Journal #9

To be a writer in the 21st century, all you have to do is write something. I would consider this blog post writing, and therefore consider myself a writer. Any literate person can be a writer in the 21st century. It doesn't have to be print or professional, it just has to be there. In "RW Revived" Remix, Lessig states that "everyone within a society has access to the means to write." I think that everyone should be able to quote anyone else, as long as the proper citations are used.

Lessig explains how some people are "annoyed" with those trying to quote them, rather than appreciating it. She gave the example of text is less restricted than "other forms of expression". She points out that now in the 21st century, people all over the world are able to make videos and music and "other forms of expression" besides text, and that the only difference between the those and text were the "democracy" of them. Now that all of these platforms are open to public use, there needs to be a change either for text to require more strict "ask permission forms" or for movies and music to be "quoted freely, with attribution."

Thanks to blogging and, more generally, the World Wide Web, people are able to share their opinions by commenting on a blog or video. This change has expanded the community of people offering input on someone's creation, and possibly affecting their future work. This could be considered collaboration in a way. If it were a famous songwriter and they had been getting ideas, they might have to cite or even pay these people for helping them. But since this is a more public, open, anonymous medium, those rules may not necessarily apply. There needs to be a change in the way permission is given to quote or "sample" someone else's work, and it needs to be used for every form of expression because now they are all democratic.