To Open Source or not to Open Source?

After watching the TED Talk Embrace the Remix,  I googled the quote “Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal”which was attributed to Picasso by Steve Jobs.However I found out that it is actually  misattributed or misquoted. In fact the  origins of this story mirror our conversation this week regarding creativity and the legalities of sharing such creativity.

A Critical Analysis on Black Mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since students, teachers and citizens are being shaped directly and indirectly from our current media culture, it is imperative to dismantle and reconstruct our past approach to media literacy. It is now a requirement to have a certain level of literacy in media, in order to correctly process all the incoming information available at our fingertips.

For instance Kellner and Share 2007 article tackle the importance of media literacy instruction and the dangers

It is highly irresponsible in the face of saturation by the Internet and media culture to ignore these forms of socialization and education. Consequently, a critical reconstruction of education should produce pedagogies that provide media literacy and enable students, teachers, and citizens to discern the nature and effects of media culture. From this perspective, media culture is a form of pedagogy that teaches proper and improper behavior, gender roles, values, and knowledge of the world. Individuals are often not aware that they are being educated and positioned by media culture, as its pedagogy is frequently invisible and is absorbed unconsciously. This situation calls for critical approaches that make us aware of how media construct meanings, influence and educate audiences, and impose their messages and values. (Kellner D. & Share J. 2007)

This process of deconstruction can begin with Baker’s 5 key questions on how we can deconstruct media.

Per Baker, all citizens should view media though the following five lenses.

1. Who created this message?
2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently from me?
4. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
5. Why is this message being sent? Who benefits from its transmission?

These 5 questions allow us to examine media content from various sources in order to gain an understanding or a new perspective on a given topic.

For instance, The Charlie Brooker satire on technology Black Mirror, takes on technology in a new, dark but innovative way. (Who created this message.) For this discussion, I would like to focus on the episode called 15,000,000 Merits.

In 15 million merits, the audience is drawn into the story by the various technological advances in a Sim like universe. The protagonists live in a world where there are:  hand controlled tv rooms, people use gamification to earn  merits (dollars); real life avatars and other cool updates. The reality is painted as advanced but has a dark connotation as well. The creator also incorporated features from  real life version of “American Idol”. The audience is also brought into the fold by the multiple narratives. From the friendly apple girl to the boisterous bicycle rider. Each of the characters provide an interesting layer that makes the story very interesting.

Like with all types of media, people bring their own ideas and history. For instance, a person might have considered the story to revolve around love lost regarding the “first apple girl” and Bing. Others may have seen Bing’s donation as something that was unfair or self serving. Or his inability to speak up against the system before Abi’s decline as an issue. All in all, there is a general warning of what can happen if we focus too much on a game show reality, but each person can bring their own experience and biases as well.

All in all Black Mirror provided a satirical take on how we might interact with technology in our near or distant future. The 15 million merit episode provide a sad and possibly scary example with our obsession with making it big, reality and competition shows. At the end of the episode Bing was able to “escape” his previous merit based existence to one of  his own “choosing.” I wish there was a focus on the people who were deemed to “fat” to participate in the merit system and how we ended up to this reality. However it was just an hour episode.

I’m not really sure what is the moral for this modern day fable. I still wonder what is the underlining point but I guess it is what I take from it.

 

 

References:

Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2007). Critical media literacy, democracy, and the reconstruction of education. In D. Macedo & S.R. Steinberg (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 3-23). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

 

Shirt/Collage project