Partying Like it’s 1999: On the Napsterization of Cultural Artifacts Via Peer-to-Peer Networks

As we begin to explore the possibilities and potentialities of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), it is critical that we understand the historical experiences that inform our students’ interactions with virtual spaces. For students nowattending universities the technology that first drewthem to virtual spaces often was Napster, the first peer-to-peer application to achieve widespread popularity. While Napster and its peer-to-peer successors do not typically function as rich VLEs, they nevertheless are the spaces in which many students first cultivate a sense of the computer as a facilitator of community, communication, and exchange. In short, Napster offered the environment in which many current university students first embarked on virtual learning and their perceptions of contemporary VLEs are shaped by their peer-to-peer experiences.

Indeed, the disappointment that many students acknowledge when operating within commercial (and thus more constrained) VLEs is illustrative of the perceived freedom that students associate with their peer-to-peer experiences. But this freedom was always contested, and when placed within the frame of U.S. law, it was arguably illusory. That said, today’s instructors must acknowledge and understand this perception if they hope to encourage students to adapt to the relatively controlled spaces found within many contemporary VLEs. A nuanced understanding of the history and consequences of the Napster case will aid instructors in developing VLE-savvy pedagogies that build upon the knowledge and skills gained during students’ peer-to-peer experiences.