New media artists have a duty to respect the works of other artists and not to copy them. The new media artists should produce original works to make the public happy and also for them grow their career. Originality is admired by many people, and it puts an artist on the limelight. New media artists should have their works copyrighted. Copyrights will act as protection to the products of the artists, and they can sue anyone who tries to copy or duplicate their work. A new media artist who has not copyrighted his works cannot receive protection.
The ‘Happy Birthday’ song should not be under copyright because it has already passed the copyright period. Copyrights are, usually, not set for an indefinite period. Copyrights, usually, last through the lifetime of the artist and then 50-100 years after the death of the artist. Beyond that period, other people can then reproduce these works and benefit from them. Another reason is that the original creators of the song are not benefitting anymore. The whole idea behind copyrighting is to make the creators benefit from their work. If this is not happening then there is no reason for a person or company holding onto the song to with an intention of benefitting.
I would not subvert copyrighted material because I know how bad it feels to produce something of value and not benefit from it. Creation of artistic material involves the use of intellectual knowledge and brilliance, and this has to be rewarded. The only way to get a reward from such a creation is getting a time frame in which to profit from the use of the product. Subversion of copyrights is an act that is committed by people looking for loopholes that will enable them to benefit from such great work. Usually hackers use technology to subvert copyrights. They believe that they need to express themselves freely and should not be restricted by any laws or rules. These hackers use nontraditional, traditional, and political avenues to subvert such copyrights. Copyright subversion is a way of protesting against copyrights and rules. There is an association called the Digital Rights Movement and members of this group protest for a free and fair use of digital content.
New media art has a wide range of disciplines that include arts, computer science, humanities, and engineering. Engineers and artists are brought together so as to study and try applying technology to art. There is a need to develop social and physical conditions that will necessitate the interaction of art and technology. Collaboration has brought about a culture that has different disciplines. Collaboration is very important in the sustainability of the new media art. New media art is as a result of the collaboration of various disciplines. It allows the creation of wealth without causing damage. New media art requires collaboration more compared to the other medias because it comprises of different types of disciplines. Collaboration is what sustains new media art.
New media art makes it possible to carry out projects that are of a participatory nature. New media art has features that enable a person to use them for projects that require the participation of other people or the user. Some of these characteristics include the ability to access content on demand, features that enable users to leave feedback, and allowing users to show their creativity when participating. New media art also allows the generation of new content in real time. The new content generated by new media art is, usually, not regulated. Participation is, therefore, very important in new media art because it enables the generation of data that is raw and not yet refined by the regulations. The users are also able to participate and get their questions answered immediately or within a short time.
Open source software allows the open distribution of source codes. It also allows the joint and voluntary development of software. The software programmers can read, modify and redistribute the source codes of pieces of software. The software developers do this when they are improving software, or fixing the software defects. They later on use the modified software to suit their purposes. Open source can also help in the organization of collaboration on the internet. The open source has brought in a lot of cultural change to new media art. Examples of open source software include SQL-Ledger, MySQL, LDAP, Knowledge Tree, PowerDNS, QMail, FreeNAS, Apache, Tomcat, Ubuntu, Wikipedia, Firefox, and Thunderbird. I use some of these open source software because they make my work easier and are easily available.
Open source software has several advantages that make it attractive to potential users. Some of these advantages include:
- It is free: statistics shows that open source software enables businesses to save approximately $60 billion every year. Nowadays almost all the software systems that require paying have versions that are open source.
- The open source software is continually evolving, therefore, improving in terms of quality and security.
- The usage of open source software avoids locking in users to a particular system that can only work with specific systems.
- Open source software allows users to modify the system to suit the requirements of their businesses.
Open source software also has disadvantages that every user needs to have prior knowledge before using it. These disadvantages include:
- The open source software tends to evolve according to the needs of the developers rather than the needs of the users.
- They are, usually, not user-friendly because the developers do not pay a lot of attention to the user interface.
- Open source software relies on the users of the system to fix the problems that arise. Therefore, it does not offer support to the users.
- There are also other costs involved despite being free. These costs include payment made to other parties when in need of support.
- The open source software is prone to attack from malicious users who want to benefit by getting paid for fixing software problems.
Corporate Parody and Culture Jamming
Corporate parody is the creation of an imitation of the original piece of work, or an artist, or style through satire. Parody is an imitation though not, usually, at the expense of the text used. It can also be seen as a cultural practice that involves the imitation of a different cultural practice. Parody can be found in culture or art and often includes music, literature, animation, film and gaming. Corporate parodies are, usually, used in the business area and especially in advertisements. The use of corporate parody captures the attention of the target audience and draws them to the business. Corporate parody is useful in attracting people to the business for the benefit of the company. The goal of the corporate parody is to attract potential customers to the company. Humans are visual creatures and any hint of creativity captures their attention. Corporate parodies are, usually, successful in attracting customers to the company. Some corporate parodies have outlived the original works.
Culture jamming is a method used by social movements to subvert the culture of media. It focuses on exposing methods that are used to dominate the society, and pushes for change. Culture jams are created with the view of questioning the politics behind the culture of commerce. Some of the ways that are used to achieve this include fashion statements, refigured logos, and product images so as to challenge the ideology of what is considered cool. Culture jamming involves the use of mass media in the production of satirical comments about itself through the use of the communication method used by the original art. Culture jamming is, usually, used as a tool that fights the conformance to the society. Culture jamming can also be in the form of protests and street parties. Despite the use of culture jamming in the subversion of advertising and political messages, it is also used in bringing together artists and creating new cultures that surpass the current culture. Culture jamming is successful in the accomplishment of its goals because it enables people to view things from a different angle that can bring a lot of positivity. It also hinders rigid ways of thinking and promotes creativity and innovation.
Corporate parody and culture jamming are both ways that are used by artists in the promotion of art. They are both useful because they capture the interests of the target audience and draw them to the message being relayed. They use satirical means to entertain the target audience. They are both targeted towards subverting commonly held cultures and views. They accomplish these goals through captivating the target audience, and showing new methods that can be used to satisfy the needs of the customers. Corporate parody and culture jamming also allows the users to break away from rigidity.
