Comments for Digital Novelty Watch http://www.chrisdymond.com My (probably quixotic) attempt to track the important trends in digital culture and innovation Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:22:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 Comment on Remixing is important and not important by Govinda Dickman http://www.chrisdymond.com/2010/02/remixing-is-important-and-not-important/comment-page-1/#comment-4182 Govinda Dickman Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:46:47 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=201#comment-4182 On top of this, you need to factor in the notion that the TRUE materia of both cyberspace and identity is ineluctably MATERIAL. Part of what's being explored here is the lost/veiled/masked/reconfigured intersection of real bodies with technology, of real bodies with other real bodies, of real physical desires with real physical materials. The world is literally changing, in a way that isn't quite covered by your "march of cultural progress" metaphor Chris, because of these technologies. The desires of rich westerners for premade 2nd life avatars have created a slave-caste of Koreans who make twinks for rich middle class children; the desire of every schoolchild for an iPod creates and sustains their countries' economic relationship with producer-states etc... A lot of mash-up culture is screaming at the wall-of-light, trying to see if there's anything solid behind it... On top of this, you need to factor in the notion that the TRUE materia of both cyberspace and identity is ineluctably MATERIAL.

Part of what’s being explored here is the lost/veiled/masked/reconfigured intersection of real bodies with technology, of real bodies with other real bodies, of real physical desires with real physical materials. The world is literally changing, in a way that isn’t quite covered by your “march of cultural progress” metaphor Chris, because of these technologies. The desires of rich westerners for premade 2nd life avatars have created a slave-caste of Koreans who make twinks for rich middle class children; the desire of every schoolchild for an iPod creates and sustains their countries’ economic relationship with producer-states etc…

A lot of mash-up culture is screaming at the wall-of-light, trying to see if there’s anything solid behind it…

]]> Comment on Remixing is important and not important by Govinda Dickman http://www.chrisdymond.com/2010/02/remixing-is-important-and-not-important/comment-page-1/#comment-4181 Govinda Dickman Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:41:37 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=201#comment-4181 You need also to factor in the idea that identity IS information, and that the "material" of cyberspace is information, too... What you are therefore observing when you see mash-ups is something akin to a being "exploring their bodies' relationship to its environment", learning to manipulate the materia out of which they are constructed and in which they swim... You need also to factor in the idea that identity IS information, and that the “material” of cyberspace is information, too…

What you are therefore observing when you see mash-ups is something akin to a being “exploring their bodies’ relationship to its environment”, learning to manipulate the materia out of which they are constructed and in which they swim…

]]> Comment on Remixing is important and not important by Govinda Dickman http://www.chrisdymond.com/2010/02/remixing-is-important-and-not-important/comment-page-1/#comment-4180 Govinda Dickman Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:36:54 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=201#comment-4180 Manovich and others have argued that we perceive reality through representations of reality, or more precisely, we perceive reality in terms of the techniques and technologies for representing reality which are dominant in our cultures. E.g. perspectival space is a pictorial convention that has little to do with either space or the way we naturally perceive space, but few notice this any more because it has been utterly naturalised as "realistic". All representation is in this sense generic and derivative - the utterly original is unreadable. Remixes/re-appropriations fall into 2 camps: those that reiterate the ideological & perceptual schemata of the originals, and those which question, attack or subvert them. Both retain a dialectic relationship with the original representation, but there is potential for "the art of the short circuit" - unexpected collisions between two representational systems that are in fact logically or structurally incompatible but both of which we have internalised e.g. most people's expressed political ideology is democratic and pacifistic, but they all also seem to like action movies that revolve around a single hero at violent war with the entire universe - a common schizophrenia that manifests as the subversive re-visionings of hero archetypes, which youtube has in spades (e.g. gangsta Luke Skywalker; gay Batman & Robin; hitler-youth Superman...) Manovich and others have argued that we perceive reality through representations of reality, or more precisely, we perceive reality in terms of the techniques and technologies for representing reality which are dominant in our cultures. E.g. perspectival space is a pictorial convention that has little to do with either space or the way we naturally perceive space, but few notice this any more because it has been utterly naturalised as “realistic”. All representation is in this sense generic and derivative - the utterly original is unreadable. Remixes/re-appropriations fall into 2 camps: those that reiterate the ideological & perceptual schemata of the originals, and those which question, attack or subvert them. Both retain a dialectic relationship with the original representation, but there is potential for “the art of the short circuit” - unexpected collisions between two representational systems that are in fact logically or structurally incompatible but both of which we have internalised e.g. most people’s expressed political ideology is democratic and pacifistic, but they all also seem to like action movies that revolve around a single hero at violent war with the entire universe - a common schizophrenia that manifests as the subversive re-visionings of hero archetypes, which youtube has in spades (e.g. gangsta Luke Skywalker; gay Batman & Robin; hitler-youth Superman…)

]]> Comment on Remixing is important and not important by Nick Dymond http://www.chrisdymond.com/2010/02/remixing-is-important-and-not-important/comment-page-1/#comment-4161 Nick Dymond Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:48:52 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=201#comment-4161 Btw - the S-Club to KRS-One ('Sound of da police') segue is one of the finest moments in post-modern non-history. :) Btw - the S-Club to KRS-One (’Sound of da police’) segue is one of the finest moments in post-modern non-history.

:)

]]> Comment on Remixing is important and not important by Nick Dymond http://www.chrisdymond.com/2010/02/remixing-is-important-and-not-important/comment-page-1/#comment-4159 Nick Dymond Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:10:08 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=201#comment-4159 It seems to me that the imitations (subsequent generations of a remix) essentially provide a pre-established narrative framework for shits'n'giggles. You can shoot a movie with all your friends in, you don't have to worry about originality (too much), nor script, rules, delusions of grandeur and so on and so forth - it's all already there for you to play with. A finely grained form of genre if you will. Similarly, the pop-culture reference, first to The Breakfast Club and then to the already existing remixes secures a critical form by which to enjoy and maybe judge the work. Zak Snyder's made a career out of it ;) A good history of the mash-up sample culture: http://www.ubu.com/sound/dj_food.html It seems to me that the imitations (subsequent generations of a remix) essentially provide a pre-established narrative framework for shits’n'giggles. You can shoot a movie with all your friends in, you don’t have to worry about originality (too much), nor script, rules, delusions of grandeur and so on and so forth - it’s all already there for you to play with. A finely grained form of genre if you will. Similarly, the pop-culture reference, first to The Breakfast Club and then to the already existing remixes secures a critical form by which to enjoy and maybe judge the work.

Zak Snyder’s made a career out of it ;)

A good history of the mash-up sample culture:
http://www.ubu.com/sound/dj_food.html

]]> Comment on Is the Music Piracy War over? by paul hodgson http://www.chrisdymond.com/2009/07/the-music-piracy-war-is-over/comment-page-1/#comment-4103 paul hodgson Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:12:13 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=184#comment-4103 I hope so. There have been rumours on TechCrunch for a while that the music companies knew the game was up and that they were suing users only until they found a way to screw their artists in a whole new way by owning their own streaming channel. Hence the Spotify experiment where record co's take an equity stake (not for the first time in a digital distribution firm - Imeem) and a licensing deal. Historically the labels have offered licensing deals that make it impossible to make money (see Sonific: http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/04/in-music-the-lo.html). And I'm not sure this has changed with Spoitfy, which doesn't really make money for itself - it's all siphoned out to the majors in royalties (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/05/spotify_exclusive/). The major labels big challenge isn't piracy, it's a declining demographicand greater competition - there are fewer teenagers (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/04_FOPM_AgeStructure.pdf) and of course many more competitors for teen spending than there were in the 60, 70s and 80s. I don't really see any evidence that the majors are doing anything other than protecting their traditional revenue sources and I'm not that confident that the piracy issue has really gone away. Their big challenge long term is still Apple: they want to own the whole value chain from production (Macs and Logic) through to distribution (iTunes). It's beginning to work - grime artists like JME are building a business model around getting a track battered by DJs for 6 weeks then released on iTunes for 79p (http://verybutterz.blogspot.com/) - and noone pirates music more than the grime scene. And the artist's rate from iTunes or Juno is much better than major label contracts get you - or Spotify. A lot of producers I know are thinking of taking their tracks off Spotify. There's no money in it. I hope so. There have been rumours on TechCrunch for a while that the music companies knew the game was up and that they were suing users only until they found a way to screw their artists in a whole new way by owning their own streaming channel. Hence the Spotify experiment where record co’s take an equity stake (not for the first time in a digital distribution firm - Imeem) and a licensing deal. Historically the labels have offered licensing deals that make it impossible to make money (see Sonific: http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/04/in-music-the-lo.html). And I’m not sure this has changed with Spoitfy, which doesn’t really make money for itself - it’s all siphoned out to the majors in royalties (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/05/spotify_exclusive/). The major labels big challenge isn’t piracy, it’s a declining demographicand greater competition - there are fewer teenagers (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/fom2005/04_FOPM_AgeStructure.pdf) and of course many more competitors for teen spending than there were in the 60, 70s and 80s. I don’t really see any evidence that the majors are doing anything other than protecting their traditional revenue sources and I’m not that confident that the piracy issue has really gone away. Their big challenge long term is still Apple: they want to own the whole value chain from production (Macs and Logic) through to distribution (iTunes). It’s beginning to work - grime artists like JME are building a business model around getting a track battered by DJs for 6 weeks then released on iTunes for 79p (http://verybutterz.blogspot.com/) - and noone pirates music more than the grime scene. And the artist’s rate from iTunes or Juno is much better than major label contracts get you - or Spotify. A lot of producers I know are thinking of taking their tracks off Spotify. There’s no money in it.

]]> Comment on Is the Music Piracy War over? by Chris D. http://www.chrisdymond.com/2009/07/the-music-piracy-war-is-over/comment-page-1/#comment-3093 Chris D. Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:31:36 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=184#comment-3093 You can always stream films from LoveFilm: http://www.lovefilm.com/browse/film.html?facet-1=catalog|video&facet-2=media|digital And I'm sure there are pay-for services on Boxee. And on the music front, the RIAA seem at least happy with the fact that there's no DRM on music downloads any more: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/drm/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218501454 You can always stream films from LoveFilm: http://www.lovefilm.com/browse/film.html?facet-1=catalog|video&facet-2=media|digital

And I’m sure there are pay-for services on Boxee.

And on the music front, the RIAA seem at least happy with the fact that there’s no DRM on music downloads any more: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/drm/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218501454

]]> Comment on Is the Music Piracy War over? by Lee Oades http://www.chrisdymond.com/2009/07/the-music-piracy-war-is-over/comment-page-1/#comment-3080 Lee Oades Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:40:25 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=184#comment-3080 It's a funny thing isn't it? Up until recently, it was everyone copying everyone elses mp3 collections onto their portable harddrives. But since Spotify can deliver lots of music on demand - thus saving acres of disk space on things you'll never actually ever listen to, where's the incentive to copy it? I would argue the same about films frankly. I would like to download the latest films to my house and would actually pay for an HD version. But can I? No. It’s a funny thing isn’t it? Up until recently, it was everyone copying everyone elses mp3 collections onto their portable harddrives. But since Spotify can deliver lots of music on demand - thus saving acres of disk space on things you’ll never actually ever listen to, where’s the incentive to copy it?

I would argue the same about films frankly. I would like to download the latest films to my house and would actually pay for an HD version. But can I? No.

]]> Comment on Is the Music Piracy War over? by Jim http://www.chrisdymond.com/2009/07/the-music-piracy-war-is-over/comment-page-1/#comment-2813 Jim Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:01:50 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=184#comment-2813 The war might be over but battles are still being fought, it feels like the music giants are like the apocryphal soldier fighting on in the jungle long after the peace treaties have been signed. As long as lawyers can sniff the money then they will still try to fight the battles, it's time for a change in copyright law, and let the owner of the media truly own what they have bought, this means giving them the right to do with it what they will. The war might be over but battles are still being fought, it feels like the music giants are like the apocryphal soldier fighting on in the jungle long after the peace treaties have been signed.

As long as lawyers can sniff the money then they will still try to fight the battles, it’s time for a change in copyright law, and let the owner of the media truly own what they have bought, this means giving them the right to do with it what they will.

]]> Comment on Sometimes Facebook just smacks you in the face with bad usability… by Chris D. http://www.chrisdymond.com/2009/06/sometimes-facebook-just-smacks-you-in-the-face-with-bad-usability/comment-page-1/#comment-2447 Chris D. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:27:40 +0000 http://www.chrisdymond.com/?p=186#comment-2447 Yeah, I thought the same thing, but it doesn't seem too difficult to me to detect the abusive behaviour rather than inconvenience the legitimate user. The current strategy works until the filter DB contains things like "the info"... ;-) Yeah, I thought the same thing, but it doesn’t seem too difficult to me to detect the abusive behaviour rather than inconvenience the legitimate user. The current strategy works until the filter DB contains things like “the info”… ;-)

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