#terry flew

The issues surrounding copyright and fair use laws discussed by Terry Flew in this week's lecture and reading show the complexity around original works and appropriating work for other interests.

Most of the week's readings base their arguments around the idea that current ways of regulating content are unable to cope with the ways in which new media change the modes of distribution and the ways content is encountered. Many of the traditional modes of regulation fail to successfully protect the parties involved in creation and use of digital content. As suggested in the Kirby(2012) video Everything is a remix, American copyright and I.P. law are being exploited by patent and sample trolls - a fact which costs businesses and inhibits the creative nature originally intended by these laws. Neither the original creator or the public good benefit from this environment. Lessig further explores the extremes of a culture where creativity can be harshly punished by regulators, and advocates a return to focus on innovation for the greater public good.

In recent years, my internet service provider - Iinet - have been in the news for winning a four year legal battle over whether it was responsible for its users' illegal downloads. This highlights the complexities over a geographical/infrastructure-based approach to internet regulation. The current Australian Federal government is considering an approach that will push for website-blocking and pressuring the ISPs to shoulder more responsibility. As suggested by Flew(2014, p.184), this type of approach can become costly and time-consuming, with pirates adopting new ways to circumvent restrictions. Methods such as "Virtual Private Networks" or even apps, such as the "FreeWeibo" app in development that aims to circumvent China's restrictive "Great Firewall", restrictions are rarely all-powerful.

We are in a transitionary phase of content regulation. While Flew's vertically layered form of media regulation shows the issue with current approaches to convergent media, traditional media still exists to some degree. As the lobbying of companies like Disney for the "Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act 1998" shows and the rise of companies like Apple into the distribution market (Flew, 2012 p.192), a change in regulation equals a shift in power structures and those in power (the distributors, the patent holders etc.) don't want to lose out to the myriad of content creators.

References:

 Flew, Terry. 2014. “Ch 11: Internet Law, Policy and Governance.” In New Media. 4th ed, 178 – 197.Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

New media has transformed the way we entertain ourselves. It has developed new oppotunities for storytellers, musicians and game developers in the creation and distribution of their product. Sporting events can be streamed to mobile devices. Kindles and other tablets have given us new platforms to read.

The low cost of technical equipment and variety of distribution platforms: game developers (device apps like iPhone), movie makers (YouTube), musicians (MySpace), have led a range of diversified content and the rise of what Leadbeater and Miller describe as the Pro-am revolution.  We are now in an age of paticiptory media. Where users are the content creators.

This said, the convergence of these media platforms has opened opportunites for the commodified entertainment industries. Transmedia story telling inolves the collaboration of movie makers with game developers, web designers etc. This allows story tellers the opportunity to develop plots and characters in further detail. The Matrix franchise was the first to work this concept well. Jenkins describes transmedia story telling as “entertainment for the era of collective intelligence”.

The face of the entertainment industry has been modernised. The audience is now in a better position than ever to select content according to their personal taste and persuasion.

    References

Flew, T. 2008. New Media: An Introduction (3rd Edition). Oxford University Press. Melbourne.

Jenkins, H. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York UniversityPress, New York

 Leadbeater, C  and Miller, P (2004). The Pro-Am Revolution: How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society.  http://www.charlesleadbeater.net/archive/culture.aspx (accessed: 20th March, 2011)

Levy, S. (2006) The Perfect Thing: how the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness, NewYour: Simon and Schuster