Cultural Production In The Digital Age:

Barriers and Incentives To

SharingCOM302/CHID370

12 November 2008Kathy E. Gill

Framing

Web 2.0 Technologies

•These technologies change how we interact with cultural objects.

•Fundamental Premise:

We are no longer merely a consumer; we can also be a producer.

This is a major shift from the late 20th

century model:

In Today’s Digital World, It Is Easier to Borrow,

Copy, Manipulate

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

Traditional Model

•Mediated Communication was a one-way Mass Communication Model

New Model

•Mediated communication is transitioning to a circular (Osgood & Schramm) interpersonal model

What are the cultural industries?

• News media

• Advertising industry

• Television & movies

• Music

• Fashion

• What else?

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

Ask permission each time

Ask permission each use

The Barrier

• 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)

The Enforcer

• Digital Rights Management Act

• tend to think of this with movies and songs, but also can be pay-to-view sections of any website like the WSJ

• RIAA “cease and desist” letters

• Losing on two levels

Why P2P Got A Bad Name

Hint: It wasn’t because of “production”

What Is P2P?

• The sharing of computer resources and services by direct exchange between two systems

• Examples: SEIT @ Home, Skype, ICQ, and, of course, Napster

• A “peer” gives some resources and also receives some

Watch EFF Slide Show

Law Suits Backfiring

• [With Capitol v Thomas] looking to head to a mistrial, making the $222,000 judgment null and void, the two largest decisions in the RIAA’s ‘war on downloading’ have been against them. In both cases the RIAA admitted it was wrong and [was] ordered to pay the fees.

• Source

Controversy

•Copyright purpose is to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts” … and the duration for exclusivity is to be “limited” … - US Constitution

Infringement

• "Copyright infringement" means exercising one of the copyright holder's exclusive rights without permission.

• Should a copyright holder sue on grounds of infringement, the defendent may argue that the use was "fair use"

• The fair use doctrine allows copyrighted works to be used in some circumstances, such as commentary, criticism, news reporting or educational use.

Is This Infringement?

What About The Content YOU Produce?

Digital technologies enable a "Tinkering

culture" -- a "read write rip burn culture"

Sources• Copyright, Fair Use & The Evolution of Creative Commons:

http://www.slideshare.net/cliotech/copyright-the-evolution-of-creative-commonshttp:/www.slideshare.net/cliotech/copyright-the-evolution-of-creative-commons

• Copyright and Options for Creative Practitioners: http://www.slideshare.net/creativecommonsaustralia/creative-copyright-copyright-and-options-for-creative-practitioners

• Image: Consume. Be silent. Die. (unknown)

• Web 2.0 Image (1): http://joevans.pbwiki.com/Web+2+Point+O+Tools

• Web 2.0 Image (2): http://www.robmillard.com/archives/tools-for-strategists-web-20-confusion-hindering-firms.html

• Fine Print : http://www.slideshare.net/pauljacobson/legal-aspects-of-new-media-quirk-2008/

Kathy E. Gill

• http://wiredpen.com

• http://faculty.washington.edu

• http://twitter.com/kegill

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