Mash Ups

December 28, 2008

One of the most intriguing phenomena in the Digital Age is the mashup, a cut-and-paste mélange of two completely different digital entities. Web 3.0 developers, for example, create mashups of different software applications — say, a social networking app that lets users review restaurants or nightclubs, combined with Google Maps, so that they can see how to get to that trendy tapas joint or pan-Asian diner.

In the music world, DJs use mixing software  to dice and slice digital music files and reassemble them, creating sometimes startling syntheses. (Perhaps the most famous music mashup is DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album, a synthesis of Jay-Z’s 2003 hiphop CD The Black Album and The Beatles’ eponymous 1968 double LP, popularly known because of its blank cover as “The White Album.”) And video mashups are a staple on YouTube, including this mashup of the Three Stooges tossing cream pies with footage of the recent incident in which an angry Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush.

So anyway,I’ve been thinking: What would happen if we took the same concept and applied it in a different way? Instead of digital content, we would combine two of the cutting-edge, controversial and/or outlandish ideas that we’ve previously explored and debated in this blog? A Good Idea mashup, if you will.