"Art requires imagination. It requires Creativity. Creativity requires experience and experience comes from your life. And your life is expressed in your art."
-Bruce Lee
Creativity is either tangible or intangible. Expression of creativity leads the imagination to go beyond the abstract state. From centuries up to this moment, outputs of creativity are countless in number and derivation, including the original works, the remixed originals, and the other combinations of remixed originals.
I watched Kirby Ferguson’s series documentary titled ‘Everything is a Remix’, and I found the point of view of this filmmaker towards creativity very interesting. I like what he mentions about the basic elements of creativity and several comparisons of film works in his 2nd part serie, the ‘Remix Inc.,’ which he shows the relation among works of creators in all generations . He said that people perceive stories that have been told, retold, transformed, and subverted, and the reason of producing remixed work possibly varies from appreciation of rich resources of the existing materials to budgeting the production (Ferguson).
As a design student and designer, I think the idea of remixing and collaborating on work enhances communication skills as well as allows collaborators to step out of their comfort zones. Because of reference, we learn to create difference based upon the similarity of what we know. However, it is a common ethical belief that those references should be credited. Good examples of remix that I found related to digital literacies are cover songs on Youtube and Wikipedia.
The music and video industries take copyright violations seriously, especially when covers of originals are used commercially. According to Youtube’s website, though they do not mediate copyright ownership disagreements, within their FAQ about derivative work it is clearly written:
You need the copyright owner’s permission to create new works based on their original content. Derivative works may include sequels, translations, spin-offs, adaptations, etc. You’ll probably want to get legal advice from an expert before uploading videos that are based on the characters, storylines, and other elements of copyright-protected material. (Youtube)
(screen shot of removed video on youtube website due to copyright violation.)
Another example is Wikipedia, the editable encyclopedia. I have read information which helps to illuminate issues of copyright that pertain to this aspect of digital literacies and the article titled,'Copyright in a Collaborative Age." Authors Charman and Holloway conduct a survey of copyrights issues in many collaborative outputs, including Wikipedia. They identify an interesting point: “In most cases, Wiki users do not wish to assert copyright and are not interested in financial gain, but when wikis are set up to provide a source of information for reuse, copyright licensing becomes an issue” (Charman and Holloway).
There are millions of people with creative talents around the world, but I believe that there are many who do not realize the importance of protecting ownership rights--both theirs and those whose works may be referenced. Carelessness with or consciously improper use of others’ intellectual property is considered a civil violation, and the penalty for copyright infringement under the United States copyright law ranges from $200-150,000 per work that is infringed.(Remedies for infringement: Damages and profits, 17 U.S.C. § 504)
In order to be prevent legal issues, these intellectual property rights should be taken seriously before publication. At the present, there are many ways to manage one’s property rights. Not only is there the ability to protect creative outputs with copyright, one can limit the usage of copyrighted works with ‘Fair Use’, and legally transfer ownership to the public with ‘Creative Commons’ licenses, which allow the rights to be easily modified from all rights to partial rights reserved.
Works cited:
"Frequently Asked Questions - YouTube Help - Google Help." 2014. 23 Mar. 2015 <https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797449?hl=en>
"M/C Journal: "Copyright in a Collaborative Age"." 2006. 23 Mar. 2015 <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0605/02-charmanholloway.php>
"Copyright Infringement and Remedies - US Copyright Office." 2006. 23 Mar. 2015 <http://copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html>
"Copyright Infringement Penalties - Purdue University Libraries." 2009. 23 Mar. 2015 <https://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/penalties.html>
"A Guide to Copyright and Creative Commons | When I Have ..." 2011. 23 Mar. 2015
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