Assignment Ideas: Remix

Remix—is a critical expression of creative freedom that in a broad range of contexts, no free society should restrict (Lawrence Lessig, Remix, 56).
“Participatory culture is a rich site of informal learning…we throw ideas out in the world and bring them back in an improved way because of our engagement with communities” (Henry Jenkins, TEDx)

Remix is a key trope of student digital publication. Traditional scholarly and artistic work such as staging a revival of a play or producing a new edition of a text is remix. Contemporary assignments such as fan fiction, memes, twists, video/audio mash-ups, versioning, sampling, and parody value practice and composer centered, multimodal production.

Organization for Transformative Works: OTW is a site dedicated to Transformative Fanworks. A keystone of Remix culture and projects, the organization hosts a nonprofit archive of fanfiction, a fandom wiki, and multimedia projects, as well as Transformative Works and Cultures, a peer reviewed, academic journal “that seeks to promote scholarship on fanworks and practices” (“FAQ” page). The OTW provides ideas and resources for a range of remix assignments, and also serves as a model of user generated, collaborative multimodal production.

Creative Commons: Creative Commons is a web source made up of user driven content that enables individuals to borrow and share materials across a range of modes. The site creators explain, “If you want to give people the right to share, use, and even build upon a work you’ve created, you should consider publishing it under a Creative Commons license. CC gives you flexibility (for example, you can choose to allow only non-commercial uses) and protects the people who use your work, so they don’t have to worry about copyright infringement, as long as they abide by the conditions you have specified” (“About” page). CC is vital to remix projects as they provide licensing tools, Public Domain tools, Open Educational Resources, User-Generated Culture, Music Communities, and much more…