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Snow Crash is a story about hackers and technology set in the future, but in a novel format. The other books we read are about technology in the digital age up until the present, but they do not use the story line format with characters. They are more fact and informational texts. These texts: Hamlet on the Holodeck, Convergence Culture, and Remix all relate to Stephenson’s novel, because they all discuss art created by technology in some shape or form.

There are sections of  Hamlet on the Holodeck which relate to sections of Snow Crash. In Snow Crash there is a metaverse, a computer generated universe (Stephenson 24). People can even adjust their character to whatever they wish it to look like (Stephenson 37).In a sense this could be an advanced holodeck experiece since it is a realm of illusion (Murray 43).  Psycho fans are allowed to stalk actresses, and stab them in their cyber world (Stephenson 41). Sound and images that take you into a character’s mind in a three dimensional movie, is like how you can get into a person’s mind based on the actions of their avatar (Murray 49). It is as Murray says, “The computer offer[s] a thrilling extension of human powers (Murray 6).”

Stephenson did a great job predicting the future in his novel. “There are probably not two more difficult things to predict in this world than the future of art and the future of software (Murray 284).” Just the first page of the novel describes a gun that runs on electricity, with a laser, that plugs into the car (Stephenson 1). Even the pizza delivery is more advanced. “The pizza box is a plastic carpace now, corrugated for stiffness, a little LED readout glowing on the side, telling the deliverator how many trade imbalance-producing minutes have ticked away since the fateful phone call (Stephenson 4).” Other things that changed with technology of the future were the earphones, goggles, the library changed, the skateboard spokes, and the metaverse. One thing Stephenson needs to update is the mention of the videotape. “The teenager will be victorious…free to go return his overdue videotape…(Stephenson 31).” Then again the book was written in 1992, I suppose it can be overlooked.

The book Convergence Culture, is where old and new media collide. Snow Crash is an example where old and new media collide. The computer could be viewed as old media and the Metaverse is the new media that collided with it in the form of computer virus, and eventually a real virus. Jenkins writes, “When people take media into their own hands, the results can be wonderfully creative; they can also be bad news for all involved (Jenkins 17).” In Snow Crash it started to turn into bad news, when the snow crash virus was created. Online sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Metaverse are not the type you learn about in school. Jenkins says, “Right now, people are learning hot to participate in such cultures outside of any formal education setting (Jenkins 270). “Convergence culture is the future, but it is taking shape now (Jenkins 270).”

One point that Remix brings to the attention of the reader is that New technologies change old culture (Lessig 25). The culture is different in Snow Crash, because of all the new technologies changed the culture. When Stephenson wrote about  how the Library of Congress changed and the idea of the Library was hazy, made me think that the culture must be a RO culture and not a RW (Stephenson). It must be a small RO culture at that, since they do not remember the original Library. It is sad to think that the Library may not have a significant purpose in our culture’s future due to narratives in cyberspace. I hope today’s culture does not become so RO in the future. If the copyright laws change that will not become a reality.

Nonetheless, some parts of the future depicted in Stephenson’s book sound like good technological advances. Like construction being planned out on the computer (Stephenson 37). The novel is a race to end the spread of the virus snow crash, which is something we would not want in our culture’s future.

Works Cited

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture : New York University Press. New York London. 2006.

Lessig, Lawrence. Remix. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008.

Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Free Press, New York. 1997.

Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. Bantam Dell. New York. 1992.

We are currently living in a remix culture (14). Anyone from children to adults can alter a picture, a song, or any other form of art with the digital technology that is available. These creative users are getting punished for their new art, and/or restricted to create more. It is a shame that free creativity does not have the blessing of law. In this day and age, there are licenses and fees to use old art to make new art. It is like Ono said, “permission is vital, legally (12).”

In Breitz’s opinion, “Every artist reflects-consciously or not-on what has come before and what is happening parallel to his of her practice.” Another example is that, most music comes from previous music (15). Does that mean that these artists are breaking copyrights laws by making art in reflection of their peers? It would appear so, but I do not think that should be the case.

It is understandable why artists are so insistent on their copyrights. The obvious reason is it protects their artwork. One reason that the book listed was that the artists receive some income from copyrights. The problem is, with all the new technologies, the artists do not always get their fair share of the income. So, artists need their copyrights. Lessig has a good point when he says that if artists do not want their stuff stolen, they should make it available (46).

New technologies change old culture. Culture is constantly changing with technology. With each new format of technology comes a wave of new demand (37).  With the VCR came video tapes, the DVD player came DVDs, and now with a Blue Ray players came Blue Ray DVDs. It is difficult and expensive to keep up with digital technology.

There are two types of cultures in the digital age: Read/write, and Read/Only. The RW citizens read their culture and add to the culture by creating and re-creating the world around them (28). The RO culture is a culture less practiced in performance or amateur activity, and more comfortable with consumption (28). They both have different values (84). Our generation went from RO to RW. “Digital technology removed the constraints that had bound culture to particular analog tokens of RO culture (38).” Remix is a necessary act of RW creativity (56). We remix art all the time with books, music, photography, etc. In fact what we are doing right now, blogging, is part of the RW culture. Digital technologies have removed economic censors, like production costs (83).  RW culture is something to hold onto so that it flourishes, which depends upon the law(108).

Copyright wars have gotten slightly better with the creation of companies like iTunes. As technology businesses grow, they change us (43). They change how we think about access to culture. Consumers have so much freedom toward what they want to read, listen to , and buy. Unfortunately everyday people do not have the same freedom with their creativity as the consumer.

There are three types of economies mentioned in Lessig’s book. A commercial economy is where money and price is a central term for the normal exchange (118). In a sharing economy money is not as important. The people who participate in this economy are not centered on cash(172).  The Internet consists of both the commercial and sharing economies. The commercial and sharing economy overlap. One economy that builds upon both and adds value to each is hybrid economy(177). “Hybrids are also a model for getting others to innovate in ways that benefit the company (221).” Parallel economies are possible and often profitable (225-226).

Lessig writes, “Copyright laws must be changed. changed not abolished (253).” I agree with the author, in saying that there needs to be  a reform in the way that American copyrights exist today. The five changes he lists in the book are a step in the right direction(272). Then, the amateur artists can continue to evolve the art of the artists before them. Along with the copyright reform we need to reform ourselves as well(274).  We can change how we choose to use digital technology. Overall, “Creative work is a ‘public good’ (289).”

Lessig, Lawrence. Remix. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008.

One good way to be an artist in the digital age, and be successful, is by starting your own reality show. I can not believe how crazy fans are about these shows. I gained a lot of information on collective intelligence, the show Survivor, and “spoilers” from reading Jenkins’ book.

Collective intelligence is, “Pierre Levy’s term to refer to the ability of virtual communities to leverage the knowledge and expertise of their members, often through large-scale collaboration and deliberation (321). Collective intelligence exists in online communities, what Levy calls knowledge communities, or an organization of audiences (27). Members of these communities get together and collaborate on fan websites.

The TV show Survivor is an example of collective intelligence at work (20). The members on reality show sites are considered spoilers, because they like to communicate about the show using information that has not yet been revealed to the public or other discussion members. They are spoiling the show. Some of them cause disinterest in the show, like ChilOne did when all was said and done.

I do not understand why these “spoiler”  fans are so crazy that they would waste their time and energy trying to figure out a show before it airs. I did not know so much research and work went into keeping TV secrets safe and those who are desperately trying to dig it up.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture : New York University Press. New York London. 2006

Prior to reading this book, I thought it was going to be another boring textbook. I soon realized that it was not, and it was actually kind of interesting. I began reading, trying to pick out things that related to the class theme. There are many quotes in the book that relate to the theme, but there is one line in particular that I thought summed it up.

“Now, in the incunabular days of the narrative computer, we can see how the twentieth- century novels, films, and plays have been steadily pushing against the boundaries of linear storytelling (Murray 29).” Art and artists have always tried to create something new or slightly different. They are continuously trying to push the boundaries whether it be in art, paintings, books, movies, plays, etc. The regular form of telling a story is no longer as interesting as newer ways, like multiform stories.

Pushing the boundary was important in the past and is even more important in the digital age. Who wants to see the same old thing all the time? The viewer wants to see or read something unique and that is why the artist and their art pushes boundaries.

Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck. New York: The Free Press, 1997.

Hello Classmates! I already wrote an about me paragraph on my humanities profile, but I shall write another one. My name is Celeste and I am a transfer student from California. I married an Air man in USAF that is why I’m here in Georgia. Macon State does not offer a Liberal Studies degree (my old major), so my major is now Interdisciplinary Studies. I plan to graduate in the Spring 2010, which is why I have three summer school courses! I hope I can manage all three and still do well. I  have three dogs: a Husky and two American Eskimos. I sometimes have trouble with new computer stufff, so don’t be suprised if I come to you for help.

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