Remix & Convergence: The Essence of a Global Culture

Since the dawn of man we have searched for ways to better ourselves, new ideas and everything in between. Our entire history is full of revolutions leading to higher and more advanced technologies, freedoms and ideas. From the advancement of science to the equality of all humans, some ideas have taken thousands of years to come to fruition. But with the internet came a way to encapsulate all these ideas and freedoms. Along with the creation of the internet at CERN in 1989 came many other new ideas and events, a couple examples being the cell phone and the end of the Cold War. So in the 1990s there was truly a new era dawning on us.

With the popularity of all and every different type of music and the exploding industries of cinema in America there is no surprise to me that many people who had ideas like those presented after them, even the ancestors of those who had created the like idea or object came to want credit for the abstracted ideas in movies, music, other advancements in technology and new freedoms. Here in the West more than ever, in particular, did people clash over intellectual and real properties. With global communication and the internet starting to seep into the cultures of the world, people had no idea that all this was going to have to change. In essence, the internet was as much of a new technological idea as a new freedom, allowing for all those who had it to access a wealth of information (instantly today).

This is also the essence of the digital divide. The internet will, for now, always cost something, and there will always be people with nothing. More than that, there will always be people who see no need for it though they are in the minority.

There is a duality within our culture being nurtured by globalization and the internet. As we come to know the truth of the world with better forms of communication and the less passive acts of the consumer in an easier-to-act environment (the internet), we can see this. It is the clash of the consumer versus corporations and capitalism, old media versus new media, those who have and those who don’t, but not necessarily a violent or aggressive clash.

This is the Convergence culture, two opposing sides converging to become one; this duality is a symbiotic relationship. But there is more to these converging sides. There is what they produce. With the dawn of YouTube, blogs, new open source software, even Facebook, we have been given the chance to become the authors, artists and directors of whatever we choose and be able to share it with the world. This product of the convergence culture is the remix culture; we are given the chance to remix old and new culture into something completely new, to alter media to our own liking. It also involves taking existing forms of culture and media and modernizing them.

I think the real reason there has been so much dispute over the creation of new ideas is because before the advent of the 20^th century, the spread of ideas had occurred much slower. With globalization and the internet, we need to start realizing that what is original has probably been created already; being authentic is what’s important.