Brian Lamb of the University of British Columbia has an article in the current issue of EDUCAUSE Review which provides a very useful philosophical and practical overview of repurposing digital content and the application of this in education. By way of introduction, he writes:
... mashups involve the reuse, or remixing, of works of art, of content, and/or of data for purposes that usually were not intended or even imagined by the original creators. Although the historical roots of remix and mashup culture are deep, the properties of digital media are what have given ordinary individuals the power to reshape works on an unprecedented scale. In recent years, with the emergence of Web 2.0, the ability to copy, to combine, and to remix has been extended. Increasingly, it's not just works of art that are appropriated and remixed but the functionalities of online applications as well. ΒΆ For educators and policy-makers, already struggling with the many cultural and logistical challenges posed by digital technologies, mashups complicate the picture even while offering tremendous promise. What, exactly, constitutes a valid, original work? What are the implications for how we assess and reward creativity? Can a college or university tap the same sources of innovative talent and energy as Google or Flickr? What are the risks of permitting or opening up to this activity? ...
and further,
... Remix is the reworking or adaptation of an existing work. The remix may be subtle, or it may completely redefine how the work comes across. It may add elements from other works, but generally efforts are focused on creating an alternate version of the original. A mashup, on the other hand, involves the combination of two or more works that may be very different from one another. In this article, I will apply these terms both to content remixes and mashups, which originated as a music form but now could describe the mixing of any number of digital media sources, and to data mashups, which combine the data and functionalities of two or more Web applications. ...
Link: EDUCAUSE Review [PDF version] --Dennis
When CPB was asking for new programming ideas, I pitched that they do a program that looked at the incredible artistry behind mashups. I've enjoyed the fascinating cultural mixes like music of Lawrence Welk mixed with Eminem or Sarah Vaughan's "Whatever Lola Wants" with Nelly Furtado & Timbaland's "Promiscuous" (e-mail me & I'll provide you a link to the song). However, because the artistry is SO bogged down in legalities, nobody that I talked to wanted to touch it. Having recently seen on YouTube a fantastic video production using the audio from the movie "Boogie Nights" trailer and video from the "Star Wars" saga that was so incredible, public broadcasting aught to figure out a way to connect here.
Posted by: Anthony Hunt | Monday, 20 August 2007 at 14:03