11 > “In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
12 One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
13 One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
14 In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”
16 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
22 Public policies treat culture as a potentially lucrative
23 sector of the economy, which should be verified by
24 the market. Both the production and distribution of
25 culture have undergone significant centralization, there has been convergence of competence and control
26 in the circulation of culture. Just a few major players
27 are in possession of both services and resources used
31 1. Society - structure and shared values
32 ----------------------------------------
34 In this scenario the social stratification is increasing. The
35 state believes that the development and prosperity is
36 directly proportional to GDP growth, and the free market regulates the distribution of goods in the best way. It
37 is also believed that according to “trickle-down theory”
38 economy will make the richest profit to the benefit of
39 those lower on the social ladder, because the rich will
40 create new work places. Also those areas belonging to
41 the state, such as education, culture and health, should obey the logic of the free market, introducing the
42 criterion of profit. Culture must pay for itself, just as
45 The most valued in society are a career and achieving
46 an adequate census of property. Therefore, people tend
47 to focus more on that than on the work for the good
48 of the community. It is difficult to make it otherwise,
49 since “community” is a term with no meaning: it means no one’s property. Also, the dominant commercial
50 culture, aimed at entertainment, hardly builds a sense
51 of community or teaches critical look at reality. It is also
52 difficult for users to participate in culture in a creative
53 way and pursue their own passions.
55 In this world it is advisable to be a media celebrity, banker or representative of some free profession of the
56 top shelf. Or at least such ideal of success is created
57 by “dream factories”. For the rest the ideal scenario of
58 stability in life is to be an employee of a corporation, or
59 salaryman, and maintain this position as long as possible. From an early childhood you hear that you should
60 be able to sell yourself well. Students are advised to
61 draw attention of corporations or take part in auditions
62 for talent shows organized by big media companies.
64 Spirituality is also associated with the work ethic: the
65 religious model of the good life is one in which the man
66 realizes himself through work. Still, all possible family
67 scenarios are acceptable, if corporations (“dream factories”) may profit from them. Samesex couples are
68 thus welcome as they are usually well off (better education, less children).
71 2. Economics of culture and the creative sector
72 -----------------------------------------------
74 The market of information and culture, similarly to
75 other sectors, is dominated by monopolies or strong
76 oligopolies, where the winner takes it all at all levels.
77 This is a sealed system, which is dominated by vertical integration - one company sells a client devices,
78 content, and services of various types. To the customer diversification does not pay, as it hits him painfully in the pocket.
80 In this world, everything revolves around product
81 placement and advertising. Here is the most money.
82 Celebrities take it all, they earn a fortune, because they
83 provide the best monetization (the most ads you can
84 sell around them). In the information noise they are
85 able to sell everything - from T-shirts with their own
86 likeness, through cookbook or a reality show of their
87 own life, in which so very little is happening.
89 The rest takes part in the “copyright lottery”, trying
90 their hand in the creative sector in the hope of becoming a celebrity, but their chances are statistically
91 insignificant. Some will give up while others will create infotariat, a poorly paid class of subcontractors, or
92 hired craftsmen, who, for example, write jokes for the
93 celebrity appearing on the TV show.
95 Content created by non-professionals and distributed in the Web is appropriated by media companies.
96 In the case of remixes - by purchase or copyright claim.
97 An author of a popular blog eventually will be working for a big company, leaving his readers a convenient illusion that she is as fresh and independent as ever.
99 It is hard to gain independence and niche also because in this oligopolized world there is no choice - the
100 market is dominated by a few major information hubs
101 (today called information portals and social networks).
102 This sealed system hardly provides space for cultural
103 freedom. Everything can be monetized in one or the
104 other way - as an opportunity for advertising, or an
105 opportunity to advertise (for a tasty morsel are also
106 data on user preferences).
109 3. Situation of artists of critical or “high” art
110 -------------------------------------------------
112 In this world, where the tastes, and what you need to
113 think and what to like, is decided on by employees of
114 corporation supplying entertainment, professions such
115 as journalism or artistic criticism disappear. Because any
116 critical outlook is disturbing in a world where content
117 needs to sell. What sells well is pseudo-criticism, aimed
118 not at undermining clichés, stereotypes and truths, but
119 at calling an artificial conflict, which will raise the rankings of the audience or click-through rates.
121 Freedom of artistic speech is theoretically possible, but
122 in practice a niche, because it does not sell. Big corporations do not need critical artists - unless it is an online mocker, whose videoblog will be watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators. You can, of course,
123 rebel, but what for when no one would notice, because
124 you can only see those who have support of concerns.
126 An ambitious artist, whether critical or simply demanding savvy audience, can hit for a private sponsor/foundation that see the value in this type of art. But in the
127 absence of a broad education focused on the art more
128 difficult in perception, there is no audience.
134 Social stratification and targeting on profit in the most
135 prominent way is reflected in the education system
136 and health care. The elite is taught in expensive private
137 schools, and the rest in declining, under-resourced public schools. Also higher education is segregated - there
138 are elite universities, which ensure the completion of a
139 career path in management boards, supervisory boards
140 and private practices; specialized learning centers or
141 even co-funded by corporations that produce experts
142 and conduct research; finally dying, “worse”, underfunded public universities.
144 Educational resources are privatized and narrowly available. Open educational resources are rudimentary, prepared by NGOs with small budgets, subsidized neither
145 by the state nor by the business. Open cultural resources are mainly the work that has already passed into
146 the public domain and are has been digitized by NGOs.
150 5. The impact of technology on the consumption of culture
151 ---------------------------------------------------------
153 The development of technology is subject to the dictates of the interests of the monopolies. At each level
154 of technological development content is determined
155 by the tool - like smartphones and tablets today organize way to deliver content through closed applications. About what is available via closed applications
156 depends on their owners. Thus the development of
157 both technology and culture is not independent and
158 organic, but planned by an agent, who absorbs innovation. Sometimes it happens that the same innovator
159 creates its own content and services conglomerate, but
160 it is rarely so, due to the lack of access to markets, resources, and personnel.
162 Technology can track user behavior, including whether
163 they use unauthorized sources of culture. After analyzing this information, the users are profiled and then
164 offered the products they are likely to purchase.
170 {{ pozycja("authors", 1) }}
172 In practice, only the most recognizable and most-selling authors may negotiate with corporate lawyers beneficial contracts for the grant of a license to
173 use the work. The monetization of the authorial work is usually one-off, and
174 it occurs at the time of selling copyrights. For this reason the role of collective management organizations is marginal. Furthermore, the author has no
175 impact on how corporations will prescribe the fair use of her works. And it
176 may happen that they will organize a drawing moustaches competition using
177 portraits of her authorship.
181 {{ pozycja("users", 1) }}
183 The content distributors monopoly means that no one can escape their walled gardens and, in practice, everybody is forced to bear the costs they dictate. With advanced tracking systems any unauthorized use - not only by the
184 illegal distributor, but also the common user - becomes virtually impossible.
185 P2P networks, incompatible with the market-oriented ideology, because they
186 do not increase GDP, are eliminated by the state. Free licenses are unpopular,
187 and the scope of fair use is very narrow. Schools and libraries must pay subscription fees to corporations that are holding rights to content.jest bardzo wąski. Szkoły i biblioteki muszą płacić abonament koncernom będącym właścicielami treści.
190 {{ pozycja("intermediaries", 3) }}
192 The copyright law serves the oligopolies controlling the content distribution.
193 Such solutions are enhanced by international treaties, negotiated in favour
194 of Big Content and converged intermediaries. Media companies use the increased control over the legality of content covered by copyright law in order
195 to - through pressures and financial incentive - take over the copyrights to
196 the largest possible amount of works; not only to those viral created by amateurs, but to works derived from other works, such as remixes and pastiches,
197 demanding either their removal from circulation or money.
fnp / static.git / blob