I Am User Generated

I haven’t been this excited about a new release of a documentary since I was studying at NYU and heard about The Kid Stays in the Picture. RiP: A Remix Manifesto is “The film, billed as the world’s first open source documentary, analyzes the current strain of creative borrowing and capitalization with the help of Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Lessig, Gilberto Gil and more.”

I learned of the documentary from a Wired article on Gregg Gilles aka Girl Talk who’s party mash-up music has yet again brought the music copyright law issue to the fore much like De La Soul’s sample based hip hip tracks did in the early 90s. In the Wired interview Girl Talk speaks insightfully on the changing face of media sharing and copyright law.

“Not much has changed with the legislation, but I think the mass mentality has definitely shifted.”
“People are more directly interactive with what they consume”

One of my own personal life goals is help this interaction. I personally feel that this is the future of media storytelling. We must not just consume anymore. Consumers must have easy access to produce, remix, mashup and/or subvert the media. I’m heartened that Girl Talk is raising the collective game of the mash up and feels that “The tools to remix music and videos will become easier to use and more widely available.”