Jim — you’re right, hip-hop culture has embraced these dyamics in a lot of interesting ways — I agree, there’s something like what punk calls DIY at work there. I probably should have mentioned that, though I’ll admit I’m pretty ignorant of that genre.

Bryan and Elaine — thanks!

Alan — I did try to point out that remix can be as simple as cutting/pasting some text (presumably easily found and openly licensed) and making edits. But as we’ve discussed in the past, there are a raft of cultural and technical complications… but the tools keep getting easier, and one has to wonder why the smart folks in education are lagging behind users in so many fields.

Scott – I have to admit, I don’t have any concise answers on those questions concerning student work and evaluation of derivative works. I’d be thrilled if we could just get a discussion going, preferably a discussion situated in part by the context of the cultural markers I tried to identify. Thank you again for your tremendous assistance through the whole process. You must be as relieved as anyone that this thing finally got published!

So it’s a sprawling topic and you covered it well. I only wish you had had more time to dig into the “mashups and plagiarism” issue from the perspective of student work and assessment. But that, I fear, would require an entire book! Anyways good job. Cheers, Scott

Especially for framing a sprawling topic so elegantly. And the mp3 mashup is pure Lamb- “mashups are boring…”! It should give a taste, though it might be an odd aftertaste, to ER readers (kudos to them for supporting it!).

My own lingering doubt is to edus embracing the maship/remix beyond a few pioneers. It certainly points to the widening gap between how/what people are doing with tech tools *outside* of school with what they do inside.

“I WANNA KNOW!”

This is an awesome article. And brings so many ideas to my mind. I’ll focus in on the possibilities that emerges when you frame the mashup/re-mix as a moment wherein the ability to re-combine and re-imagine works in new and unique ways. This has a direct analogue to the potential for using the mashup/re-mix to re-imagine genres and disciplines throughout the academy more generally.

I can’t help but think of the ways in which the re-mix has fueled and framed one of the most important contemporary musical explosions, i.e. Hip Hop. It seldom gets mentioned in regards to edtech -at least I have come across very little mention of it- but isn’t this the space where rock, punk and rap start to have some really interesting and creative inter-relationships for blurring these distinctions. A sampling of Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express can be argued to have marked an important moment in the genesis of rap as a more coherent movement (Afrika Bambaataa’s sampling “Trans-EuropeExpress” on his seminal “Planet Rock” single), and the two musical genres have been dialoguing extensively ever since. I have found it impossible to be a fan of punk rock and not also be a fan of rap and/or Hip Hop -particularly The Beastie Boys (Paul’s Boutique almost exclusively), Public Enemy, Cop Shoot Cop, N.W.A., The Roots, Dead Prez, a lot of Jay-Z, The Fugees, the inimitable Notorious B.I.G, Tupac, and vanilla Ice (Ok, I’m only half kidding with this last one). I think the relationship between rap and punk is relevant because they are both framing a deeply inter-related ethos in answer to both cultural assumptions and musical genres with an often in your face challenging of the status quo through a radical challenge to ownership, originality, and the myth of creation in isolation.

The culture of re-use, re-imagining and re-framing genres, disciplines and the space of creative ownership is a moment that you frame beautifully in this article, and that speaks to the very mission of education in relationship to this not so new approach to culture. As you suggest, why the technology become relevant is it is easier than ever to re-mix the entrenched lines within which we frame our ideas and mark our disciplinary exclusivity. Mashups and remixes can challenge our assumptions on some deep and profound levels, and your article taps into that anarchic force brilliantly. Bravo, bravo, and bravo!

James, I’m sure you’ll have little difficulty carving me up, but my fears aside I look forward to hearing your critique.