Revised Essay

The link to my revised essay:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYVJKyBf0rrDZGZuM2g4ODRfMTNnZnZoYm1jcg&hl=en

Robert Johnson Remix

Creative Gallery Status

For my creative gallery, I decided to focus on the idea of remix culture by remixing a song myself, as well as showing the remixes and covers that other artists have done for the same song. I've chosen Robert Johnson, arguably the most important blues musician of all time, as the basis for my gallery. I'm creating a video in Windows Movie Maker that will play the original song and then my remix, as well as versions from other artists. I also would like to present his biography in hypertext form, if time permits. I feel this would be an interesting way to tell his story because of the large amount of hearsay and legend prevalent in all accounts of his life.

Movie

This is my wonderful created movie:

Revised Essay

Here is my revised essay, although there is still revision required:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYVJKyBf0rrDZGZuM2g4ODRfMTNnZnZoYm1jcg&hl=en

Google Map

View Story Map in a larger map

Creative Response

My topic does have the advantage of lending itself well to the "creative gallery" portion of our class. I'm hoping to have enough success with the musical collaboration site Indaba to be able to present a piece of music that was composed collaboratively on the site, in addition to my research on musical authorship and copyright. My plan is to break down the song or songs piece by piece and illustrate how different sections of the song were the product of multiple people working towards a final product.

Reflection

Reflecting on my work so far, I feel confident about my topic and theory, but unsatisfied with the work I've done so far. I haven't yet grasped exactly how I want to present my findings or what is the best way to approach gathering information. With my project, online music collaboration, I feel that I need to take part in the process to understand fully how these sites work. However, I also have to explore the authorship and copyright side of the online music community, and be able to compile everything coherently into the essay.

Annotated Bibliography

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYVJKyBf0rrDZGZuM2g4ODRfMTJmZjQ4dHdmdw&hl=en

(I'm still a bit light on relevant resources.)

Theory Presentation

Presentation:
http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AYVJKyBf0rrDZGZuM2g4ODRfMGZkODRmcG1q&hl=en

Wordle

Research Draft Proposal

For my research project, I want to explore how the Internet has revolutionized musical collaboration. There are several websites that allow users to create complete musical compositions without ever meeting in person. For example, one person can upload a guitar riff. Another person can organize lyrics and song structure around that riff. Someone else can compose a bassline or string orchestration, and someone else can add a drum track. What started as a three-second guitar riff can result in a legitimate, collaborative piece of music. Using digital communication to piece together music isn't just theoretical technology or a novelty, it's already widely used by both major-label artists as well as avid GarageBand musicians.

The technology is in place, and there is no shortage of musical talent among contributors. However, what role does authorship play? How is credit given for music created in this fashion, and is there away for the contributors to profit from it? Finally, what advantages and disadvantages does the online format bring to the collaborative process, as opposed to musicians meeting in person?

Bibliography:

http://musicollaborate.com/

http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.music

http://www.zoetrope.com/index.cgi

http://www.pandora.com

On Plagiarism

I enjoyed both articles regarding plagiarism, and I think they both comment well on one of the drawbacks of our technological age. While the internet has made it remarkably easy to publish anything and make it available to the world, it has also made the process of finding a truly unique voice very difficult. Anyone choosing a band name first has to check Myspace, and chances are their first choice will be taken (forcing a noticeable increase in ludicrous band names). Likewise, any author of a screenplay can probably find an almost-identical one somewhere on the Web. The trend will only grow, forcing creative talents as well as regular students to become more and more fearful of accidental plagiarism.

The good side of the situation is that he truly creative voices will find ways to express original ideas just as before, though it may be more difficult to do. I can certainly understand the feeling of futility that mounts as more and more people post similar work on the internet, and seemingly fewer and fewer original ideas come to the forefront. However, just like in any other category, the competition will result in people finding new ways to advance their art and the medium.

8/27

I would consider myself a "digital native." I've been around computers for as long as I can remember. I was one of the first people I knew who had a PC. My earliest memory using a computer was playing Jeopardy and other games on the big, archaic floppy disks. I also remember getting a new computer sometime in the mid-to-late 90's and enjoying full 32-bit color for the first time. Before I had an iPod I had a Diamond Rio mp3 player that held a ridiculously large amount of songs - somewhere in the 30-40 range.

I use the web primarily as a source of entertainment. I tend to waste hours mindlessly surfing Youtube just to kill time. I also use the internet to communicate with people via IM, Facebook, or email. From time to time I also use the internet for practical reasons such as job-searching or schoolwork.