The Interweb

Internet studies 1st essay revised

2011-12-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Internet Studies First Essay

My first encounters with the internet seem to have been negligible: as far as I knew, the internet had always existed and was some strange archive to be accessed from elementary school computers. At any rate, accessing the web did not come without great trouble since we had to use the phone line back in the age of dialup. As far as I understood, the internet's purpose really only served to collect and display trivia or information about five lined skinks. This probably explains my most formative memory of the internet, in which my father helped me develop a webpage (using basic java and html) for school. The webpage, as I remember, was capable of displaying pictures of far away galaxies and other astronomical bodies with brief subtitles and descriptions below them. Then I remember being satisfied with the plain green background, the ungraceful hypertext and the long clumsy strands of html.

This experience seemed to contain none of Bush's technocratic-utopianism or of Hawthorne's gloom and doom. The internet for me was an immutable yet distanced object in my life which I understood as a given. It appeared more so as a curious tool than anything capable of eventually occupying the greater portion of my waking day with god-awful things like facebook. I do remember taking an early fascination in web design that would later carry on in the form of my interest in managing free forums. Particularly I remember using Microsoft web publishing program to create a nasty looking web page about astronomy, but in this case I didn’t have too much of a concept of the connectedness that the internet afforded nor of its social implications. My concern was in this case a fascination with the possibility of creation that the internet afforded. I believe that the relatively limited scope of my early experiences of the internet were the result of dialup, which occupied the phone line and took a mind-bendingly long time to load a simple page. The internet then was an excursion, a trip into the heart of darkness of technology which severed even contact with the outside world. Thus we usually just left the internet to its own devices and to others in their own homes.

I also became quite familiar with the memetic nature of the internet – the most poignant early memory of something that can be called a ‘meme’ was my introduction to the “numa numa” dance video by Gary Brolsma. It was funny, quirky, and above all – viral; everyone I knew in middle school had seen it – even my parents were soon familiarized. So, ultimately my early experience with the internet culminated in a certain unconscious cultural induction into the world, particularly with video gaming and memetic internet culture.

It seems to me that the apocalyptic or utopian visions of Vannevar and Bush come only from a critical mindset established from a longstanding relationship with technology or societal norms. This is something I did not have at that age, and so my impressions were devoid of such content.

It seems that the formative stages of my awareness of the internet were relegated to the realm of an oddity. As I mentioned before, much of it seemed like an abstract container for information regarding elementary school biology projects. But once I was graced with the wonders of broadband (not to mention as the internet developed rapidly) I was quickly able to explore a greater use for the internet, even if that use was largely for silliness such as internet memes and videogames. Though my initial exposures did not leave much of a mark upon me, this later stage set the grounds for a way of understanding the world and being inducted into a shared culture which even the least geeky of my friends are familiar with. For me, as for most children, the ‘serious’ political or social undertones of the development of this technology was not a question that concerned us or even entered our radar: it was a de facto piece of the fabric of our daily lives, something which was given and natural.

Internet Studies webcast - DeviantArt

2011-12-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

2011-12-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

Remix & DeviantArt

In applying Lessig's critique of copyright laws and arguments for their reform with regards to a current social media site, I will choose to analyze the quite problematic 'artistic social media' website, 'DeviantArt." Though I personally feel that this site, as social media, does more to damage individual creativity through the production of predominately fan art and perversions of already popular cartoon characters, DeviantArt provides an excellent grounds for many of Lessig's arguments. Lessig's reforms can be very significantly applied to DeviantArt on two major fronts; that of deregulating amateur creativity as well as simplifying the already extremely complex and tedious Copyright laws.

The most significant reform that Lessig argues for that would be effective in the case of DeviantArt would be to deregulate amateur creativity. Under DeviantArt's policy, each work uploaded by the artist can request that their work be either copyrighted or choose a Creative Commons license.

This is problematic in the face of copyright laws, because it can be done essentially through DeviantArt without any screening of the content of the work. Therefore we have hundreds if not thousands of users who take characters from Anime shows such as Bleach, Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, Dragonball Z, etc and illustrate them in homo-erotic situations with other cartoon characters. In many ways this is unambiguously a violation of copyright, using characters who are already protected and owned by large media companies. There are, however, plenty of users who take greater liberty with their works (for purposes of parody etc.) and thus could fall easily upon fair use. But this does not seem to be the case for many users who just take a pre-existing character and change their clothing, pose, or sexual orientation.

Bleach Fan Art by gohan127, an example of possible copyright infringement.

The situation gets even stickier as DeviantArt users are allowed to sell 'prints' of their work through the website, which allows for a commercial use of other company's work. Lessig would see this as problematic, but would also aim to soften copyright laws to the extent to where innovation and reworking of art does not detract from the original in either quality or monetary value. Lessig states, with regards to deregulation of amateur creativity "That regulation could be avoided most simply by exempting “noncommercial” uses from the scope of the rights granted by copyright. No doubt that line is hard to draw. But the law has already drawn it in many different copyright contexts. Eight sections of the Copyright Act explicitly distinguish their applications based upon the difference between commercial and noncommercial use. A jurisprudence could develop to help guide the distinction here as well." Any form of deregulation of amateur creativity will allow for the burgeoning and even spreading diversity of artistic production building upon the past and pre-established works to create the 'new art'.

The simplification of Copyright Law would go a long way to alleviate some of the ambiguities and Copyright violations which occur on DeviantArt. With the site being utilized by hundreds of thousands of members, it is, according to Lessig, an 'obligation' to have Copyright Laws clear, upfront and simple as not everyone is a lawyer, nor does everyone have the time to go through, read and analyze (let alone understand the ambiguities bound up in law). Lessig thus states: "...when copyright law purports to regulate everyone with a computer—from kids accessing the Internet to grandmothers who allow their kids to access the Internet—then there is a special obligation to make sure this regulation is clear." Many DeviantArt users may think that they are safe by the official copyright of their works by the website, but in a case where they are copyrighting an already claimed character, it could lead to lawsuits and legal trouble. For DeviantArt.com, as well as many places on the internet, users would benefit highly from this simplification of law and would feel less inclined to ignore it and proceed with 'illegal' practices.

When analyzing an artistic social-media site such as DeviantArt, one can apply many of Lessig's critiques of copyright law as well as implement his reforms. Lessig's main concern is that the copyright law now, overbearing and complex, encourages users to live outside of the law, since most of the cultural activity they engage in on the internet is deemed as a violation of copyright. Thus the simplification of copyright law (making it apply only to large commercial companies such as record labels) and the deregulation of amateur creativity would seriously alleviate the many problems one can find that would lead to lawsuits over copyright in the bowels of DeviantArt. Lessig sums up this sentiment by concluding with: "let’s get on to the hard problem of crafting a copyright system that nurtures the full range of creativity and collaboration that the Internet enables: one that builds upon the economic and creative opportunity of hybrids and remix creativity; one that decriminalizes the offense of being a teen."

Internet Studies - 1st Essay

2011-12-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

Internet Studies First Essay

It was not until much later that I would have a richer experience of what the internet was and its potential uses. When I first got high-speed internet I remember immersing myself in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, video websites like www.albinoblacksheep.com and www.newgrounds.com and www.youtube.com. Even at this phase the social, political and cultural angles of Hawthorne and Bush’s approaches were something that would have never crossed my mind. This was the first time, however, that I was able to engage in something which could be called an online community – through my immersion in video games, and ‘clans’ (online communities and gaming teams) I became more aware of what the internet could perform in my social life. I also became quite familiar with the memetic nature of the internet – the most poignant early memory of something that can be called a ‘meme’ was my introduction to the “numa numa” dance video by Gary Brolsma. It was funny, quirky, and above all – viral; everyone I knew in middle school had seen it – even my parents were soon familiarized. So, ultimately my early experience with the internet culminated in a certain unconscious cultural induction into the world, particularly with video gaming and memetic internet culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o - Numa Numa by Gary Brolsma

Lessig's Remix: Essay on DeviantArt

2011-10-11T08:41:00.001-07:00

In applying Lessig's critique of copyright laws and arguments for their reform with regards to a current social media site, I will chosse to analyze the quite problematic 'artistic social media' website, 'DeviantArt." Though I personally feel that this site, as social media, does more to damage individual creativity through the production of predominately fan art and perversions of already popular cartoon characters, DeviantArt provides an excellent grounds for many of Lessig's arguments. lessig's reforms can be very significantly applied to DeviantArt on two major fronts; that of deregulating amateur creativity as well as simplifying the already extremely complex and tedious Copyright laws.
The most significant reform that Lessig argues for that would be effective in the case of DeviantArt would be to deregulate amateur creativity. Under DeviantArt's policy, each work uploaded by the artist can request that their work be either copyrighted or choose a Creative Commons liscense. This is problematic in the face of copyright laws, because it can be done essentially through DeviantArt without any screening of the content of the work. Therefore we have hundreds if not thousands of users who take characters from Anime shows such as Bleach, Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, Dragonball Z, etc and illustrate them in homo-erotic situations with other cartoon characters. In many ways this is unambiguously a violation of copyright, using characters who are already protected and owned by large media companies. There are, however, plenty of users who take greater liberty with their works (for purposes of parody etc.) and thus could fall easily upon fair use. But this does not to seem to be the case for many users who just take a pre-existing character and change their clothing, pose, or sexual orientation.
The situation gets even stickier as DeviantArt users are allowed to sell 'prints' of their work through the website, which allows for a commercial use of other company's work. Lessig would see this as problematic, but would also aim to soften copyright laws to the extent to where innovation and reworking of art does not detract from the original in either quality or monetary value. Lessig states, with regards to deregulation of amateur creativity "That regulation could be avoided most simply by exempting “noncommercial” uses from the scope of the rights granted by copyright. No doubt that line is hard to draw. But the law has already drawn it in many different copyright contexts. Eight sections of the Copyright Act explicitly distinguish their applications based upon the difference between commercial and noncommercial use.1 A jurisprudence could develop to help guide the distinction here as well." Any form of deregulation of amateur creativity will allow for the burgeoning and even spreading diversity of artistic production building upon the past and pre-established works to create the 'new art'.
The simplification of Copyright Law would go a long way to alleviate some of the ambiguities and Copyright violations which occur on DeviantArt. With the site being utilized by hundreds of thousands of members, it is, according to lessing, an 'obligation' to have Copyright Laws clear, upfront and simple as not everyone is a lawyer, nor does everyone have the time to go through, read and analyze (let alone understand the ambiguities bound up in law). Lessig thus states: "...when copyright law purports to regulate everyone with a computer—from kids accessing the Internet to grandmothers who allow their kids to access the Internet—then there is a special obligation to make sure this regulation is clear." Many DeviantArt users may think that they are safe by the official copyright of their works by the website, but in a case where they are copyrighting an already claimed character, it could lead to lawsuits and legal trouble. For DeviantArt.com, as well as many places on the internet, users would benefit highly from this simplification of law and would feel less inclined to ignore it and proceed with 'illegal' practices.
When analyzing an artistic social-media site such as DeviantArt, one can apply many of Lessig's critique's of copyright law as well as implement his reforms. Lessig's main concern is that the copyright law now, overbearing and complex, encourages users to live outside of the law, since most of the cultural activity they engage in on the internet is deemed as a violation of copyright. Thus the simplification of copyright law (making it apply only to large commercial companies such as record labels) and the deregulation of amateur creativity would seriously alleviate the many problems one can find that would lead to lawsuits over copyright in the bowels of DeviantArt. Lessig sums up this sentiment by concluding with: "let’s get on to the hard problem of crafting a copyright system that nurtures the full range of creativity and collaboration that the Internet enables: one that builds upon the economic and creative opportunity of hybrids and remix creativity; one that decriminalizes the offense of being a teen."