Julianna Yau’s blog

I told myself I wouldn’t blog today because I need my rest for the Technology in the Arts conference tomorrow, but my inbox has been crammed full of goodies today.

MCM emailed me about this great experiment upon which he’s embarking: Calm Copyright Canada. Although that sounds to be a bit of an oxymoron in the recent copyright climate, it’s something we dearly need right now. The goal to deconstruct and reconstruct was, of course, an instant hook for me. The how-to/rules posted on the site show great insight into some of the barriers in discussions on copyright, and the questions are a good starting point for discussion.

Once things quiet down for me a bit (although, at this rate, I doubt that will happen until retirement, which is at least 40 years away), I’ll participate and try to expand the deconstruction and reconstruction to copyright in general. For now, I think it’s useful for us to stick to one topic so that the experiment can begin with more focus.

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At copycamp, I met MCM, author of the well-known (at least by most copyright geeks) The Pig and the Box. I had actually read the book when it first was released, but didn’t remember it until I saw the cover. It’s a great commentary on the shift in how some creative works (like music and literature) can be distributed, and challenges our traditional concepts of where the value of something exists. What threw a wrench into my though process was the use of physical objects to represent intangible copies. Although I understand the necessity for that to make the concept easier to understand, it did make me temporarily uneasy because it’s already becoming increasingly difficult for sculptors and other artists who make tactile objects to explain that there is still a very real (and, often, steep) cost to production (not to mention our desire to make one-of-a-kind or limited-edition works).

MCM now has a new book, Panda Apples. He explained the life of this book as being something of a counter experiment to The Pig and the Box. With The Pig and the Box, he invested almost no marketing time or money, and didn’t start to offer the option of donations or actual purchases of paper books until he was actually asked for them. Unlike The Pig and the Box, Panda Apples is not merely a collaboration (with Len Peralta), but also being supported by marketing which The Pig and the Box didn’t have. A few days ago, MCM told me that:

Again, with very little marketing […] we’ve had about 2,500 downloads and 250 purchases. So already, in this first 24 hour period, I’ve technically earned more than I did on the Pig book after a year

Panda Apples is probably also benefiting from MCM’s past exposure from The Pig and the Box. It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out!

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