Jason Lanier: Gift Culture and "Digital Peasants"

As a balance to the views discussed in recent class sessions about Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright, image and sound appropriation, and Digital Culture, here is a recent article from the New York Times about a digital pioneer who sees problems with the ideology of the web.

"Sita Sings The Blues"- Cool Animation

Here is the website to view a full length animated movie by Nina Paley that I recommend. I like the way she moves between ancient myths and her contemporary world. She also uses voices recorded from people she interviewed, and created the animation around it as superimposed puppet figures, which is interesting. Since she didn't have the money to pay for the rights to some of the old Blues songs she uses in the soundtrack, she couldn't distribute it commercially. It has such a following that this site has been established for giving her an income stream for all her work. It's a cautionary tale for artists who may not think about copyright issues in the excitement of beginning a major project.

http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html