogger. Blogging is an easy way to share views, exchange words and vent feelings. Advances in technology have made communication easier and far more accessible, marking the change into the communication age.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Copy Paste All Day Long
Oh how the scribes of the ancient world must be rolling in their graves. Their trade has transformed from one of necessity, to one of antiquity and arbitrariness. The creation of the printing press transformed the way documents were produced and ultimately distributed. Books, once a commodity only available for the wealthy, has become a tool available for the masses. Not only can the modern man access a wealth of knowledge by walking down the street to the local library, but motivated individuals can also find a plethora of knowledge with a tap from their finger via the World Wide Web.
I wonder what Johannes Trithemius would say about the writing community today. He argues in his essay, In Praise of Scribes that despite the invention of the printing press scribes should still be utilized and respected. One of his main points involves the piety associated with such a profession. He claims that a scribe working for the Church, “preserves faith, destroys heresy, dispels vice and promotes morals and virtues.” To me this makes sense only in the context in that the texts these monks were copying were sacred texts. I do understand the idea behind the piety of handwriting verses printing, because I do feel closer to my work if I hand write, but with advances in technology the Scribes has ultimately become obsolete. The modern day scribe is the modern day scholar or plagiarist utilizing copy paste all day long.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Literacy in the Modern Word
It’s difficult to imagine a world in which texts weren’t readily available. Today, individuals existing in western society are introduced to books and the written word at a young age. Modern Western society print culture allows for the widespread circulation of knowledge. New advances in technology have created a notably different way in which texts can be examined, and understanding the way in which people obtain literature is important when investigating topics such as literacy rates and knowledge measurements.
According to Philippe Aries one of the most important developments of the modern era was the advent of written culture. It is my opinion that it is not just one of the most important development of the modern era but the most important development of the modern era. Proof lies in the words. Since the first books were written, collected, and finally marketed, education for normal civilians has become far more accessible. No longer is a proper education reserved for the powerful and wealthy.
Higher education rates should result in a more productive society, but in reality this notion seems to fall short. Education through the print medium may nurture knowledge, but it also can foster laziness and lofty notion of superiority. The increasing availability of printed works throughout time has transformed the lower classes from subordinate serfs to members of an educated society in which knowledge is power.
The modern day western world is completely reliant on the use and understanding of the written word. Everywhere one may go in this society they will be confronted with words and symbols that are necessary to function in society. The need for a basic understanding of the sequence of symbols that represent objects and actions is crucial to success. Globalization and a flourishing Internet culture have also contributed for the need to be literate. E-commerce has escalated into huge marketplace with vast potential for growth. The Internet also provides a place for independent writers, scholars, and all sorts of readers. Print culture has transformed from a slight growth and has metastasized into it’s own being.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Who is Who's Master?
My shadow has me on a leash-like a dog-
It orders me to sit-and I roll over.
My choke chain tightens-shame-light asphyxiation.
Who is who’s master?-inverse control-
Hiding in handcuffed hell I scream for freedom-
I demand it.
The keys are in my pocket.
I unlock my shackles, discard my leash,
and now my shadow follows me.
It orders me to sit-and I roll over.
My choke chain tightens-shame-light asphyxiation.
Who is who’s master?-inverse control-
Hiding in handcuffed hell I scream for freedom-
I demand it.
The keys are in my pocket.
I unlock my shackles, discard my leash,
and now my shadow follows me.
Introductions
Hello fellow web browsers. Being my first blog entry I thought I’d introduce myself. My name is Ian James Payson, I’m 24 years old and I’m a Leo. I’m a senior at Wayne State University and hope to graduate this year with a BA in English. I enjoy fencing, playing guitar, and writing.
I am intrinsically a poet and being as such I am usually inclined to write poetry. My artistic desire drives me to produce, as I would like to think, small works of art which fall like tiny grains of sand in the hourglass of time. I believe that words can be beautiful and inspiring, but can also be rude and hurtful. From this arises the paradox of words. Words are but symbols for objects and actions, yet contain so much power. Words tell stories which preserve historical and cultural aspects of the time the story was composed. My writing is derived more form the aesthetic beauty of words than arbitrary context. My focus is to create compositions that are pleasing to people’s poetic palate and intellectually intriguing. However, poetry is becoming a lost art. Even with the vast opportunities the internet provides for both author and reader, the people of the modern day just don’t have time. They’re too busy browsing Ikea, stalking people on Facebook, and falling victim to the commercialism of the internet. The toiling of the modern poet gets overlooked and the status of the poet in society has sunk to new lows. Mainstream society almost rejects the fundamental idea of the poet, as they turn to film stars and pop icons. The closest thing to revered poet in the public’s eye is the rock star.
This brings me to the idea of culture being passed down through oral story telling. The modern day rock song can be compared to the oral tradition of story telling. Poetic elements are used in both to aid the memory in the retelling process, and citizens gather around performances for entertainment. They also have a similar way of representing culture. Just like slave tales and peasant stories represent the cultures of two different illiterate sects of society, pop music mirrors pop culture. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize the significance these oral traditions have on society. One fact that does frighten me, however, is the insatiable commercialism that has found its way into music, as well as print culture. The art is being sucked out of writing. So, in attempt to save the lost art of poetry I am going to periodically post a poem or two. Please let me know what you think and if you could provide some constructive feedback that’d be great.
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