Embrace the Remix

Kirby Ferguson’s “Everything is a Remix” series has had a big influence on the way I perceive design and creativity. If you’ve not seen any of his videos, which explore the core elements of most creative works and the history of copyright law, I highly recommend you check them out.

But if you’re looking for a short intro to Kirby’s concepts, his recent TED Talk is a great place to start.

The Beauty of Open

Open source can produce some truly terrible alternatives to proprietary, paid software (Google Web Fonts, I’m looking at you!). But it can also produce some amazingly wonderful products as well.

WordPress. Bootstrap. jQuery. All made better by a caring and open community of developers.

Kirby’s series, and my immersion into the web design and development culture, have given me a renewed value for the beauty of open, remixable content. It’s why I lifted the “All Rights Reserved” copyright from my blog, and gave away the (former) layout for this site.

Recently I’ve been thinking about what else I’ve created that I can give away. I’d like to do more of that.

Referenced Links & Further Reading

1. Kirby Ferguson’s “Everything is a Remix” series.
2. Kirby Ferguson at TED.
3. Go Code Things, my free Wordpress theme for beginners.
4. My look at Kirby’s “Copy. Transform. Combine.” video.
5. My take on Kirby’s “The Inventor’s Dilemma.”