The concept of "" has varied over time. When Thoms first created this term, "folk" applied only to rural, frequently poor and illiterate peasants. A more modern definition of "folk" is a social group that includes two or more persons with common traits, who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions. "Folk is a flexible concept which can refer to a nation as in American folklore or to a single family." This expanded social definition of "folk" supports a broader view of the material, i.e. the lore, considered to be "folklore artifacts". These now include all "things people make with words (verbal lore), things they make with their hands (material lore), and things they make with their actions (customary lore)". Folklore is no longer considered to be limited to that which is old or obsolete. The folklorist studies the traditional artifacts of a social group and how they are transmitted. "Transmission" is a vital part of the folklore process; without communicating these beliefs and customs within the group over space and time, they would be relegated to cultural archaeologists. These folk artifacts continue to be passed along informally, as a rule anonymously, and always in multiple variants. The folk group is not individualistic, it is community-based and nurtures its lore in community. "As new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, computer programmers". In direct contrast to high culture, where any single work of a named artist is protected by copyright law, folklore is a function of shared identity within a common social group.