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ISSN: 1329-878X |
ContentsAbstractsPeter Putnis and Eugene Clark: Copyright, media and innovation: Then and nowThis paper introduces the articles in this issue of MIA on the theme of ‘Copyright, Media, and Innovation’. The paper also provides a context for these articles via a discussion of historical and contemporary issues in copyright law, particularly in relation to new technologies. Sal Humphreys, Brian Fitzgerald, John Banks and Nic Suzor: Fan-based production for computer games: User-led innovation, the ‘drift of value’ and intellectual property rightsFan-based or third party content creation has assumed an integral place in the multi-million dollar computer games industry. The emerging production ecology that involves new kinds of distributed organisations and ad hoc networks epitomises the ‘drift of value’ from producer to consumer and allows us to understand how user-led innovation influences the creative industries. But the ability to control intellectual property rights in content production is critical to the power structures and social dynamic that are being created in this space. Trainz, a train simulation game released by Brisbane developer Auran, which relies heavily on fan-created content for its success, is used as a case study. The licence agreements between Auran and the fan creators are analysed in order to understand how the balance between the commercial and non-commercial is achieved and how the tension between open networks of collaboration and closed structures of commercial competitive environments are negotiated. Kate Crawford: Adaptation: Tracking the ecologies of music and peer-to-peer networksThe media debate surrounding music downloading has reached a point of unproductive polarisation. Much of the commentary from peer-to-peer companies on one hand, and from the music industry on the other, has been highly customised rhetoric. This rhetoric commonly uses a discourse of ‘us versus them’ as the limited frame of reference: industry versus pirates, or legitimate practices versus illegitimate practices. Such claims deny the complexity of both the music-sharing phenomenon and the copyright developments related to it, effectively obscuring any legal, philosophical and technical intricacies and masking the networked interrelationships between the production and consumption of creative works. This paper seeks to move beyond these oppositional terms to consider the emerging ‘technological ecologies’ of peer-to-peer networks, the role of encryption, copyright recontextualisation and the ‘mash-up’, and the emergence of what media theorist Bernard Schütze calls ‘remix culture’. Matthew Rimmer: The Grey Album: Copyright law and digital samplingIn the field of digital sampling, disk jockeys have shown a recent enthusiasm for ‘mash-ups’ — new compositions created by combining the rhythm tracks of one song and the vocal track of another. Most famously of all, DJ Danger Mouse remixed the vocals from Jay-Z’s The Black Album and the Beatles’ White Album and called his creation The Grey Album. The Grey Album poses a number of difficult issues regarding copyright law and digital sampling. Does such a ‘mash-up’ go beyond the de minimis use of a copyright work? Is The Grey Album protected by the defence of fair use under copyright law because it provides a transformative use of copyright works? Can such remixes by compulsorily licensed? Does a ‘mash-up’ raise issues concerning the moral rights of attribution and integrity, which are recognised in Europe and Australia? Samantha Joseph and Robyn Ayres: Current Indigenous arts law issuesThis paper provides a snapshot of recent developments affecting Indigenous artists and their communities, with a focus on Indigenous communal moral rights, resale rights and Indigenous protocols. Whilst there is an appreciation of the value that Indigenous art and culture provides both domestically and internationally, there appears to be resistance to introducing legislation or schemes to ensure Indigenous artists and their communities benefit financially. Maree Sainsbury: What’s it got to do with morality? Moral rights: An historic and contemporary perspectiveAustralia introduced moral rights legislation in December 2000, giving effect to a doctrine that originated in civil law jurisdictions in the eighteenth century. The rights given effect to in Australia are the right of integrity, which allows the author to prevent derogatory treatment of their work, and the right of attribution, which mandates attribution of the author when the work is reproduced, published or otherwise communicated to the public. There is also the right to prevent false attribution of authorship. This article looks at the historical development of moral rights and examines why such an amendment to the law in Australia was necessary in a contemporary context. It discusses the implications of this amendment for the media and other industries. Christopher Moore: Creative choices: Changes to Australian copyright law and the future of the public domainChanges to Australian copyright law introduced under the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement will diminish the public domain, criminalise common copyright infringing practices and locally introduce significant portions of the controversial 1998 American Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This paper examines these imminent changes to Australian copyright law, with specific attention to the potential effects of the extended duration of copyright protection and the introduction of technological anti-circumvention measures. It argues that public domain-enhancing activities are crucial for sustaining cultural creativity and technological innovation, and discusses the potential role of the Creative Commons movement in establishing economically viable and legal alternatives to the current model of trade-oriented copyright reform. Brian Fitzgerald: Creative choices: Changes to The Creative CommonsThis commentary on the Creative Commons provides an overview of the background to its development and an account of the philosophy and objectives that underpin the project. It also provides an update on Australian developments in this area. Susanna Leisten, Terry Flew and Greg Hearn: Alternative intellectual property systems for the digital ageThis paper investigates the current turbulent state of copyright in the digital age, and explores the viability of alternative compensation systems. The paper critically appraises the increased recourse to digital rights management (DRM) technologies, which are designed to restrict access to and usage of digital content. Considerable technical challenges associated with DRM systems have necessitated increasingly aggressive recourse to the law. A number of controversial aspects of copyright enforcement are discussed and contrasted with those arising from alternative levy-based compensation systems. This paper undertakes consideration of alternative models for managing the copyright bargain in the digital era. Diana Sweeney: Skin deep, race shallow: The imprint of racism in the print mediaThis article explores racism within Australian women’s magazines. By centring the analysis around a selection of mainstream magazines during a single calendar month, I endeavour to illustrate the extent to which racism is embedded within both the advertising and the editorial content. Of particular interest is the practice of skin-whitening, whereby a combination of makeup, studio lighting and airbrushing techniques render the model’s skin a lighter shade. As I demonstrate, it is a practice commonly employed in the marketing of magazines and beauty products, presumably because white skin is a more acceptable (and therefore more saleable) commodity. Using white skin as its theme, the paper is couched within a discussion centring around the languages of whiteness and racism, and their intersection with the modern portrayal of beauty. Jennifer Wilkinson: Desperately seeking democracy: Unreflexive liberalism and the ‘privacy bias’ in journalism ethicsBecause journalism ethics draw deeply, and perhaps unreflexively, on liberal political traditions, there is a lot of confusion about what public accountability entails. When interpreted from the standpoint of liberal theory, the perception of the need for public accountability is generally framed by a simplistic opposition between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy. Central to the liberal framing of the accountability is a weak notion of ‘publicity’ anchored in notions of representation and revelation. Furthermore, there is also a strong tradition within liberal theory to treat ethics as a matter of private concern, rather than something that can be publicly resolved. For these reasons, the balance of democratic consideration always seems to sit more comfortably with privacy rights than it does with considerations of accountability to the public. This paper explores some of these dilemmas surrounding journalism ethics and public accountability by examining their theoretical underpinnings in liberal political theory and comparing them with a model of public accountability grounded in publicity construed as public participation. Jane Long: ‘Be [net] alert, but not alarmed’? Regulating the parents of generation MSNThe proliferation of net safety discourses in recent years in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom situate the parent at the centre of the family home as the monitor and protector of children and teenagers — Generation MSN — while they ideally acquire skills to become responsible net citizens. This paper considers such discourses to analyse their gendered nature, their underlying assumptions about teenage users and their models of ‘globalised ‘ parenting. It argues that, in the drive to create and regulate a ‘safe’ internet for young people, such discourses actively produce a new version, for the twenty-first century, of the good parent — for which should be read ‘monitoring mum’. Zhenzi Wang, Zhi-Qiang Liu and Steve Fore: Facing the challenge: Chinese television in the new media eraIn this paper we examine current developments in new media and Chinese television. In particular, we present a case study of theSpring Festival Eve Gala 2002, sponsored by China Central Television Station (CCTV). Despite the rapid development of digital technology and new media in recent years, Chinese television is unlikely to be transformed quickly. We propose that coevolution and convergence with new media offer the most effective strategy for the future development of Chinese television. The case study indicates that the current progress in media and communications technologies has set the stage for a gradual and incremental transformation of Chinese television. Book Reviews: Edited by Maureen BurnsAaron, Michele (ed.), New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader Alia, Valerie, Media Ethics and Social Change Baird, Julia, Media Tarts: How the Australian Press Frames Female Politicians Barker, Chris, Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, 2 nd edn Johnson, Richard, Chambers, Deborah, Raghuram, Parvati and Tincknell, Estella, The Practice of Cultural Studies Lewis, Jeff, Cultural Studies — The Basics Fanthome, Christine, Channel 5: The Early Years Muggleton, David and Weinzierl, Rupert (eds), The Post-Subcultures Reader Murray, Simone, Mixed Media: Feminist Presses and Publishing Politics Newman, James, Videogames Williams, Linda (ed.), Porn Studies
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