Project 2: Remediation/Remix Project

For this project, you will be remixing or remediating a text(s) of your choosing. To begin this unit, well familiarize
ourselves with Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusins theory of remediation. Well be reading chapters from their
book (aptly titled Remediation), critically analyze examples of remediation, and unpack the consequences of and
motivations behind remediation. In addition, well further acquaint ourselves with the practice of remix by watching
the documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto as well as by reading excerpts from Lawrence Lessigs book Remix. Lastly,
well explore the ways in which copyright works to limit the practice of remediation/remix, and well examine the
ways fair use provides us the opportunity to continue this practice. All of this will help prepare us to tackle the
culminating project: to remediate or remix a text or set of textsyour own and/or someone elses. The text(s) you
decide to remediate/remix is up to you, but youll want to think critically about what texts lend themselves best to
remediation and remix and how that remediation or remix might come to fruition.
While youre required to create a remediation or remix, you do have the agency to shape the rest of your rhetorical
situation. In other words, youll need to determine your exigence and your audience. Youll articulate your
rhetorical situation in full within your rhetorical rationale. However, as you begin to think about this project, be sure
to consider the following:

the content you remediate/remix (what, how much, and why);

the purpose for your remediation/remix, the function it serves (besides earning a grade, of course);

the genre of both the original text(s) and the new remediated/remixed one (make sure the medium you work
in makes sense as a compliment/criticism of the original[s]);

the texttechnologies youll use to create the remediation/remix and the medium/platform(s) in which
youll subsequently deliver the remediation/remix;

the affordances of those texttechnologies, media, and platforms and the ways they affect your content; and

the audience of both the original text(s) and the remediated/remixed one.
Youll also need to think about issues of copyright and the way your remediation/remix qualifies as an instance of
fair use, which youll also articulate in your rationale. In short, youll want to
consider our past readings, discussions, and activities and the way they inform your understanding and composing
of this remediation/remix.
Similar to some of our other inclass exercises and journals, this project is intentionally vague. As well soon learn,
remediation and remix, while practices that have been occurring for years, are nonetheless complex and difficult to
grasp in full. Moreover, remediation in particular is a broad concept, applied to both technologies and texts, that can
manifest itself in various ways. In other words, each of you will probably approach and conceive of your
remediation/remix differentlyand thats a good thing.
As a reminder, if it wasnt clear already, your remediation/remix should not exist in a vacuum, and I dont want you
to think of your rhetorical situation as exclusively satisfying an assignment but rather as responding to a real world
exigence. Create a remediation/remix that serves a purpose other than earning you a grade; think of an audience
other than me. Just as important, think about how your remediated/remix text will circulate, how it will reach its
intended audience.
Finally, a quick note on the medium. As noted above, youll want to consider the affordances of the medium you
choose and the ways those affordances affect the content you intend to remediate/remix. As for actual media, you
can go in almost any direction; that is, these remediations/remixes can be written, oral, visual, digital: in short, you
can work with any texttechnologies and choose any medium (or media) as long as it aligns with and is pertinent to
the rhetorical situation you lay out for yourself. (The only program/genre I encourage you to avoid is PowerPoint, so if you want
to use it, please run your project idea by me in advance.)

Project 2: Remediation/Remix Project

Alternative Project: If this type of assignment isnt up your alley and you would prefer to compose within a
different rhetorical situation, Im open to suggestions as long as the content of the text pertains to remediation
and/or remix. For example, a case study that traced and explicated an instance of remediation using the theories
and terminologies from Bolter and Grusins Remediation. If you are going to create an alternative project, you need to
send me a proposal by Friday, March 4th.
This is a new and different form of composing than what many of you are used to completing, and I want you to
starting shifting and seeing yourselves as producers of these kinds of texts, to
understand the process of text creation and manipulation done by others (outside of the kinds of work weve done
while quoting and building on others with the written word) entails. In the process of doing so in this project you
will also:

Participate in the practice of remediation/remix by using the old to create something new (and understand
how this practice is generative and epistemic).

Compose for a purpose and an audience.

Understand how content is repurposed and/or refashioned for different genres, media, and audiences.

Compose in a style that is appropriate for your genre and audience.

Arrange your text in a way that is appropriate for your genre and audience and that fosters an ideal reading
experience.

Delivery your text to your target audience (there is a difference between publication and circulation).

Understand how copyright and fair use affect the practice of remediation/remix and defend your text as an
instance of fair use.
Due: Wednesday, March 30th