I am currently reading Lawrence Lessig’s
book Remix. Within the book Lessig put’s forward a number of ideas/ theories
about current copyright regulation and the impact that it has on both the
development of creative output , society as a whole and on the individuals who
he feels have been wrongfully criminalized by out of date legislation.
Over the next few weeks I hope to blog some
of my thoughts and reflections on what I have read. I also hope to be able to
relate Lessig’s thoughts and theories directly to my own ideas on copyright /
regulation without the transmedial space and more specifically on those
creating and consuming transmedial narratives.
Lessig begins by using the story of introducing the concepts of (Read only) RO
and RW ( read and Write ) societies.
“The
turn of the century, … brought about an explosion of technologies for creating
and distributing music that didn’t fit well within the old model of protection.”
P24 Lessig 2008 Penguin Press.
Lessig is not talking about the turn of the
21st century and the digitalization of media , he is talking about
the turn of the twentieth century and the introduction of phonograh and the
player piano. These new technologies allowed the copying and distribution of
music in a way that had never been possible before, that was not in fact
regulated by existing copyright legislation at the time.
When Sousa’s a famous , conductor and
composer of the period appeared before congress to give evidence on the impact
of these new technologies.
“ when I was a boy in front of every house
in the summer evenings you would find young people together singing the songs
of the day or the old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night
and day . We will not have a vocal cord left. The vocal cord will be eliminated
by a process of evolution, as was the tail of the man when he came from the
ape”
This is not an attempt by Sousa to describe
the effect that he actually feels this new technology will have on the evolution
of man, but a commentary on the way in which he fears this new technology will
effect the relationship that people have with culture. He feared these new
machines would lead away from active participation in the culture we consumed
and towards simple consumption of culture.
I would suggest that digitalization and the
development of the transmedial narrative presents us the same types of social
and cultural change. Change not simply in how we access culture but how we
interact with it. The transmedial narrative demands the return to active
participation. In fact active participation is central to the success of a
transmedial narrative.
In Sousa's world, a world that I am sure he would have argued had been all mankind's world prior to the invention of these new machines capable of recreating music, man's culture was one in which those who consumed culture took a direct part in its creation. Prior to the invention of the phonograph , is somebody wanted to recreate a piece of music they heard they needed to either play it themselves or find somebody to create it for them. Aside from the rich elite who had always been able to higher entertainment, for the ordinary man this meant creating the culture themselves. Reading a representation of the music they wanted to hear ( the sheet music) and then recreating that music by playing the music , or singing the song with their friends. For these people culture was not something you could sit back and simply consume , it was in fact something that you created and consumed. In this world the creation and development of culture was not the exclusive domain of the professional , it is a domain where the professional creators are in fact far out numbered by the amateur creator. In the language of today , a read/write (RW) culture not a Read Only (RO) culture.
The world of the digital narrative is the RW world described by Sousa. Sousa described the young of his time as recreating [culture] using the same tools as the professional - the pianos, violins, guitars .... isn't this exactly the same situation we have now , with digital natives using the same instruments as the professionals to create culture... Despite that Sousa was a professional creator and an advocate of the extension of copy right , there appears to be two ideas that sit at the very heart of his thinking 1) is the importance of the amateur creative in the development of culture within society and the importance to put limitations on the ability of copyright to regulate this amateur creativity. When giving evidence on the extension of copyright ( remember always that in his time Sousa was calling for an extension in the protection offered by copyright ) in response to an accusation that the extensions he suggested would stop young people getting together and singing , as this could be seen as a regulated activity , namely a public performance , Sousa said it ridiculous to think it would ever be illegal to get together and sing.
In Sousa's world, a world that I am sure he would have argued had been all mankind's world prior to the invention of these new machines capable of recreating music, man's culture was one in which those who consumed culture took a direct part in its creation. Prior to the invention of the phonograph , is somebody wanted to recreate a piece of music they heard they needed to either play it themselves or find somebody to create it for them. Aside from the rich elite who had always been able to higher entertainment, for the ordinary man this meant creating the culture themselves. Reading a representation of the music they wanted to hear ( the sheet music) and then recreating that music by playing the music , or singing the song with their friends. For these people culture was not something you could sit back and simply consume , it was in fact something that you created and consumed. In this world the creation and development of culture was not the exclusive domain of the professional , it is a domain where the professional creators are in fact far out numbered by the amateur creator. In the language of today , a read/write (RW) culture not a Read Only (RO) culture.
The world of the digital narrative is the RW world described by Sousa. Sousa described the young of his time as recreating [culture] using the same tools as the professional - the pianos, violins, guitars .... isn't this exactly the same situation we have now , with digital natives using the same instruments as the professionals to create culture... Despite that Sousa was a professional creator and an advocate of the extension of copy right , there appears to be two ideas that sit at the very heart of his thinking 1) is the importance of the amateur creative in the development of culture within society and the importance to put limitations on the ability of copyright to regulate this amateur creativity. When giving evidence on the extension of copyright ( remember always that in his time Sousa was calling for an extension in the protection offered by copyright ) in response to an accusation that the extensions he suggested would stop young people getting together and singing , as this could be seen as a regulated activity , namely a public performance , Sousa said it ridiculous to think it would ever be illegal to get together and sing.
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