The Hidden Demography of New Media Ethics

Published 2013 in Information, Communication & Society

34 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2013

See all articles by Mark Latonero

Mark Latonero

Data & Society Research Institute; USC Annenberg School of Communication

Aram Sinnreich

American University - School of Communication

Date Written: November 27, 2012

Abstract

The early years of the 21st Century have been characterized by an explosion of new "configurable" cultural forms and practices, such as mashups, remixes and machinima, enabled by rapidly proliferating global digital network technologies. These new cultural forms blur the distinctions between traditional production and consumption and have come increasingly into contrast with the letter of copyright law. In the absence of functionally relevant economic and legal frameworks, communities around the globe have developed their own ethical criteria to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate configurable practices. In the present article, the authors share data from surveys fielded in 2006 and 2010, showing that as these practices have become more prevalent, the ethical frameworks people employ to make sense of them have continued to proliferate and mature. Finally, we analyze the demographic profiles of respondents employing each ethical framework, revealing hidden national, class and ethnic distinctions underpinning the disparate value systems that have been employed to make sense of these new practices.

Keywords: remix, mashup, survey, media ethics, copyright, demographics

Suggested Citation

Latonero, Mark and Sinnreich, Aram, The Hidden Demography of New Media Ethics (November 27, 2012). Published 2013 in Information, Communication & Society, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2344307

Mark Latonero

Data & Society Research Institute ( email )

36 West 20th Street
New York,, NY New York 10011
United States

USC Annenberg School of Communication ( email )

2250 Alcazar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

Aram Sinnreich (Contact Author)

American University - School of Communication ( email )

Mary Graydon Center
4400 Massachusetts Av. NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/aram.cfm

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