8.8 What is Remixing?

The definition of a remix is:

A piece of media which has been altered from its original state by adding, removing, and/or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, books, video, or photograph can all be remixes. The only characteristic of a remix is that it appropriates and changes other materials to create something new (Remix, 2024).

In the workplace, you will often remix the writing of your coworkers. (This is sometimes called “patchwriting.”) For example, you might build on work that your coworker did: adding new information and rewriting older content so that it fits a new purpose. You might also remix content so that it is accessible to a new audience. For example, perhaps your company has been awarded a contract to create a new park. You might take design plans from a large proposal written in technical language and remix them into social media content aimed at a general audience to build excitement within the community about the new park.

In fact, even this textbook is a remix. The author wrote some chapters, but she also used pieces from multiple different open source textbooks. Sometimes, she did small edits, like changing American spellings to Canadian ones or adding different examples. She often combined sources and rearranged them. Other times, she reimagined the chapter. For example, she took some material that was focused on academic writing and reimagined it from a business writing perspective. Because this textbook is open source, other writers will likely build upon it in the future.

In the workplace, remixing saves time and helps use the talents of many different people. For example, if your non-profit organization often applies for grants, it wouldn’t make sense to write each one from scratch, but it also wouldn’t be a successful strategy to use the same material to apply for every grant. Through remixing, you can use existing material as building blocks to create something new.

Remixing can also teach us a lot about how the creative process works. Chances are strong that you already practice the basics of remixing when you learn a new skill. The video below will show you how many of the books, movies and songs you love are actually remixes.

Everything Is A Remix

Experimenting with remixing can help you in many ways in the workplace. Many people’s careers have been launched by the skills they learned while remixing for fun. For example, many graphic designers first mastered Photoshop by creating funny memes for their friends. But as the video shows, professionals often use remixing skills to create new insights on the job. For example, you might notice a trend going on in a different industry or a piece of technology with a different purpose and discover how to apply it to your own particular context.

In the past, communicators in North America sought to control how their words or images were used by others. Many public relations professionals were slow to adapt to the Internet culture.  More recently, many marketing and communications professionals have learned that embracing remixing can be a great way to promote their brand.

Attribution

“What is Remixing?” from Business Writing For Everyone by Arley Cruthers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.