Now watch the remaining two videos from the Everything is a Remix series. Find two connections to what Austin Kleon is writing about in ch. 3-6. Then leave a response to a connection or observation made my one of your classmates.
Part 4 - business
1.) Just like in "Steal Like An Artist" the first video shows that people don't really come up with original ideas, they just tinker with previous inventions to make something new.
ReplyDelete2.) "Steal Like An Artist" brings up the point that ideas will grow into something more profound, just like the first video with the mac and the single clicker and the trash can.
I like your first point. Everyone calls their work "original" but really everyone is just stealing ideas from everyone else to make something different.
DeleteOne must be fluent in a language of a craft in order to be able to invent and transform things into new inventions. This relates to Steal like an Artist, because we become fluent in a field through emulation and copying.
ReplyDeleteNew successful inventions are based off the past. Macintosh, for example. used the Xerox's star as a base but macintosh made many updates which made the personal computer more useable. Since all work is iterative, most updates improve functionality.
I like your first comment. It would be nearly impossible for Henry Ford to have been successful with the process used to mass produce the Model T if he had no familiarity with combining such unrelated topics by those day's standards: cars and mass production.
DeleteIt's neat that many famous inventors are known for the combination of already existing elements, but the individual creators of those factors aren't known as well. Austin Kleon mentions this with the phrase "steal like and artist" and "emulate, not imitate."
ReplyDeleteIdeas hardly work singularly. They work off of each other and if an underlying one fails, it has a snowball effect for all the ideas that built on the failed idea. This is eluded at in Kleon's book when he mentions connecting the dots.
Your first comment is true, but it is also a bit ridiculous. I mean, if i were to create a product that someone could easily add on to, I would want at least a little bit of the credit for it! I would be upset if someone took my completely new idea, transformed it into something without my permission and it became popular.
DeleteResponding to your first comment, I think it is sad that the individual creators of the first smaller ideas are usually not known or credited for those ideas. It seems like a lot of the times, the people that actually get credit usually use an idea that has already been made and just slightly alter it. Often those people are just better at advertising their ideas.
DeleteI agree with your second comment. If a company were to be making a computer chip that completely bombs, then the computers that utilized those chips would be completely useless.
Delete1. Nobody starts out original. You start out by copying to get a base framework. Like Austin Kleon says, everything has already been said. We need to hear things again until we pay attention to it. Then, we can create things off of the base work.
ReplyDelete2. Social Evolution. The original products can't compete with the copies. Ideas are said to be property. They now have patent laws to protect ideas, so people don't get territorial. We are hypocrites when it comes to copying. We do it ourselves, but hate when others do it to our work.
I agree, we have seen countless examples of copying. Even from the ideas you would think are 100% original there is always an idea that is stolen even if it is a small aspect of the final product.
DeleteI agree with you second point, we need to change our views on how ideas work. If we can all get along and share ideas, our innovative progress would skyrocket.
DeleteSocial Evolution "Copy, Transform, and Combine" is a great way to form a creative end product. Everything starts somewhere but adding the work of others is one way to make products bigger and better. With different ideas and others contributing to original product, there can be more room for improvement.
ReplyDelete"Our new ideas form from the old ones." goes well with what we are taking about in our chapters. We steal old ideas to build products with higher value. Without using existing work, its hard for us to make a product without any imperfections from the beginning.
"Original products can't compete with the prices of copied ones."
I agree with your second comment saying that without using existing work, it's hard for us to make a product without any imperfections from the beginning. We base it off of each others failures.
Delete1. Even though Xerox was the real creator of the original computer, Apple was known to a lot of people as the original computer. Apple merely "copied" some of Xerox's ideas and perfected it. Just like in "Steal like an Artist."
ReplyDelete2. Finally someone says it, people will be willing to copy someone else's work. But when that person's work is copied, he will throw a tantrum and will sue instantly. So our book tells us to steal like an artist. But what would you do if someone copied your idea?
I know if someone stole my idea and made money off it I would be mad. I think that is the basis of these laws even if they stifle innovation.
DeleteI agree. No one likes when you have someone copying you. Consider homework, you take hours to finish it and when you get to school the next day someone wants to copy it. You don't want to let them see it because they get credit for doing nothing but simply crying down the answers. It isn't fair, but again nothing in life is fair.
DeleteThats a good point, finding out someone takes credit for doing what you did and not making a "remix" of it would be aggravating, but as long as the person put there own twist to it, I think it would be a bit more acceptable.
DeleteI wouldn't be happy if someone stole my idea about something. I think it's funny when people think it's okay to steal an idea, and it's not a big deal, but when someone does it to us, we get mad.
DeleteWhen episode three of "Everything is a Remix" stated that most performers and artists all went through a period of "copying to build a foundation," it reminded me of the concept of a "Genealogy of Ideas" from Steal Like an Artist. That focuses on how most ideas have a long heritage, some of which was borrowed or copied.
ReplyDeleteAustin Kleon talked about finding ideas that are worth copying or stealing. Steve Jobs does just that by copying the idea of xerox. Steve jobs obviously stole the right thing because he ended up completely transforming our world. It just shows how even the most successfull inventions and business's have copied someones idea along the way. This example reminds me of Kleon's comparison between a good theft and a bad theft.
ReplyDeleteKleon also talks about how the world does not care what you think. This can be compared to Apple all of the big business's in part four. Once a business created something that gathered a big audience, then they would get sued for stealing ideas. Even though they completely had changed the new product from the old idea other companies still claimed things as there own.
On page 70 Kleon observes "Don't worry about unity form piece to piece - what unifies all of your work is the fact that you made it" reminds me a bit of how Gutenberg and Henry Ford all did when they unified existing ideas/technologies to create two of the most important inventions in all of history: the printing press and the assembly line. Now those weren't all their own ideas - rather pre-existing inventions and devices - but that just shows the importance of combining technologies to have new breakthroughs.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to think how far we've come in technology. It all started out with the typewriter, and now they way we can type is portable. Even though the system is different, the idea is still the same.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of cool how the first piano was made just like the typewriter, then later its almost like computer keys again.
It is pretty cool how we have progressed throughout the years. People back in the day would have never imagined that right now we would be typing on a laptop in school.
DeleteThe 3 main elements of creativity: copy, transform, combine
ReplyDeleteIt talks about how technology was copied from past technology to create better things. This relates to how Kleon talks about how you should copy other great ideas.
I thought it was interesting when they brought up the point of how we're okay with copying if we're the ones doing the copying. I had never thought about it before, but often its true. No one likes being copied because it feels like you're losing something. However, when you are the one doing the copying it benefits you and you are okay with it. Kleon tells us to copy, but many people don't like to be copied from.
The more I think about past inventions and the people involved the more I notice the concept of copying, transforming, combining. Tying this in to your second comment by looking at someone like Mark Zuckerberg; he ripped off his idea from a few people, then changed it slightly, then became highly successful. They were angry because of what he did.
DeleteOnce you copy something, then you can work on creating something new out of it.
ReplyDeleteOne example of this in the book is on page 9, where two lines are drawn. In this instance, someone came up with the idea that the white space between the lines could be seen as a line. So they modified the idea of 1+1=2 into 1+1=-3.
Combining ideas that were around before to make something new.
In this book, Kleon uses many quotes throughout. He takes ideas from others and combines his thoughts to create something new, in this case the book "Steal Like an Artist".
When we copy something, we put our own take into the copy. We recreate and modify the original to put our own voice into our work
DeleteThe video tells us that copying is bad because someone is getting cheated in the process. But in ch.6 of steal like an artist, Austin Kleon tells us to make good work and share it with people, so why is it bad if the work is meant to be shared and copied?
ReplyDeleteI liked when they said that if you copy you see no harm but when someone copies you it's all wrong. They just need to realize that they copied someone to create a better thing so people should have the right to copy you.
DeleteIn chapter eight of Kleon’s book, he stresses how important it is to be nice. “The golden rule is even more golden in our hyperconnected world,” (p. 101). I think some of the sample and patent trolls need to read this chapter especially. If we all can’t get along and share ideas, we lose our ability to make technological advances and progress.
ReplyDeleteIn the first chapter of Kleon’s book, he states that, “All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original,” (p. 7). Contradictory to popular belief, no one idea belongs to an individual. Every idea ever had was inspired by something before it. This process can either happen consciously or subconsciously, but it always happens. In a way, you could say that all new ideas and creativity are shared.
I agree. The patent trolls are making it really difficult for anything to be made. If say a song is even somewhat similar to another song, sued, and that career is over.
DeleteI agree that things like patent trolls make it pretty much impossible to create anything new. It makes people scared of inviting things, making innovation stop.
DeleteApple copied so many ideas from multiple companies, and Xerox was the first one to create everything yet they get no credit. Apple took the ideas and transformed them to better suit us. This reminds me of the concept "Steal like and Artist".
ReplyDelete"Everything is a Remix" and that is true. When they talked about all the music and how the 'copied' each other, even though they sounded nothing alike they still took parts from other songs and made it into something new. That is how people make bigger and better things.
Xerox wasn't the first to create everything in the computer world - their work was based on others before them as well. There are no new ideas, just new ways to combine them.
DeleteApple stole the idea of the pc from Xerox and remixed it to make it more user friendly. This is similar to the idea stealing like an artist. They "stole" the idea and made it theirs.
ReplyDeleteNo idea is 100% original. Almost all ideas are defined by the ideas that came before. Kleon describes this as "All creative work builds on what came before."
In Chapter 4, it takes about "stepping away from the screen", and I believe that is very important in this day and age. The world has evolved into an insane, hyper-connected world, and no one knows how to step back, and take a break. Austin Kleon set up his office as half analog, half technology, to keep his creative juices flowing, and not just sitting, staring at a computer screen all day. This is extremely important, and it is something that everyone should adopt. Technology is what the videos were about, so there's that.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 3, is called, "Write the Book You Want To Read". This is super important, not just in books, but in papers even. If you pick something from a topic that you enjoy, it is much easier to write about, and for other people to enjoy. Nothing is original, so be careful for those patent police.
I did have a long response typed out, but it disappeared for some reason.
ReplyDeleteSteal Like an Artist talks about how there aren't any ideas that are truly original. Each one takes elements from previous ideas an incorporates them. Everything is a Remix Part 3 gives a great example of this, the Macintosh. It took ideas from previous, not so popular computers, and put them all into one machine that was more successful than any of the others that they took the ideas from.
Part 4 talks about copyrights and patents and mentions patent trolls. It is a truly corrupt system, if people that don't do much work can make money off of other people's ideas. If what Kleon says is true, though, and no idea is truly original, the whole system of patents and copyrights loses a bit of its basis. The system needs a bit of an overhaul.
Nothing or anybody is truly original. All of our ideas have different parts of them that cam from someone else's one and only idea. We take many different ideas that have already been used and turn them into one. Like what Austin Keon says that "Everything has already been said." We just might not have been listening the first time
ReplyDeleteOne other part that I thought was interesting was when they talked about people copying each other. Nobody likes when others copy them but it is okay for them to copy. This reminded me of when Keon tells us that copying is okay. In the end no one likes when their ideas have been stolen and used. Perhaps the copier got more credit for the idea does not make it any better.
Both in the video and "Steal like an Artist" is says that no idea is original. They are just snip bits of things people liked so they copied and remixed them to become their idea.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of the video that stood out was the part about people copying you and you copying other people. It is so true that people are willing to copy and they don't understand why the other person gets mad at them but when someone copies them they get furious.