Remixing systems: Collective design through modification

Remixing is a process through which the new is created through modification of the old. Digital technologies have led to the creation of remixing systems, collectives of humans and machines who share and modify designs. These systems can be studied to provide insight into the way innovation works at both the individual and collective level. In particular, these systems make it possible to modify and recombine a plethora of design representations. This chapter discusses the roots of modern remixing in sound technology, looks backwards to ideas of remixing inherent in classical rhetoric, and looks forward to the ways remixing systems have and will be used in knowledge work. Software, 3D printed objects, songs, and Wikipedia articles are some of the examples of the artifacts that remixing systems produce through the collected effort of thousands intent on improving each other’s ideas.