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Portfolio 1: Zero Draft

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I don’t really know where I want to go with this essay. One thought right now is socio-economically, what if Europe were socialist instead of capitalist at the time? Would Gutenberg have had any incentive to be a leader of innovation. Howard notes, “Would retention of traditional manuscript forms make this volume more marketable? Possibly–and marketability had certainly been on Gutenberg’s mind” (31).

Or what if the Copyright Act of 1710, described on page 103 in Howard’s book, had not been passed? This piece of legislation shifted ownership from the printing press to the author. It shifted the market and incentives to write. Perhaps I will write this essay on copyright through the lens of incentive–what boundaries were in place to drive people to write and publish books and how would these motivations differed in varying cultural, economic, political, etc. contexts.

Zero Draft

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The concept of copyright laws and intellectual property has been a major topic of discussion recently in regards to the case of Aaron Swartz. Swartz, one of the co-founders of the immensely popular website known as Reddit.com, has long been known as a major advocate for greater freedom in regards to the sharing of information. In July 2011 however, his activity in this area became the cause of much controversy, as he came into conflict with the law. Authorities claimed that Swartz had illegally gained access to JSTOR, a subscription service for scientific and scholarly articles, and had used this access to download millions of pages of material. It is widely believed that he intended to publicly distribute these documents as part of his quest for greater intellectual freedom. Facing a possible sentence of 35 years in prison, along with a potential $1 million fine, Swartz committed suicide in January of 2013. In light of this tragedy, many are calling for reform in the area of intellectual copyright laws, as a way to honor Swartz’s legacy and continue the fight he started. It would be interesting to look further into this event, examining the debates that are currently taking place as a result of it. In addition, it would be beneficial to conduct some historical research into the area of intellectual property on the internet  to see if similar controversies have occurred.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/technology/aaron-swartz-internet-activist-dies-at-26.html?_r=0

Blogging Prompt – Questions

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One of the major questions I’ve had regarding intellectual property rights and copyright laws has to do with the issue of work composed by deceased writers. Many of the classes I have taken at Lafayette, particularly the history courses I’ve completed, involved reading several scholarly articles, some dating back hundreds of years. I have always been curious as to exactly who exactly would own the rights to these readings when the original authors have been dead for some time. Common sense tells me that many of these works would find themselves in the public domain. However, I would like to know if there are any exceptions to this, and if there are any cases in which ownership of such scholarly articles has been disputed.

Manuscripts

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The session in the Library on Tuesday, February 5th helped to establish a real connection with the first two chapters of Nicole Howard’s The Book. This was not my first time viewing such forms of print, as I have seen pictures of them in the past. However, seeing these works in person allowed me to truly notice and appreciate all the intricate details. What was particularly eye-opening for me was seeing the actual print itself. In the Howard reading, she mentioned how an effort was made to make the printed text appear as if it was handwritten, rather than done by machine. I had a hard time picturing this, but seeing the real life examples clearly explained this. The words in the manuscripts had nowhere near the boldness or clarity of text seen in modern books. It truly did appear to look like work an ancient scribe could have done. Another notable feature was the amount of work that went into producing the various intricate details of the pages, such as the colorization of the capital letters. Seeing this reminded me of the evolution that books have undergone over the years. While the goal in modern book production is to cheaply distribute as many copies as possible, people in earlier times saw the creation of these works as a much more intricate art process.

Zero draft

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Copyright Laws exist to protect authorship and avoid unauthorized versions and variations of said work. Should copyright laws then also protect work from its own author?  In film particularly this has become a growing problem as technology improves and the digitization of film stock becomes more cost effective. More and More we see old films shot  on 35mm film being re-released in HD digital format, this in itself would not pose a problem and would facilitate consumership by a more modern audience than that at the time of the film’s original release. However, Filmmakers who retain the rights to their films such as George Lucas have taken this as an opportunity to change details in their films by re-editing them. This can change the entire meaning of certain scenes and the way characters are viewed by audiences. A prime example is the infamous Cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope. In the original cut of the scene at the time it is released Harrison Ford’s character murders an Alien attempting to capture Ford’s Character Han Solo. In this original version in Han Solo shoots through a table and kills the Alien before he has a chance to react. Lucas then re-released the film in an updated version boasting of better technology and an “Improved” film. Audiences were horrified when they noticed that the Cantina scene had been re-edited to a version in which the Alien shoots first and Han Solo reacts in self defense. This changes Han’s character from an edgy space cowboy to a righteous yet gritty adventurer.

 

This is but one example of how changing a minor detail can in turn change the motives of a central character and therefore the entire emotional aspect of the film. Do Authors have the right to go back on their fans and change details of the work that Audiences have come to know and love or does this work now that it has been consumed by the general public belong to the general public. Modern Copyright laws have repeatedly shown us that lawmakers feel that the work belongs to its author and that the author may do as they please with said work, including re-releasing and changing details.

Zero Draft Thoughts

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Just some questions that have come to mind while thinking about this portfolio. I’m trying to decide which questions I will focus on.

Without copyright would aritists want to to keep producing their particular art form? How would it impact other areas such as theatre and movies that are often based on books?Would a world without copyright lead to more creativity and an increase in unconventional forms of art? Would a world without copyright law lead to artistic chaos?

 

 

Zero Draft Portfolio 1: On Alternative Histories

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The printing of a book required much more people in the first printing houses than today (now replaced by machines). So it was impractical to say any one person was responsible for the end result – we now often give full credit to the author of a  book we read, and substantial praise to the publisher. Of course, the subject of the books played a huge role: they were bibles, histories, and math books. The content of these books were meant for general knowledge; no creative force (author) behind it. In answering the assignment’s question, I would say that if the European’s conception of knowledge was* something to be shared, as a collective, copyright would change dramatically. That is; if Plato’s legacy remained when he said that knowledge exists outside of and before us, and we “recollect” it as we learn;  the idea of creating a text from one’s own labors would become absurd, and no one should have an individual right to such “creation” (Plato).

*Or, better, “had remained.” A similar conception of writing pervaded the medieval period: rarely did anyone write something new or unique. Instead, most authors rewrote legends. Today, someone would accuse Marie de France of plagiarizing Beroul, but then it was merely the way to write.

Sarcasm: Now in punctuation form

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I know we discussed how irony and sarcasm are conveyed through text and how meaning may be missed when the reader is unfamiliar with the author and their prior works and or views. This trend is obvious on Facebook and through email, on which it is difficult to convey sarcasm even to friends. However one software company has patented what they hope will become a punctuation mark to denote sarcasm in emails and other electronic media. The mark itself is called a Sarcmarc and looks like a spiral with a dot in the center of it.

http://02d9656.netsoljsp.com/SarcMark/modules/user/commonfiles/newmarkinfo.jsp

(The link is to the official SarcMark page and includes a download link)

(Their webpage is also a bit sub-par)

The Art of Writing

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As I recall last class we were discussing our fountain pens and the differing forms of writing around the world, such as the brush pen ect. Professor Phillips made a point that we should think about how we form the letters that make up the words we write, they are all made up of simple lines and bars. This then got me to thinking about the art of Graffiti, I have some experience in this field and one of the more challenging aspects is attempting to find a style, the artist has to walk a fine line between legibility and artistic expression though often times artistic expression takes dominance over legibility. Finding ones own letter style is the same process as finding ones own handwriting. It all comes down to lines and bars.

Queries on the Course

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According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, intellectual property consists of two categories: industrial property, such as patents and trademarks, and Copyright, which includes those creations of the mind like literature, films, and music (WIPO). I wonder, when did people conceive of the intellectual property? Who conceived it? And under what circumstances? After all, from reading Howard, it would appear the early books had no need to protect such artistic integrity. Writers of antiquity wrote their names on their own work, of course; and, when printing appeared, it took years before they decided to write the publishing house’s name or the place of publication. I wonder if attitudes toward intellectual property, and publishing in general, have truly changed since then. Did people in Gutenberg’s time believe in the free sharing of ideas? Or was it simply not even thought of; the prospect of a buyer much more important than the identity of the seller? I hope when we get to more modern developments of “books” we will see the contrasts more clearly.

P.S. Does that title count as alliteration?