Introduction: Mashups, Remix Practices and the Recombination of Existing Digital Content
The genesis of this volume is partly owed to the fact that the international study programme ePedagogy Design — Visual Knowledge Building is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and what could be a better symbolic, practical and intellectual present to myse
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The genesis of this volume is partly owed to the fact that the international study programme ePedagogy Design – Visual Knowledge Building is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and what could be a better symbolic, practical and intellectual present to myself, my students, co-workers and affiliates on this very occasion. At first my intention was to try to bring together well-known international experts in their field with whom we partly collaborated in our study programme and to confront them with our community of experts and students so as to trigger a vibrant discussion across borders and disciplines. What has soon become clear to me was the importance of highlighting the interdisciplinary approach of the study while at the same time proposing a good deal of critical reflection and rethinking upon what we have achieved so far. It is part of an international study programme, especially in our case, to permanently readjust modes of communication and collaboration across the great variety of expertise and cultural backgrounds the international student community holds. As the study programme is situated at the intersections of art, media and education it appeared natural to group together expert voices from these fields under a unifying umbrella of exploring together with the students, teachers and experts key concepts, ideas and paradigms of participatory media culture. Why I have chosen Mashup Cultures as the title for this book has basically two main reasons: one is connected to the definition of mashup, which in Web developments denotes a combination of data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service (in the case of this compilation hopefully new insights), and the second reason puts the cultural dimension into the foreground, as these developments permeate through almost all cultural techniques and practices on a global scale. If we consider mashup as a metaphor for parallel and co-existing ways of thinking and acting rather than exclusionary, causal and reductionist principles of either or instead of as well as, then we might gain a broader understanding of the unique characteristics of the plural in mashup cultures. A historical comparison might also be helpful to find distinguishable and discernable criteria for sometimes confusing terminologies using the example of remix practices. In retrospect we can ascribe these practices certain kinds of techniques (collage, montage, sampling, etc.) and different forms of appropriations within specific socio-cultural contexts, for example John Heartfield’s political photomontages in the 1930’s, or James Tenney’s early sampling of Elvis Presley’s “Blue Suede Shoes” 8
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in the 1960’s. Yet how these cultural practices significantly differentiate from today’s mashup cultures could be outlined in the following: a) Collage, montage, sampling or remix practices all use one or many materials, media either from other sources, art pieces (visual arts, film, music, video, literature etc.) or one’s own artworks through alteration, re-com
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