User:Andre Castro/research/1.2/essay-abstract

Abstract

I this essay I would like to investigate two antagonistic movements potential, free-flow and control, that digital objects possess, within a cultural context.

Digital files of sounds, images and texts allow for the manipulation, reproduction and distribution at a zero cost and in ways never before possible, at the same time they also allow for their control through code (resulting in watermarks, expiry dates and maximum number of uses of files).

Both these tendencies carry the seed for a expanded version of themselves. A remix culture where the boundaries between producer and consumer disappear and new ways of creating, distributing, and experiencing cultural objects. And a scenario where individuals' privacy is invaded and a promising technology (peer-to-peer file sharing) is halted, so that entertainment industries can maintain the production and distribution monopoly, functions to which they are no longer needed; and mass-media and state can maintain their liability as those who offer the true version of events.

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