Understanding Mass Communication

I'm sitting in my Understanding Mass Communication class. We're talking about the nature of derivative works. I'm going to take notes in my blog.

The professor's talking about the prevailing ideology that derivative works are of lesser value than original works. Now he's talking about how flawed that ideology is. Now that weird noise that happens three or four times every class is happening.

All ideas build on existing ones. No idea exists in a bubble. Copyright is designed to protect the rights of society. The public domian exists so that people may build on ideas.

Now we're talking about Santa Clause as a derivative work and also about the practice of hip-hop sampling. I can dig this.

Something I like about this professor is how excited he gets about these discussions. I also like that he keeps that snooty little blog: In Media Res.

When someone gets paid to write something we tend to see that as a a sign of credential and authority. This is part of why we consider writers of fan fiction to offer less true interpretations of a narrative than the paid writers for that narrative.

My professor has the most intense mutton chops. Fan Fiction is funny to talk about. This one kid in my class looks like a gargoyle. My professor is such a Jewy Jew Jew.

This lecture isn't going anywhere interesting.