Freedom of Speech on the Internet — Part 7: Remix Culture (…again)
August 4th, 2009 | 4,005 views | 8 Comments » | TweetRemix Culture: The Early Years
One of the most exciting – albeit unintended – developments to arise from the Internet revolution is the development of cyberculture: social networks, online games, chat, USENET, bulletin board systems, e-commerce, peer to peer networks, and virtual worlds. With these new technologies, people are creating new forms of social expression, mash-ups, and cultural conversations. These social expressions and Internet conversations were made possible by the convergence of technologies like YouTube, cheap video cameras, and the free video editing software that comes included with most computers.
Anyone with access to a $300 computer and camera can now take sounds and images from the culture around them and remix them to express ideas in an extremely powerful way. The techniques of video production, once only available to movie studios and TV networks, has been democratized and unleashed for use by the masses.
The Internet enables people from around the world to engage in this new form of collaborative creativity and be part of the conversation no matter where they live in the world.
Update: You should read:
Part 8 – Threats to Freedom of Speech on the Net
Part 9 – Yes We Can Regulate Culture with Copyright Law
Part 10 – Lawrence Lessig = Awesome
Part 11 – Final Thoughts
Your posts seem to be getting increasingly optimistic. Is this a trend that will continue, or will it fluctuate like a sine wave? ^^
Haven’t decided yet. What would you like to see?
Personally, a healthy mix (alternating?). I actually don’t know how many more of these you’re planning, haha.
They’ve been great so far though!
Haha… thanks! I’m glad you like ‘em. I’m actually thinking about ending the series pretty soon. I originally planned to write much more, but I think an entire home page full of freedom of speech rants may be too much!
Apparently Google thinks I’m an authority on the topic now. Last week, I discovered that I was on the first page for the search “freedom of speech on the internet”. When I saw that, I was like, “SAY WHAT?”
Since then, I’ve dropped to the second page, but still…
http://www.google.com/search?q=freedom+of+speech+on+the+internet&hl=en&start=10
I’m glad someone’s actually reading this stuff! Thanks Caroline!
BTW, I checked out your blog — great job! I really like the design!
One can never have too many freedom of speech rants! But okay, I’ve been warned. xD
Haha, you’re well on your way to becoming famous, Feross. A few more posts and I’m sure you’ll be right back on the first page!
(Heh, thanks? It’s a wordpress template – getting my own site is still on my list of things to do.)
[...] (3)Aboukhadijeh, Feross. Freedom of Speech on the Internet. [...]
[...] freedom of speech on the Internet. You should read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8 [...]
[...] 5 – George Orwell Rolls in His Grave Part 6 – The Internet Revolution and Citizen Media Part 7 – Remix Culture (…again) Part 8 – Threats to Freedom of Speech on the Net Part 9 – Yes We Can Regulate Culture [...]