Tuesday, February 9, 2010
What is an author?
After reading Lessig's "Remix" it made me think about how we are all multimedia writers. Right now, I'm being a multimedia writer. Anything we write, remix, or post on the web is a reflection of the author who put it up on the web to share with others. What's difficult to figure out is when multimedia writers, like us, cross the line into copyright issues. For example, on facebook it's illegal to post pictures that have been copyrighted. So, when people began posting pictures for the Doppelganger, is what they did illegal? Could they have been sued? What if they were? We rarely know when we cross the line because it's so fine, but what do we do when and if we do cross it? These copyright issues are difficult to understand completely, and because we are all multimedia writers in some way, are we crossing the line more than we know?
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Freddie, I think you're right with your assessment of the questions Lessig raises. He seems to think that this line - into copyright issues and illegality - is closer and closer, more and more there, for all of us. Another related question would be "value." I'd say that in print we related publication to a certain kind of value - a book in print was good or important in some way; it was "authorized" (one institutional aspect of authorship). The ease of multimedia publication makes value more difficult: is everything on the web worthwhile? is nothing? how do we decide?
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