Using public domain content as the basis for mashups is a growing trend, and one that is yielding a lot of great, original content.
Brandon Mendelson over at Mashable.com takes a look at how public domain material is being re-purposed on the web and in print.
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
Maybe you’re not feeling overly ambitious and don’t want to create an entire universe based on someone else’s mythology. That’s fine. You can always just throw in zombies, ninjas, and sea monsters. People like it when you do that. Quirk Books had to up their print run from 12,000 to 60,000 because of the buzz around this re-imagining of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice. The book has been so successful, a major feature film is in the works as well as a graphic novel, and multiple sequels based on other classic books have already been made.LOLCat Bible
The LOLCat meme, which originated on 4Chan for Caturday, has come a long way. The LOLCat Bible Translation Project is funny and is a great illustration of what you can do with public content. Both Bibles (Hebrew and New) are public domain, and with the help of the crowd, the LOLCat Bible Translation Project has successfully translated the two books into “LOLSpeak.” There’s even a book coming out in January.Fly On Time
Everything you need to know about your flight. Alright. Not quite everything, but the weather? Will your flight be on time? Thanks to information made available through Data.gov, Flyontime.us provides airline customers with plenty of useful information to help make their flying decisions. By the way, pretty much anything the federal government (US) does is public domain (though there are some exceptions). If it’s not classified, it’s yours.Continue Reading: “How To Use Public Domain Content”
Photo by Quirk Books.