Looking at the Occupy Wall Street protests through the eyes of a developer. An interesting examination of the components of a protest or social movement.
Article from John Egenes at Otago Uni on remix culture.
"The internet and our digital convergence are
rapidly transforming long-held views
regarding the traditional relationship
between performer and audience ("creator" /
"consumer"). This change is giving a new
voice to the audience, literally bringing them
into the mix. With unprecedented access to
the creative process, and with an audience for
their creations, consumers of music are also
its producers, and are reshaping concepts of
creativity, individuality, and intellectual
property. This paper examines fundamental
shifts in the way the "Folk Process" works
within this context. Remix culture, once a
bastion of beat-driven dance mashups, is
expanding to include all styles of music, film,
theatre and art. I will argue that its long-term
significance lies in the notion that it blurs
lines between the traditionally separate roles
of creator and consumer, and challenges
long-held concepts of intellectual property
and copyright. Over the protests of many
traditional folk musicians and devotees, folk
music is entering this new digital arena,
where the Folk Process is changing from
gradual to immediate, from slow to rapid,
adapting to fit the new digital paradigm."
"Within a week of the emergence of Occupy Wall Street, a library surfaced in the midst of the protest. Staffed by volunteers and comprised entirely of donated materials, the People's Library offers books and media to the public, provides basic reference assistance and has built an online catalog of their holdings. In this paper, I analyze the People's Library in terms of larger discussions of libraries, technology and activism. Drawing on personal experiences volunteering at the Library as well as text from the Library's blog, I argue that the People's Library offers two counter arguments to conventional claims about the public library: first, that libraries are being existentially threatened by the emergence of digital technologies and second, that a library's institutional ethics are located solely or predominantly in the content of its collection. Using the People's Library as a kind of conceptual case study, I explore the connections between public libraries, digital technologies and activist ideologies."