Thursday, February 19, 2015

R/W Culture and Remix


  1. What's R/W culture? 
  2. What's remix? 
  3. What's the role between the two? Has remix help to re-democratize writing? Or has R/W culture validated remix practice?

19 comments:

  1. R/W Culture stands for Read/Write Culture. This culture facilitates a reciprocal relationship between the producer of text and the consumer of it. An example of this would be how prominent musicians would only play music for private parties before, like in today’s society, new technology allowed people from all over get a hold of such tunes. Also with new technology, the R/W culture has expanded into less of a professional form of expressing opinion, with the introduction of blogs. Blogs allow multiple consumers to post their honest feelings about what producers multiple people anywhere in the world can view showcase and their opinions. Therefore, this culture shifts the power from the producer to the consumer in the sense that new technology has given anyone a voice to speak freely about how a product is a success or failure. Remix or remix culture influence a society to deliberately edit or combine existing works to make a whole new product. Supporters of this culture moreover believe it is acceptable to improve, change, or basically “remix” the work of others, including under copyright law. In my opinion, the relationship of the tow is that R/W culture has validated remix practices. R/W culture is a further expansion of RO culture, which is Read Only culture. Now with new technology people can take anyone’s work and edit it or modify it or update. This therefore shows that R/W culture validates remix culture because in any industry like the music world, producers recycle work whether it be lyrics or a beat or anything and give it an update to be appreciated by consumers today. The same goes for literary works, movie, commercials and so on. Remix culture allows for the information that we’ve always known to be put in a medium that is better closely related to the current consumers of the world.

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  2. Read/Write culture, abbreviated to R/W culture in Lawrence Lessig’s “Remix”, is a culture in which people learn by reading it or experiencing it in another way. Then, they “add to the culture they read by creating and re-creating the culture around them” (28). Essentially, people experience and then they try to replicate or put a new spin on that experience. A good example of this, presented at the beginning of the first chapter, is music. A citizen can listen to music, and enjoy it. But they are participating in R/W culture when they decide to learn an instrument in order to play their own music. This concept can also be readily applied to writing and other forms of media.
    Lessig writes, “He succeeded not by simply stringing quotes together. He succeeded because the salience of the quotes, in context, made a point that his words alone would not” (51). In other words, many works are created by using another writer’s thoughts and ideas, and quotes from those pieces to solidify a new thought or prove a point. This can play into the idea of remixing media. A remix is a new twist applied to an already established work in order “to do something new” (52). Remixing is the creative approach to R/W culture. When doing so, a writer/designer must be careful not to infringe on anyone’s rights to ownership, or violate copyright laws. “The critical point to recognize is that the R/W creativity does not compete with or weaken the market for the creative work that gets remixed. These markets are complementary, not competitive” (56).
    Some do not see this as conducive to the media realm. There are copyright extremists and protective designers, as well as people who knowingly steal or plagiarize other works. There is a fine line between remixing a creative work and stealing without crediting the original source. The lines are different depending on the medium. Movies, music, printed texts and websites such as blogospheres are all regarded differently when it comes to giving credit. Lessig asks are puzzling question on page 55: “Should the ‘ask permission’ norms be extended from film and music to text? Or should the norms of ‘quote freely, with attribution’ spread from text to music and film?” I’m not sure that there is a correct answer here. Lessig brings up a good point regarding blogging when he acknowledges that anything written on a blog is open to debate. Each medium has its own set of “rules” that the creators abide by. However, remix culture is something we should aim to protect, as it helps put useful material into more widespread, relevant media spheres.

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  3. The abbreviation “RW” come from the cultural term coined by Sousa called “Read/Write”. For Sousa people would “read” their culture by listening and then attempting to in some form create or recreate their world or in essence the culture, thus becoming a writer. It was never enough to be good at either one because in Sousa’s eyes one should not exist without the other. The reader doesn’t become alive without the writer and the writer doesn’t develop without first becoming a reader. Thus culture relied heavily on such reciprocity. The book exemplifies this well on page 28 about how, young people especially, should listen to music and then try to create or recreate the music through the instruments used by the predecessor like the piano, violin, guitar, etc.
    Remixing is the action of taking other persons work: their ideas, their layout, their words, and using them in a different context than the original to make something inherently new. I believe we should thank the digital revolution for such an extreme growth in this field. By adjusting a few chords and using adapting to a new situation many new consumers can now remix songs to fit their own needs. I think the film industry is the biggest proponent of remixing. They take the content originally proposed by books, comics, or even other movies and adapt them to fit their own purpose. Kill Bill is notoriously known for being a movie that basically remixes a variety of cinematography and then introduces them in a storyline to create “originality”.
    I think the reader/writer culture has definitely validated remix practice. There is more of importance on creating a material that’s innovative, taking old ideas and placing them in a new context to produce something unique rather than strictly original. Our culture thrives on adaptation and that’s exactly what remixing allows consumers to able to do artistically.

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  4. R/W culture is a term for a culture that both produces and consumes content. Read Write culture revolves around the idea that person consuming a piece of culture (poem, novel, music, etc.) might become a creator of culture because of their consumption. For instance, a musician might hear a song they like and learn the guitar chords to play along. Now the musician has those new chords in his or her repertoire and might use those chords immediately or at some future point while composing their own song. Read Write culture requires an input and an output. New content is input into consumers, and they then become producers of more original content.

    According to Lessig, remix is the act of quoting within both alphabetic texts and other mediums as well (Lessig 52). Quoting is standard practice in academic papers. Students remix quotes from authors by supplementing them with new content in order to form an argument. “Quoting,” in a broad multimedia sense of the word, is both common and accepted in alphabetic writing but more taboo in other mediums like film where usage rights often must be obtained.

    Read Write culture and remix culture are very similar. Both cultures depend on interacting with pre-existing content in order to form new texts. Remix culture has somewhat re-democratized writing has also popularized it to a greater extent. New resources available on the Internet make creating remixes a simple task compared to the sometimes difficult and inspiration-dependent Read Write culture. Anyone can now seek out content and remix it to suit their message instead of having to suffer under the difficult cruel creative process. Both remix and R/W can be difficult, but remix appears to be a less daunting system for many writers. It democratizes writing not by its inherent traits, but because it broadens the options potential writers (everyone) have at their disposal.

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  5. R/W culture (read/write culture) “consists of all of humanity” and includes two processes. First people read the culture around them. The way to “read” is different according to the genre of the culture. The text uses the example of the music culture. One would not “read” in this culture but would listen to the musical work around them. A citizen would then “write” or create a work based on what they hear, using the same tools. Read/Only culture is different from Read/Write because it is less-focused on the reproduction of creativity. RO culture focuses more on consumption and re-distribution of the same culture. Lessig describes John Philip Sousa’s stance on the culture. He writes that Sousa argues that R/O culture is less appreciative of the work and knowledge put into the R/W culture.

    Lessig’s Remix style is basically freedom to create from the already created. He first refers to remix as “quoting.” Therefore, it is and combining other works for a new purpose. He also sees Remix as a complementary act to R/W culture. He writes, “Remix is an essential act of RW creativity.” This is because both cultures are inspired by what already exists. Both cultures create something new after considering/listening/reading the work that is already in the universe.

    I think the R/W culture has validating the practice of remix. Primarily I believe this because I think Read/Write culture and remix overlap in their concepts and techniques. Lessig writes, “These RW media look very much like Ben’s writing with text. They remix, or quote, a wide range of ‘texts’ to produce something new” (Lessig 69). This sentence explains how even with the new media world, the basic concepts of reading and writing apply when creating a new work, or culture. This is why I believe that the R/W has always been and will continue to be of value in the remix culture (aka validate).

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  6. According to Lessig and Sousa, “R/W culture”, or read/write culture, functions under the concept that culture is shared from person to person. People understand their culture by “reading” it, which could be actually reading, listening or viewing representations. These representations are then regurgitated (especially by younger generations) in different forms to add to culture. So culture is constantly being created and re-created. Covers of songs are a good example of culture being re-created, especially with younger people. Classic songs can be completely reworked with different instruments and vocals (yet with the same lyrics) to create a newer representation that still has roots in older culture.
    A remix, is a way to take a usually digital piece and make something new of it. Remixing can involve taking quotes and using them in different contexts and also using small parts of someone else’s work for your own creative agency. A large part of controversy surrounding remix culture is whether the newly created work is functioning on a public/commercial distribution or for personal purposes like a college essay.
    Remixing and R/W culture definitely overlap and include similar practices. Both involve taking already existing work and creating something new from its parts. R/W culture has definitely become more digitized with the introduction of remixing, which often applies to media that involves the use of new technology like the internet. Lessig also mentioned that remixing can be used to make a more powerful point, which can also help R/W culture create strong impacts as well. Although both practice are similar, I think remixing involves more of an individual’s new ideas and using samples or something similar as added help. While R/W culture seems to stick more to the ideas of an original work.

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  7. R/w culture is also known as a Read/Write culture. It is described as a practice in which people “read” or learn about their culture through actual reading or listening and then afterwards they add to their culture by in turn creating and re-creating it around them. Remix is taking a text, citing it but then using it to make a new case then what it was making before. The role between remix and R/w culture is that, “Remix is an essential act of RW creativity.” In the text it is stressed that one doesn’t take away from the other when dealing with creativity because they both reinvent a new creation using old things. It’s elaborated more by saying that R/w culture and remix don’t even take away from the old work that they are remixed or re-creating from, instead it is said that the “markets are complementary, not competitive.” Remix culture has helped to re-democritize writing in the sense of how the text has defined a democracy within writing. Instead of using that word in the sense of people being able to vote, democracy in this sense means, “everyone within a society has access to the means to write.” Therefore, I think remix has helped people with the means to write because it gives them context to brainstorm off of and also it helps give writing a more concrete start. I also think you could make the argument that R/w culture has validated remix because R/w culture is looked at as adding to the creativity of a work that is already out there but with remix you are taking the work and incorporating it into your own so that fact that you can add to an already existing work makes it seem appropriate to take from one and use it with proper citations.

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  8. R/W is an abbreviation for the term Read/Write that author Sousa came up with. It is a concept based on how people take in their surroundings, literature, videos, or anything and have it so that they can create. This creation is the writing aspect of R/W. This aspect however according to Sousa has become obsolete, or almost. The mains point is that we have a culture that is based on observation that leads to creation, it is not that we don’t have original thoughts, it is that we have so much that we can work with and most people do, though not enough, not what it used to be. Remixing is taking a work that is already there and a person using it to create not necessarily something entirely new, but something that leaves a different impression. The role between the two is that they are similar to each other in that they both rely on an observer and something observed and something being created out of that observation. Remixing has allowed it so that people who appreciate someone else’s work can use it and not have there be some huge legal battle though some lines are blurred. So there has been a re-democratization of writing where someone can make their own decisions and not have a backlash. ​

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  9. RW culture is Read/Write culture. In “Remix”, Lawrence Lessig states that ordinary people read their culture by listening to it or by reading representations of it. They add to the culture they read by creating and re-creating the culture around them (Lessig 28). They do this by using the same tools the professionals use as well as tools given to them by nature. Lessig writes that culture in this world is flat and is shared person to person. John Philip Sousa feared that RW culture would disappear and be replaced by Read/Only culture focused on consumption. However, new technology will enable RW culture. It will encourage economic growth for both the professional and the amateur.

    New technology has allowed anyone to write using images, music, or video. Remixing is using a wide range of texts to produce something new. Remix works like a collage, using the meaning created by a reference to build something new. It is creativity supported by a new technology (Lessig 82).

    Remix and R/W are complementary. Remix is an important act of RW creativity. It takes old material and creates with it. RW creativity does not compete with or weaken the creative work that gets remixed. Together, they both re-democratize writing by creating new works from existing culture.

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  10. An RW culture is a Read/Write culture (Lessig 28). This means that individuals are reading what already exists in their culture, and then adding to it by means of production. A significant aspect of the idea behind RW culture is that it excludes professional production. Professional musicians, for example, are not included in the "writing" part of the equation whereas individuals who create music are. This can be understood through the comparison with RO culture (Read/Only) culture and when Lessig discuses the fact that Sousa was right, RO culture was happening in the twentieth century as production was extremely professionalized. For me personally, RW culture can be seen as a type of "read and reply" relationship, where as RO culture can be seen as "read only."

    Remixing is different from RW in that instead of "replying" to what you read, you use the material that already exists in a new composition. An example of this would be taking quotes and arranging them in a way that has a different meaning or effect than the original work. Remixing is enhanced by technology because it allows us to use more than just written quotes, we can use video, audio, and other creative works as part of new composition.

    I think that R/W culture helps to shape remixing. We're at the point now where we can almost merge the two into a type of "read/write & remix" culture. We use writing and remixing as a way to communicate and contribute to culture. We're reading remixed texts and we're watching remixed videos and then we're commenting on them with quotes from other sources. The lines are significantly blurred in regards to what is "new/original" and what is "remixed" and I think that really attests to the fact that writing is not static.

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  11. Sousa refers to "Read/Write" ("RW") culture as ordinary citizens reading their culture by listening to it or through reading presentations such as in musical scores. Citizens contribute to this culture that they read by creating and re-creating the culture around them. This is done through the use of tools such as pianos, violins, guitars, mandolins, and banjos as well as the use of vocal chords. Sousa was worried that this culture would be replaced by a read only culture (Lessig 28). However, with the introduction of infernal machines RW culture will become prevalent again, possibly leading to a growth in economic opportunity (Lessig 33).

    Remixing is the process of using other people’s work in order to help get your point across. Citation is required however this citation acts as a payment to the other writer (Lessig 52). Words can be remixed from a book, film, or a song. The norms of governing these acts are different even though they commit the same acts. The norms for expression such as music and videos are more restrictive than the ones for text (Lessig 54). This stems from the distinction between commercial or public presentations of film, text, images, and music versus private or noncommercial uses (Lessig 55). The markets are seen as complementary instead of being competitive.

    Remix culture has indeed helped to re-democratize writing because it allows writers to have a basis to start with and inspire future ideas by stemming off from another writers creativity. Furthermore, I also believe that R/W culture has validated remix practice, as it is an essential part of the R/W culture creativity. In order to fit into our developing society, writers must adapt and stem from other writings in order to create content applicable to our current interests. As Sousa states, the process of creating by incorporating another person’s work is under freedom of expression. This creativity is seen as performance and shows the creative ability of artists.

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  12. In Remix, Lawrence Lessig defines R/W, or read/write culture as culture in which the general populace is involved in the production of creative works, rather than creativity being a purely professional process. Our culture fits this description to a certain extent. It’s easy to see that we have many elements of R/W culture; on the web, more amateur works of all sorts are produced than ever before in the form of blogs, YouTube videos, and other media. It is also obvious that, as Lessig says, professional works dominate the public consciousness.

    Remixing is a process that involves taking material from creative works and using it to create another work that affects the audience in a different way, even to the point that it will not compete in the market with the original. Remixing involves not merely taking inspiration from other works, but rather lifting material from them to create something like a collage. One example Lessig uses is Pokémon; by involving a wide range of fictional creatures, Pokémon media encourages children to form their own unique relationship to it, discovering their own facts and information.

    I think that R/W culture has without a doubt validated the practice of remixing. This is due to remixing itself being a subset of R/W culture; remixing is generally carried out by amateurs rather than professionals, due to copyright restrictions. Also, remixing is a form of responding to the texts and media we experience. The difference with remixing is that it is more derivative, whereas all of R/W culture is not as much so, at least not necessarily. Overall, remixing and R/W culture share an extremely close relationship, and both of them seem to be spreading hand-in-hand – through amateurs, often online.

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  13. A R/W culture is a “Read/Write” culture (28). It is a culture in which the reader engages with what they consume and “add to the culture they read by creating and re-creating the culture around them” (28). In this space, culture is shared from person to person and used as a foundation on which to build upon. It is a culture of action and reaction. This is starkly contrasted by “Read/Only” (“R/O”) culture, where the reader in comfortable with simple consumption and does not respond or actively engage with the source material.
    Remixing is similar in conceit to assemblage; it’s taking existing material and “remixing”, or altering intention and context to recycle, repurpose, and reinvent. As we looked at in class with Shia LaBeouf’s use of appropriated quotes, he repurposed existing work to make a point wholly his own. This is remixing – making the old new by altering it. As shown through example in the readings, there is a craft to remixing that distances it from simple plagiarism. It is a purposeful engagement with culture by means of repurposing original content.
    I think R/W culture validates remix practice. By acknowledging the value in reader engagement with culture, in their efforts to create and recreate the culture they participate in, it legitimizes the act of remixing. It seems the remixing is the response that is described in this idea of “R/W” culture, so the presence of one aids the other.

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  14. R/W culture is short for Read/Write culture, a concept by which an audience ‘reads’ the culture around them, taking it in, and then ‘writes’, creating culture with a basis in what they’ve previously experienced by combining things in a new way and building on what they’ve consumed. This seems to be on a much wider and less direct scale than remix culture. For instance, growing up in a society that values music and gives the ability to explore genres intently throughout early life, a rock artist may consider their upbringing and experience of rock as their ‘reading’, and their personal production of new and original rock music as ‘writing’.
    Lessig’s concept of remix is more direct, taking actual pieces of existing works and recombining them to create a new work, more like quoting a work within a new work, rather than creating an entirely original piece. We saw an example of this in class on Thursday, when we listened to Strange Fruit by Nina Simone, then Blood on the Leaves by Kanye West; West used audio directly from Simone’s work to produce his own, very different song.
    I believe that the two concepts coexist very cleanly, and that the reasoning behind R/W culture makes remix feel more legitimate.

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  15. Read/Write culture is based on the idea that the reader is engaging with what they are in taking and they are adding to the culture by recreating ideas that have already existed through their own production. Sousa, the man behind the R/W culture, was concerned with the idea that people would not be able to create culture. They would be stuck with what has already been created and not willing to create something new. In R/W culture, the creation can be seen as something completely new.
    Remixing, on the other hand, involves using work that is already in existence to then produce something new. It can be seen as a form of recycling ideas. With today’s technology, it is much easier to produce a remix which allows to expand the complexity of the remix. Remixing involves a community; the community is needed in order for ideas to expand. Remixing is also “excite(s) interest-based learning” (80). I think this is one of the most important aspects of remixing. As long as education is expanding and the desire to be educated continues, society will continue to grow positively.
    Remixing has re-democratized writing by allowing writers to have a base to start writing and allowing for ideas to be circulated. I also think that remixing has helped for creativity to expand. Creativity, in any form, is a writer’s or artist’s ability and the way they choose to express their creativity should be through the ways they desire.

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  16. R/W culture or read and write culture is defined by Lessig as the perception people have of the world around them. In read and write culture people experience their surroundings through the concept of reading. When listening to music or reading into culture, people are “reading” and learning from the culture around them. After doing so, it is expected that they will move on to the write portion of this concept in which they will use similar ideas they learned from reading to write something new. Thus contributing to the culture around them.

    Remix style is when people take direct quotations and create new things with them. It is the idea of furthering your idea with help from previously owned ideas and creating new ideas from the old. Frequently this goes hand in hand with the read and write culture because they are furthering their culture through the usage of the ideas around them.

    Both remix culture and the read/write culture involve taking old ideas and making them new and applicable. Remix culture has helped to re-democritize because today nearly everyone has access to the same material to quote, therefore there is no elitism in the production of remixes. While it may be easier for more people to access to remixes of the elite, everyone is capable of putting their thoughts out there in order to further culture.

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  17. In Read/Write culture, individuals "read" content and then, after taking the content into consideration, go on to "write" their own original content. This concept covers media such as actual writing, music, film, etc. etc. What I mean by "taking the content into consideration" is that they gather inspiration from "reading" the original content. Then, after becoming inspired by the content, they are motivated to create their own, original content. For example, someone hears an epic Neil Peart solo at a Rush concert; after being blown away, they then decide to start taking drum lessons. After years of hard practice and thousands of dollars invested into a drum set, this individual then begins to produce their own songs. Thus creating new, original content. In the situation above, the concert experience is the "reading" and the production of new songs is the "writing".

    Then their is the Remix. I think that Lessig's concept of remix is what people my age often associate the word to. This process of lifting pieces of an original work and dropping them into something that delivers a different message is what I usually consider a "remix". A perfect example of this concept was shown during class last thursday with 'Strange Fruit' by Nina Simone and 'Blood on the Leaves' by Kanye West. Kanye used a sample from Simone's recording, slightly altered the sound of it, and incorporated it into his own, original song.

    Comparing the two, it is obvious that the Read/Write approach is less direct than that of the Remix. R/W is more about inspiration, rather than sampling. However, the R/W approach certainly seems to validate the remix. This is due to the basic similarities the concepts share, such as being influenced by an original work and using that influence to create something with a different message and to a different audience. Another similarity between the two is that neither are exclusive to the professionals (authors, doctors, famous musicians), in fact, both are directed towards the potentials of the amateur.

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  18. R/W culture stands for Read/Write culture, meaning that not only is culture remembered by civilians reading about it’s past, but also by creating more culture in their lives. Another way to look at it is, if one opens a file that is R/W, they can read it and edit it freely, whereas R/O means they are only allowed to read it. In my opinion this culture goes along with assemblage, because with R/W, you are able to add a new opinion and possibly create something entirely new.
    Remix, in my understanding is what R/W culture is all about. It is using an old piece of work and reworking it to be part of something else. The role between the two is that R/W culture helps validate remix practice, by showing its positive sides. I don’t know if I would say remix re-democratizes writing, because I think sometimes using someone else’s work to be part of yours ends up being not an equal thing at all. It is a very tricky subject, because I see all the positives to R/O and R/W culture, which is why I think both need to exist and there needs to be companies helping both stay important. For example, R/O created millions of jobs, by creating VCRS, DVDS, and continuously new technology. R/W has helped there be extremely great music, for example Kanye West’s mixes with past artists. Without having R/O we couldn’t always create new strong technology and also people’s ideas would be stolen in an unhelpful, unhealthy manner. Without, R/W and remixes, we would miss out on new opinions and new art that can only be made by mixing an old idea.

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  19. R/W culture is Read/Write culture which means a population is consuming and producing media. This contrasts R/O (read only) culture, where there is a one way path of consumption. Lessig writes about Sousa and how he valued the amateur creativity of RW culture as a professional because it incubated an appreciation and love for music and art.
    Remix is the rearranging of a text and/or the splicing of other texts to create a new text. The existence of remix largely bolsters RW culture by encouraging the democracy of texts in any media. The internet is an inherently interactive medium, and the massive availability of material to remix revitalized RW culture and remix.

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