Remix and Participatory Culture

After the lecture on remix and participatory culture I decided to do a post even though I do not personally make my own media texts other than set projects such as documentaries, trailer and campaigns from past college work and university. Even though I do not make my own media texts I do consume a vast amount of other media texts mainly through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Blogger. I mainly use YouTube for music videos, animations, spoofs and remix videos such as The Grey Album by Dangermouse and Charlie Sheen Winning by Songify. I really like the idea of these remix videos and I watch them because I genuinely enjoy what has been created and by watching these videos I normal find other videos from the side bar recommendations which I enjoy and continue to watch and share with others for a long period of time. Although I like watching these videos I can see that they are an infringement of copyright. However the enforcement of copyright has become problematic due to the ease of remixing as audiences can now get institution standard software and create their own media texts and upload which they are clearly doing. In recent times though with prominent songwriters such as Azealia Banks sampling Lazy Jay on her song 212 without permission the copyright issue has been a main debate within the media and acts such as PIPA and SOPA even being considered but then rejected. But as the culture has evolved I feel that remix has become a normal thing to see which I do enjoy and I certainly do not question it. I use blogger to keep records of my university work but I also read a variety of blogs by friends such as ‘Senorita Glamourista’ which is about her life and I read that to keep updated with her. I also read blogs for general entertainment purposes such as ‘Handbag Vodka’ which is a ‘Bridget Jones’ type blog about a girl from Liverpool and her day to day activities, I also follow her on twitter @Scousebirdproblems again for purely entertainment purposes. @Scousebirdproblems. For me I believe that this is an example of a community that Gordon Graham would call objective, in this case ‘what it means to be scouse’ and the common things people have in common, because of this unique outlook that only so many can relate to especially with the regional dialect she uses she has blown up with over 10,000 followers since she started just over a month ago. Other examples of this would be ‘Men’s Humor’ and ‘Uni Lad’ which are also online communities based on a stereotypical view that people have and their tweets live up to this. I started using Twitter a few weeks ago since I am now bored with Facebook and I have to say I am loving it! I think it is very easy to use and connect with people. I think it is very easy to keep up to date with news, sport and celebrities. However I am not totally convinced and I still believe that Twitter is primarily to stalk people but mainly celebrities. As I explained I have started to get bored with Facebook and do not use it as my main social media any more, twitter has rapidly overtaken this! However I believe that Facebook is a really good form of social capital and allows you to have a variety of groups of separate people such as family, close friends, university friends, college friends and you will use them as resources for different things. Since thinking about my own uses I have come to realise that even though I don’t create my own media texts I consume a lot of original content provided by other users like myself. I have also come to realise that I am apart of participatory culture on a daily basis which I was not really aware of. References Graham, G (1999). The Internet: A Philosophical Inquiry. London: Routledge. P132-136