Has Andy Baio Read Kirby Ferguson?

The two authors, Andy Baio and Kirby Ferguson, argue about the same topic in their similar texts. Since they are so similar, it seems that there are moments in Baios' text when it appears that they are in direct conversation. In Baios' blog post "Kind of Screwed" there are several moments that capture my attention and remind me of moments in Ferguson's documentary Everything is a Remix. In Baios' post he uses the same technique that Ferguson implies. One prominent technique that they both use is comparing and contrasting different examples that apply to the argument. Baio tends to compare transforming photographs into pixelated or cartoon pictures, while Ferguson mainly compares music songs from artists, such as Led Zeppelin, and how they remixed other bands' work. This technique that Baio seems to copy form Ferguson is one that strengthens both their arguments.

Baio seems to have read Ferguson before due to the fact that he even mentions Ferguson and his documentary, Everything is a Remix, at the end of "Kind of Screwed". Baio seems to take Ferguson's ideas and techniques, implementing them into his own post, ultimately strengthening his argument. One other technique that Baio incorporates into his blog post that is similar to Ferguson is after he makes his case to the audience, he questions the audience "where would you draw the line?", ultimately getting his audience to think about the copyright laws and how they should be changed and what they should consist of. Ferguson does the same thing throughout his documentary as he engages his audience throughout his argument, creating an effective and thought provoking text.

"A Kind of Bloop" Remix

In his blog post Kind of Screwed, Andy Baio, discusses his struggles with copyright acts and the dilemmas he has had to face due to his pixel cover for Kind of Bloop, a digitally remixed tribute to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. The pixelated drawing of Jay Maisel's portrait of Miles Davis became a huge legal problem for Andy Baio as he was sent a letter demanding payment for damages up to $150,000. As Baio describes, copyright issues nowadays are always very frustrating due to the 1976 Copyright Act, which is very vague, causing many misinterpretations that lead to many disagreements about the topic of "fair use". In his blog post Baio makes his argument known to his audience as he explains it with informative speech and gives visual aid examples of other copyright dilemmas that, unlike his pixelated cover, resulted in "fair use".

Throughout his post Baio relies heavily on the use of many facts and information about the way the copyright act works and what eventually comes into play when deciding if the material was basically stolen or not. The fact that Baio portrays his use of logos so efficiently to his audience, shows that he is very knowledgable about copyright use and can be seen as a reliable source. As Baio continues to portray the struggle of his legal dilemma, he creates an audience that becomes sympathetic to his position in his disagreement with Maisel. One example of this is when Baio points out John Taylor's "remixing" of movie posters, a similar situation, that resulted in a decision of "fair use". Baio goes on to explain his opinion that John Taylor's art was the same thing, but unfortunately Maisel disagreed. As Baio describes his hardship through the rejection of his pixelated cover, a sense sympathy for Baio is formed through Baio's argument against the verdict of his copyright violation.