Remix & Review: Networks of Interactions in a Creative Commons Music Community

Creative Commons (CC) aims to foster creativity through open sharing and use of creative works. Production of creative works in online communities has benefited from the flexible copyrighting framework offered by Creative Commons. The openness in sharing and the transparency of activities in CC-based online communities have made those communities excellent platforms for research on sharing and use behaviors. In this study, we explore patterns of users’ interactions on ccMixter.org which is a CC music community. Particularly we focus on remix and review behavior. Our goal is to compare and contrasts networks of individuals in two different types of interactions: (1) when a user in the network remixes a piece of music created by another user; and (2) when a user reviews a piece of music create by another user. We compare the two networks with respect to their core contributors, degree of centralization, and the potential links between remix and review activities for the more active or popular nodes. Our initial explorations are presented here and plans for future research are outlined

Building open bridges: collaborative remixing and reuse of open educational resources across organisations

In this paper we analyse the remixing and reuse of online learning materials offered as Open Educational Resources (OER). We explore the practices that developed as a set of course materials were released as OER from the UK, remixed for a US context by a cross-organisational, cross- cultural team, and then reused in a broad range of educational settings. We analyse the approaches taken during these remixing and reuse activities as novel forms of creative collaboration. As a basis for comparison, we explore similarities and differences with other Open practices. We identify how openness provoked novel inter- organisational collaboration and forms of ownership; define forms of open practice that need support, and present issues that should be considered in devising and supporting open projects in education and beyond

A collaborative framework for browser games development

This dissertation describes a conceptual model and prototype for a collaborative framework for browser games development using open source and open content. There is an extensive literature review exploring several areas like game development, modding, open source software development, open content and creative commons. The most relevant ideas about game development and collaboration are then used in defining the conceptual model of the framework with the objective of facilitating community creation and collaboration. Finally the implementation of prototype is explained in detail and the practical difficulties in implementing the conceptual model are addressed. This research shows that a collaboration framework for creating open source and open content browser games is possible and paves way for future studies about the community creation in this type of collaborative systems.Esta dissertação descreve um modelo conceptual e um protótipo de um sistema colaborativo para o desenvolvimento de jogos no browser utilizando código aberto e conteúdos abertos. É feita uma revisão extensiva da literatura em várias áreas como desenvolvimento de jogos, modding, desenvolvimento de software open source, conteúdos abertos e Creative Commons. As ideias mais importantes acerca do desenvolvimento de jogos, conteúdos e colaboração são usadas para definir um modelo conceptual do sistema com o objectivo de facilitar a colaboração e criação de uma comunidade forte. Finalmente a implementação de um protótipo do sistema é explicada em detalhe e são referidas as principais dificuldades práticas na implementação do modelo conceptual. Esta pesquisa mostra que é possível criar um sistema colaborativo para a criação de jogos como código e conteúdos abertos e abre caminho para futuros estudos sobre a criação de comunidades neste tipo de sistemas colaborativos

Leveraging the Wisdom of the Crowd to Address Societal Challenges: Revisiting the Knowledge Reuse for Innovation Process through Analytics

Societal challenges can be addressed not only by experts but also by crowds. Crowdsourcing provides a way to engage a crowd to contribute to the solutions of some of the biggest challenges of our era: how to cut our carbon footprint, how to address worldwide epidemic of chronic disease, and how to achieve sustainable development. Isolated crowd-based solutions in online communities are not always creative and innovative. Hence, remixing has been developed as a way to enable idea evolution and integration, and to harness reusable innovative solutions. Understanding the generativity of remixing is essential to leveraging the wisdom of the crowd to solve societal challenges. At its best, remixing can promote online community engagement, as well as support comprehensive and innovative solution generation. Organizers can maintain an active online community, community members can collectively innovate and learn, and, as a result, society can find new ways to solve important problems. We address what affects the generativity of a remix by revisiting the knowledge reuse for innovation process model. We analyze the reuse of proposals in Climate CoLab, an online innovation community that aims to address global climate change issues. Our application of several analytical methods to study factors that may contribute to the generativity of a remix reveals that remixes that include prevalent topics and integration metaknowledge are more generative. We conclude by suggesting strategies and tools that can help online communities better harness collective intelligence for addressing societal challenges

On Using Machinima as “Found” in Animation Production

Machinima is a relatively new animation production technique that has become popular among independent animators. It is also used by installation artists to create installation artefacts in a digital space. As a form of remix and fandom culture, machinima can be appropriated for the production of readymade and found arts. However, its exact contribution to this art form has not been clearly defined, as the knowledge generated within the machinima community is usually fragmented, incomplete and poorly documented. This article examines machinima production practices and installation art with the aim of determining how machinima components can be considered as “found art” within an animation. The outcome will be of interest to both animators and installation artists who want to use machinima in their works. It also provides a lens for further study of machinima and digital installations that use videogames