In the digital age, copyright laws face a whole new set of problems. With the internet making the ability to obtain information so much easier, it also makes it much harder to control who has the ability to redistribute said information. Copyright laws are broken almost as often as traffic laws, and in that kind of environment people begin to question how the artists creating the material stand to make any money as technology progresses.
Some artists have put trust into their fans to solve this issue. Instead of attempting to restrict access to their art even further, bands like Radiohead and Issa leave their music open to download, relying on the concept that the more exposure they have, the more they'll make on tour and from other ventures. This has worked surprisingly well for them -- it seems as though people are indeed willing to pay for the material of artists who they respect, despite the fact that they aren't required to.
The idea of copyright infringement also brings back the question of where the line between stealing and inspiration lies. Many "remix artists" configure parts of copyrighted media into new forms, creating their own works of art. If these laws should become stricter and better enforced, should remixes of material also be banned? This seems like it would be a great loss of good art for the world to endure.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
New Media and the Digital Age
With the ease of gathering information that goes along with the digital age in which we live, there also comes a high degree of theft and plagiarism. Content is so easily accessible through the internet that it has become near impossible to protect anything from becoming 100% public. However, when it comes to creative ideas and innovations many argue that this ease of content is not always a bad thing. To be inspired by the plethora of information and media that exists online is a benefit that our generation has over others. And although in modern times the fear of plagiarism has increased tenfold, there are many instances before the digital age in which authors or musicians would be highly influenced by, either intentionally or unintentionally by another person's work. There are only so many ideas, plot lines, musical harmonies, etc, that can be created, and everything after that could potentially be seen as mimicking the original. Digital media by no means created plagiarism, despite the fact that it has made it significantly easier. The real question is whether or not this is a bad thing. Where is the line between inspiration and theft?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Project Breif
In learning about the Montagnards, a topic that continually strikes me as intriguing is the idea of their persecution. In a world that constantly preaches of equality and justice it becomes mind-boggling to hear about the violence and prejudice that rules certain communities throughout the world. I am eager to investigate the Montagnards' situation further to try to uncover original key events that turned others against them, the type of persecution that occurred, and what has been done to attempt to restore peace in the region.
Almost anyone from the Montagnard community would probably be able to assist me with my goal, whether it be through stories of their personal experience or information gathered by simply being part of the Montagnard community. It would be great to find out what were key motivating factors to leave the homeland -- whether it was simply fear of persecution, or whether they themselves escaped from dangerous situations.
As an artist I feel like issues like this naturally strike me in a more powerful way than others. As a lot of my time and energy is spent attempting to effect the minds of other people through the use of creative medium, learning about things that are going on in the world that I disagree with provokes the sense that perhaps there is something I could do to try to change it. This may sound crazy since I'm not a politician or anyone of any legitimate power to change the world, but artistic influence can be a power in and of itself.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -- Dr. Seuss
Almost anyone from the Montagnard community would probably be able to assist me with my goal, whether it be through stories of their personal experience or information gathered by simply being part of the Montagnard community. It would be great to find out what were key motivating factors to leave the homeland -- whether it was simply fear of persecution, or whether they themselves escaped from dangerous situations.
As an artist I feel like issues like this naturally strike me in a more powerful way than others. As a lot of my time and energy is spent attempting to effect the minds of other people through the use of creative medium, learning about things that are going on in the world that I disagree with provokes the sense that perhaps there is something I could do to try to change it. This may sound crazy since I'm not a politician or anyone of any legitimate power to change the world, but artistic influence can be a power in and of itself.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -- Dr. Seuss
In my minimal research thus far about the Montagnard people I have found several pieces of documentation about the persecution they have faced. One resource that has been quite valuable is the website for the Montagnard Foundation whose goal is to attempt to restore the rights of the Degar people in the highland region. With a single visit to their homepage, one can see many accounts of the persecution still going on today, primarily based upon religious orientation.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Framing
The concept of "framing," though it sounds rather foreign, is applicable to everyone. It is equivalent to the context in which something is veiwed, or having a certain perspective, if you will. Everyone frames their experiences based on other things in their lives, but it is done so quickly and effortlessly that people don't notice they're categorizing their lives.
If acknowledged, people can definitely use framing to their advantage -- either in changing the way they themselves frame things in order to be more positive, or by using how others frame things to their advantage. The PBS Frontline program, "The Persuaders" discusses the ways in which advertisment companies manipulate veiwers by assessing how they think and creating adds that most successfully persuade consumers to purchase a product. Instead of just saying, "buy this product" most ads target moral or emotional facets of the veiwer's mind, causing them to associate the positive of that moral or emotion with purchasing a product.
It is useful to be aware of framing in any occupation, but I believe it is especially relevant to a life in the arts. To be successful in conveying a theme or emotion, it is pertinent that the artist undertstands how people think -- how different words, objects, and colors interact with one another and can create a story.
If acknowledged, people can definitely use framing to their advantage -- either in changing the way they themselves frame things in order to be more positive, or by using how others frame things to their advantage. The PBS Frontline program, "The Persuaders" discusses the ways in which advertisment companies manipulate veiwers by assessing how they think and creating adds that most successfully persuade consumers to purchase a product. Instead of just saying, "buy this product" most ads target moral or emotional facets of the veiwer's mind, causing them to associate the positive of that moral or emotion with purchasing a product.
It is useful to be aware of framing in any occupation, but I believe it is especially relevant to a life in the arts. To be successful in conveying a theme or emotion, it is pertinent that the artist undertstands how people think -- how different words, objects, and colors interact with one another and can create a story.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Introductions
Welcome! My name is Laura. I'm a student studying Theatrical Lighting Design at University of North Carolina School of the arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While I'm originally from Chicago (pictured below), and I love the urban environment of the city, it has been nice to experience a new environment. The subtle differences between climate, word pronunciations, and natural life creates an interesting backdrop for each day. However, I won't lie, I do miss many of the people I left back in Chicago. My parents, my older brother and sister, and my two aunts make up the unit of my family I see most, as well as a handful of other friends, primarily from my high school drama department who have greatly influenced who I am.
I'm not sure how many generations ago my family came to this country. I do know that it was before 1920, as my grandparents were all born in the United States. I'm a somewhat odd concoction of different ethnicities: Italian, Irish, Scottish, German, Checzlsovakian, French, and Native American. Of all of those places, I tend to associate myself with Italy if I'm really forced to narrow down where I'm from -- most likely because my last name is derived from Italian. I'd love to visit the country someday and take a real picture that would look like this one.
Despite the many different cultures that could have influenced my life, none of them had that great of an impact. I grew up (and mostly remain) ignorant of the practices of these cultures, from customs, to traditions, to something as simple as their food. Because my family was so far removed from their original ancestors I instead fell into the customs of a growing American Culture.
The only problem with this is that it seems like the American Culture is largely undefined, with the standard being that children are supposed to grow up in a carefree suburban environment, go to schools where they are persuaded that American Culture is superior to every other, and go on to college where they will major in some capitalist career path, move to suburbia and start all over again. Which basically explains my life, minus the last part where I threw a wrench in the plan by deciding to go to art school and plan my life around theater.
I suppose there could be one other problem with this, though it isn't only an issue with American Culture, and that is the dangers that hunt out today's youth. With a mass media that promotes materialism and a life of fame and fortune, it is easy for adolescents to forget the things that are truly important in life, and instead be consumed by pop culture. With that can also come the idea that sex, drugs, alcohol, and defying authority are all "cool" and "what everyone is doing" -- a concept, that, while sometimes very easy to believe, is not true. This isn't to say that pop culture is all bad, or even that getting involved with the so-called "riff-raff" will automatically destroy an adolescent's potential to be a good-hearted contributing member of society -- in fact, this behavior (whether inacted or observed) can add a new point of view to life that can be educational and life-changing as long as it isn't abused.
Open-mindedness is an important characteristic to have in today's world, especially with different cultures growing ever closer with the constantly growing digitized world. With so much information at your fingertips, and the ability to connect to people in different continents via email or chatrooms, it would be foolish to remain ignorant of how other people around the world differ from you.
I've never visited, let alone lived in, another country, and as mentioned before, I grew up within the confines of the stereotyped world of white, middle-class suburbia. Therefore my own experiences of foreign culture have been limited to the handful of people I've come in contact with that were raised in ethnic housholds, and even so, they were already corrupted into more 'americanized' versions of their heritage.
While I like to think I'm open to differnet cutlures, I'll admit that culture isn't a very important factor in determining how I live my life -- at least, not on a conscious level. While I'm sure the culture that influences what is deemed appropriate in society does indeed affect whether or not I act a certain way, it doesn't matter to me the traditions a person keeps, or the food they eat, or even the gods they do or do not believe in. What is important is who they are -- what they believe is right or wrong, and how they conduct themselves to achieve what they want in the world. It doesn't matter if they're white or black, young or old, gay or straight, from the United States or from a third world country, because if I've learned anything in the past nineteen years it's that on some level there's common traits among all people -- our chemistry, our world -- if you're going to start judging one of them, you might as well start with yourself.
I'm not sure how many generations ago my family came to this country. I do know that it was before 1920, as my grandparents were all born in the United States. I'm a somewhat odd concoction of different ethnicities: Italian, Irish, Scottish, German, Checzlsovakian, French, and Native American. Of all of those places, I tend to associate myself with Italy if I'm really forced to narrow down where I'm from -- most likely because my last name is derived from Italian. I'd love to visit the country someday and take a real picture that would look like this one.
Despite the many different cultures that could have influenced my life, none of them had that great of an impact. I grew up (and mostly remain) ignorant of the practices of these cultures, from customs, to traditions, to something as simple as their food. Because my family was so far removed from their original ancestors I instead fell into the customs of a growing American Culture.
The only problem with this is that it seems like the American Culture is largely undefined, with the standard being that children are supposed to grow up in a carefree suburban environment, go to schools where they are persuaded that American Culture is superior to every other, and go on to college where they will major in some capitalist career path, move to suburbia and start all over again. Which basically explains my life, minus the last part where I threw a wrench in the plan by deciding to go to art school and plan my life around theater.
I suppose there could be one other problem with this, though it isn't only an issue with American Culture, and that is the dangers that hunt out today's youth. With a mass media that promotes materialism and a life of fame and fortune, it is easy for adolescents to forget the things that are truly important in life, and instead be consumed by pop culture. With that can also come the idea that sex, drugs, alcohol, and defying authority are all "cool" and "what everyone is doing" -- a concept, that, while sometimes very easy to believe, is not true. This isn't to say that pop culture is all bad, or even that getting involved with the so-called "riff-raff" will automatically destroy an adolescent's potential to be a good-hearted contributing member of society -- in fact, this behavior (whether inacted or observed) can add a new point of view to life that can be educational and life-changing as long as it isn't abused.
Open-mindedness is an important characteristic to have in today's world, especially with different cultures growing ever closer with the constantly growing digitized world. With so much information at your fingertips, and the ability to connect to people in different continents via email or chatrooms, it would be foolish to remain ignorant of how other people around the world differ from you.
I've never visited, let alone lived in, another country, and as mentioned before, I grew up within the confines of the stereotyped world of white, middle-class suburbia. Therefore my own experiences of foreign culture have been limited to the handful of people I've come in contact with that were raised in ethnic housholds, and even so, they were already corrupted into more 'americanized' versions of their heritage.
While I like to think I'm open to differnet cutlures, I'll admit that culture isn't a very important factor in determining how I live my life -- at least, not on a conscious level. While I'm sure the culture that influences what is deemed appropriate in society does indeed affect whether or not I act a certain way, it doesn't matter to me the traditions a person keeps, or the food they eat, or even the gods they do or do not believe in. What is important is who they are -- what they believe is right or wrong, and how they conduct themselves to achieve what they want in the world. It doesn't matter if they're white or black, young or old, gay or straight, from the United States or from a third world country, because if I've learned anything in the past nineteen years it's that on some level there's common traits among all people -- our chemistry, our world -- if you're going to start judging one of them, you might as well start with yourself.
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