For the final assignment in this class I want to experiment with digital rights management (DRM). The approach I am taking is similar to the one used in our encoding challenge, but also inspired by Whitney Anne Trettien. An experiment.
What if you were charged with protecting your essay from copyright infringement? The caveat, you have to post it on the public Web.In the process of experimenting with DRM'ing my own essay, I want to use the essay itself to explore ways in which DRM intersects with the ideas we have explored in this course.
Historical
Did books before ebooks contain any DRM, and we just didn't notice? If so, how did that change the relationship between the reader and the book?
Markup
What kind of markup does DRM apply to a book? In my own experiment I am considering using images to represent text instead of ascii text itself. What does this mean for future readers?
The Page
I am planning on using a webpage as the "page" for my essay. Should I create 15 separate pages? Or allow one to roll down the webpage to continue reading?
e-Books
Is an essay with a digital lock on it nothing more than text wrapped up in restrictive packaging. There are notes of Maxwell here that I want play out.
And of course there is this weeks readings! A goldmine for my essay, and a set of readings I will need to dive deeply into before I write my paper. However, I don't want to just summarize current thinking on DRM, I want to tangle with it, and then reflect on that experience such that it informs my conclusions.
You can get an idea of what I am up to by clicking on Big Brother.
This is a great idea, and I'm really curious to see how it turns out. What you've got so far has (for me) elicited the same amount of frustration as when I was reading reading Trettien, so good job! Also interesting to think about in terms of who's ultimately responsible for ensuring protection, what is lost or gained, and what other mechanisms or tools are available (I'm thinking specifically about the TurnItIn function on Blackboard which was required for a couple of my courses last term).
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on the frustration. I want to create an experience that is only mildly frustrating. So I will need to keep the frustration in check. One of the big things DRM is supposed to be is invisible. Except my experience of it is that it is always visible.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I can't help but feel surveilled every time I enter my adobe ID just to read a library book. It gives me the Big Brother feels.