Remixing and Mashups

I was so glad that we covered remixing and mashup culture in class. I think it is always interesting how people could create a new product, a new creation and make something totally new and different.  Creating remix and mashup videos within our community is a very common and popular thing to do.

In fact, many people within the class have already bloged about this subject Paul in his blog post talked about video Game Modding and Melody within her post talks about remixing within cultures. Remixing culture, as stated in class, provides individuals the opportunity to view music and media in different way.  Remixing allows individual to make and create popular videos such as this one where the top 50 music hits were mashed together in one song.

So why has remixing been so popular?  How can videos(such as the one above) receive over 40 million views? Why would people take the time to create multiple website and give lots of advice of How to remix?

Though there are many factors that all contributes to why remixing is so successful, this blog posts address some of the reasoning and factors of how and why remix culture is so prevalent in our current society.  It states that one of the prevalent reasons of how it can be so successful is because it allows people and individuals choose specifically moments, or songs such as the top 50 hits of 2012, and then allows them to create a video that other people are able to relate to.  Like many people and expressed and stated, they also believe that the purpose of the creation of the copyright laws are outdated and no longer apply to our current society.

In the book I am reading for class Future Shock it addresses the different issues that the American society faced in the early 1970's.  During the 70's technology and digital culture were at there beginning stage as different projects concerning technology and the digital realm were beginning to be developed.  The author Alvin Toffler expresses his concerns concerning the public regulating the area of technology.  Toffle states that " Where self-regulation fails, however, as it often does, public intervention may well be necessary, and we should not evade the responsibility.  Tofflers point that we as a society are expected to treat I guess you can say our technology right as we would with any other rights.  This issues comes up in may ways within technology as was brought up in class concerning aspects of technology such as how copyright laws are outdated, and because of this it is hindering our ability as individuals in a media and digital culture world to not only share information, but also in our ability to express ourselves.

The example of Youtube that was discussed in class is a classic example of how our copyright laws and media worlds are clashing in a negative way.  So how do you think this change will come about?  Do you think that it will be easy?  Do you have the confidence that issues such as copyright laws can be changed and amended or do you think that the issues are so complicated that coming to a mutual agreement will be impossible?

The Effects of Technology and Alvin Toffler"s Future Shock

It will be interesting to read about the concerns society had concerning the effect that technology has on the individual, the family and society as a whole in the 1970's.  It will be interesting to see if those concerns remain the same today, or if our concerns today differ thirty years ago.

Preview:
While looking over the table of continents it is evident that Alvin Toffler divides his book into three sections: Pre-technology age, the technology age, and the future of technology.  It is evident that Toffler will address the historical age before technology was invented , the technology age within the 70's,  and his opinions of the effect technology has on individuals and society, and the way it may effect everybody in the future.

Early Social Proof
I"m excited because one person has liked my post on Google+ and I think that in general people are very interested in the effect technology has on people(take for example video game addictions).  After talking to my friend about what they think about both the positive and negative effects technology has on people and society, it clearly something that people think about given that though this book was written over thirty years ago, we are still trying to address the concepts that the book is addressing.

Similar Books
While searching for similar books to Toffler, there was one author Doughlas Rushkoff who wrote "Present Shock" that was repeatedly recommended on the recommend list on may books. Nicholas Carr was also a repeated author that was recommended.

"The Shallows: What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains"  Nicholas Carr

"Present Shock" by Doughlas Rushoff

"The Digital Divide: Arguments for and against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the age of Social Networking"

     

Who Cares?
Apparently Alvin Toffler is very popular when it comes to subjects on technology.  Many people on both twitter and Google Plus were talking about him and his works.  One of the quotes that were repeatedly quotes on both of these social mediums was the quote " “Illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who cannot learn and relearn.” So apparently some of the concerns from the past are still very applicable today.  There was also a wide variety of people reading and reviewing his work, people that ranged from the college student to the high school student to some random old person reading it to understand technology better.

Formal Reviews
There were a variety of recent reviews of "Future Shock"  the Daily Bankruptcy Review 
had a very positive review of how his book was very applicable today.  Other reviews such as Forbes Forbes Future Shock: Why Alvin Toffler Was Wrong review do not agree with the ideas Alvin Toffler present.  Having these two very well known magazines and websites review Tofflers work with two very distinctly different opinions was both surprising and exciting.  It is clear through reading reviews that people have a lot of opinions about technology and its effect, but also about the ideas that Toffler presented within his book.

Multimedia
A technical college in Kentucky used "Future Shock" within their syllabus as well as the University of Hawaii, both of which were very recent.  After looking it up on multiple sites such as flickr and Vimeo, it is seriously everywhere.  People where showing it on their bookshelves, they made little videos about it on Vimeo, there was also tons of youtube videos about the book and its contents.  It is just interesting to see the effect this book has had, so much to the degree that even today people are still interested in Toffler's ideas.

First Impressions of the Book
After reading the book for an hour I was drawn to a chapter near the end of the book called "Coping With Tomorrow.  In this chapter Toffler explains that despite how people view technology(both positive and negative) its important from time to time to take a step back from it.  He explains that " there are definite limits to the amount of newness that any individual group can absorb in a short span of time, regardless of how well integrated the whole may be(329).

My Thinking So Far
After completing all of the steps and getting a good review of this book and the feedback it has already received online, I am definitely ready and excited to read the whole thing. While completing this process, I think for me personally it has changed the way I will read this book. In particular, the review I read were helpful in helping me create my own ideas, as well as helping me see both sides of the spectrum by introducing to me both positive and negative reactions towards this book.