This winter, UTD EMAC grad students Sydnie Montgomery and Mattie Tanner set out to explore the relationship (past and future) between copyright and remediation.

First, Mattie tackles the myth that original ideas are “original” at all:

“contrary to this belief, much of art is based off of a previous work or idea that the artist has taken as inspiration. We would not have literary periods and genres, like Romanticism and science fiction, or artistic periods, like Impressionism and Cubism, if these authors and artists had not ‘copied’ each others’ styles and themes in their own works.”

Mattie goes on to explain that all creativity is remediation in some sense, citing historical innovators like Shakespeare and Disney to modern bands like Girl Talk. Copyright was intended to guarantee enough ownership to encourage production, but it has been extended in such a way that the years of guaranteed licensing and fee systems actually serve to inhibit production. She argues that laws designed to control the professional have extended to stifle the amateur because of proliferation of low- or no-cost tools thanks to expansion and access to new technology.

Sydnie explains “the mass of consumers has been broken into individuals again, who are no longer satisfied with mindless consumption. Some have now become the creators of that media changing how every pieces of media is viewed.” In short, so-called amateurs are now treading waters only known to industry professionals of the past. The traditionally passive consumer now has the means to be an active consumer, and the system can’t currently handle it.

As for the future, Sydnie explains: “There are institutions that will be deeply changed because of this shift and will heavily resist it, but they will not be able to stop it. Instead of taking the view that ‘This is how we have always been,’ these institutions should look at ‘Where will this take us and how can we benefit most from it?’ This change in perspective will make all the difference in whether these institutions survive the shift or are left behind.”

In order to understand understand the nature of remediation, the Mattie and Sydnie recorded a class discussion in Kim Knight’s EMAC 6300 class and made them into a 1:05 minute music track. They remediated the discussion. Through their struggles with deciding whether or not to use copyrighted content in the piece, the two experienced first-hand the stifling nature of copyright laws.

EMAC Remediation Final Project (click to hear audio)

They have since submitted their work to a journal for publishing.

Last week, while most North Texans were cooped up in their homes (whether by choice or not), Kim Knight’s (@purplekimchi) graduate Digital Textuality (EMAC 6374) class was having class as scheduled – not in the room designated, but online. The university was closed that day because of an unusually icy storm, and it would remain closed for days afterward.

The scheduled readings to be discussed were selections from Image-Music-Text by Roland Barthes, specifically sections on the structure of narrative and the death of the author. Then it came: the official notice that UTD would be closed. Kim sprang into action:

Since it was apparent no one would be able to physically (and safely) make it to any alternative meeting place that night, the choice was obvious: EMAC 6374 took it online. According to Kim, “it seemed appropriate since the class is about Digital Textuality. Could we enact, in a scholarly manner, some of the very paradigm shifts that we are studying? It seemed very appropriate with our readings on Barthes and the death of the author to use the chat structure to further remove me from the center of the classroom.”

Eventually TodaysMeet.com was chosen because there is no user limit per room and no sign-up. After an initial meet-up and check-in in a “Main” room, five other rooms were created for discussion of specific aspects of the text: Author, Medium, Characters, Adaptation, and What is Narrative. One student who had previously expressed an interest in one of the categories was assigned to each room, and the rest were encouraged to pick a few rooms to participate in. Kim explains, “In some cases these were students who don’t always get a chance to speak up in class and they did a great job of taking charge of the aspects of the text that most interested them.”

Overall, Kim was pleased with the result; “It was a little bit chaotic, but I really liked having so many active streams of discussion and the way it empowered the students to take charge of their understanding of the text. I think part of the reason it worked well is that we had met in person a few times and so there was already a bit of classroom community in place. Plus our students are comfortable with online communication.” Transcripts were saved at the end, so students who wished to review the transcripts later could do so.

It appears that even treacherous conditions can’t keep EMAC from doing what they do. But then, if EMAC can’t use emerging media to communicate effectively, who can?

Note: as an alternative to participating in this online discussion, students were offered both a scheduled meeting with Kim and others on campus and office hours to make up the class.