Collaboration and Creativity

The two articles we looked at this week bring an interesting contrast into light with the relationship of postmodernism and creativity. With the IP law we see companies and writers trying to commodify the internet and make the reproduction of copyrighted material impossible without monetary gain. On the other end we see the emergence of wikis. Wikis stress the value of collaboration and anyone is allowed to write and participate in the wiki. How these two internet phenoms contrast is important, showing the devolution of "individual" creativity and the emergence of collaborative creativity.

Johnson says that, "the decline of fair use rights is firmly linked to a postmodern turn in intellectual property law- for the rise of postmodernism in general is tied to the loss of original context..." (203). I haven't felt the decline of fair use rights personally, enveloped in the bubble of MSU's database system, but it seems that another point he states later is of the utmost importance in regards to fair use. He says, "...textual content  has  become commodified, put into motion in the capitalist system, forced to earn its keep by moving incessantly" (203). Johnson seems to regard this as a negative result, harming future generations by what he sees as "the rich getting richer" and "the poor getting poorer." I think however that this constant movement is imperative to the future of writing.

To see the future of writing I think we have to look to the wikis and the collaboration that occurs online in places like forums, Wikipedia, and social media websites. Here is one example of collaboration.


One simple mistake can be creatively modified by another person and what was once a mistake turns into a funny dialogue that thousands of people can read, contribute, and comment on. What is fascinating to me is that Johnson does not mention, or seems to disregard the notion, that creativity can be collaborative. He seems to separate facts/collaboration from creativity/individual.

So, while the fair use rights might be tightening and individual finished works are being monetized and copyrighted, and even anthologies of texts are being copyrighted and restricted (another collaboration, but one that still seems to firmly remain in the textual sphere) there are wikis where creativity is not static and the process of creation is constantly fostered and necessary for its survival.

In the text, "History Now," the authors quote Grube and expand on his argument that, "the so far leading criterion of non linearity to determine hypertext should be taken back in favor of the criterion of interactivity" (173).

This constant interactivity is nonlinear and ongoing, but the authors separate it from the previous theory of non linearity and hypertext to show that the process of writing is just as important as the writing itself. I had some problems with this idea. Mainly, because the process of writing doesn't seem to be writing at all. In the same vein, we could say that making a sandwich is the same as eating a sandwich. There is the preparatory phase and then there is the actual act.

However, this process of writing is important to the structure of wikis in the fact that it does encourage constant revision and interaction due to the fact that it is a collaboration and people are free to change their views as time passes or history changes. This structure or space seems to break down the barrier that we have previously constructed between kairos and writing. It also seems to show that collaboration is a creative act, one that fosters change and connections- the heart of creativity.