The examples given of sampling in the arts throughout history indicate to me that, for a long time, the value of art was in the greater concepts and ideas presented by the artist. Reproduction for the purpose of generating a new concept seems like the furthest thing from the current idea of plagiarism - like the cut-and-paste writing style. It seems to me that current copyright laws focus on the surface of art, but this is exactly the aspect that, by its very nature, should exist in public commons. It tells people that their ideas are invalid unless they can be expressed by some surface image other than what has existed before. How can this be in a generation where movie plots are reduced to boy-meets-girl concepts months before the release? Or perhaps this is the reason behind this sense of copyright?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Plagiarism - Response
These two articles were quite interesting to me because they expanded upon topics that have bothered and impacted my life for quite a while. Probably the most significant aspect these articles discussed (in my opinion) is the growing "contamination" or "anxiety" involved in creative endeavors of all- and multi-media. I feel the obsession with copyright and intellectual property is scaring people away from writing and thinking creatively because it creates an idea in the back of people's minds that their thoughts are likely not original and then one shouldn't bother. This is extremely depressing. I remember coming to realizations about literature and philosophy that made me so proud of myself and my cognitive abilities. However, seeing those conclusions printed in all or part, and generally paraphrased, in print works serves as a disappointment and discrediting of my thought process. It almost becomes more productive to rely solely on published works and citation when writing rather than fear the repercussions of accidental plagiarism.
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I think people today consider reproduction of any kind to be either plagiarism or copyright infringement. I think todays copyright laws allow people to claim ownership over the smallest things, which makes remixing anything nearly impossible. I understand that in a competitive market or society, an author or originator may want to be compensated for his or her idea, but seeing what other can expand upon the idea is part of our culture. It's gotten to be a pretty sticky situation in this day and time. I also agree with the first part of your post about being afraid to express ideas for fear of accidental plagiarism. I expressed similar views in my post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that when I come to writing and expressing my own thoughts, I am scared that maybe what I want to say has already been said. With endless blogs and social networking sites available for people to express thier thoughts, I am sure someone, somewhere, has felt the same and said the same thing as you. However, we can't let that hold us back and we shoud still feel that we have the freedom to say what we want to say. The reason we write anything is for ppl to agree or disagree and exapnd on our ideas.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that copyright scares many people away from expressing their ideas. The fear that I may be punished for either expressing something that someone else has said, or mentioning it in passing in my works often scares me a bit as I sit down to write something. But I agree that this fear shouldn't hold people back from expressing themselves.
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