Sergio Amadeu da Silveira - Cidadania e Redes Digitais

eng
c i t i z e n s h i p a n d d i g i t a l n e t w o r k s
In fact, it would be boorish to become a citation machine of that kind.
If I wanted to be extremely tedious, I might say: “You know all the world’s a
stage. And before I go any further I’d like to point out that the observation I just
made comparing the world to a stage actually comes from William Shakespeare.
He lived in England from 1564 to 1616 and became famous for writing dozens of
wonderful plays. The particular quote I’ve used comes from his comedy As You Like
It, spoken in a soliloquy by the character Jaques in Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166
in the Quarto version… .”
You can see how debilitating and stupid it would be to satisfy the inane strictures
of the plagiarism scanning machines. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I happen
to believe that the business of education should be something more than of
teaching fear and stupidity. More important, a close look at the matter reveals that
borrowing — sometimes even outright theft — is essential — essential in thinking,
essential in writing, essential in scholarship, essential in creativity. Igor Stravinsky
is reported to have said, “Good composers borrow. Great composers steal.” He was
simply observing what has long been observed about those who’ve produced some
of the most wonderful music in the classical tradition: composers take many of their
themes, orchestrations, and other musical signatures from earlier sources. This is
even more evident in jazz, where the best improvisers issue fountains of quotations,
instantaneously from all musical sources in their memories. What’s the harm?
As the great American writer Henry David Thoreau observes in Walden: “It is
difficult to begin without borrowing, but perhaps it is the most generous course thus
to permit your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise. The owner of the
axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned
it sharper than I received it.” What a wonderful sentiment — borrowing tools and
common resources as way to include the commitment others have in your endeavors.
We are fortunate that an awareness of this kind now informs the best thinking
about free software, free culture, open source, Creative Commons, and similar intellectual
and social movements. In visions of this kind, essential value of sharing,
reusing, and remixing information from world’s store of knowledge, art, science,
and education is regarded as our common heritage rather than a mere storehouse of
private property threatened by thieves and protected by cops. New practices such
as the use of General Public License and the various licenses created by Creative
Commons make it possible to distinguish what rights and freedoms are attached
to writings, works of art, and other cultural resources. In that way, the policing of
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