Week 1 Reading Tracy Myer's Post and My Response

Friday, June 29, 2012

Week 1 Reading- Copyright Issues

Part 1-- What is copyright – copyright means if you can create it you have the right to protect it and legally claim it as your own. This was nice explained in the very first video I watched on copyright. What that means to me is simply anything that I create and wish to protect that includes my short stories I need to have copyrighted.  As the owner of the work I will have all rights to use and reuse it unless I give permission to others to use my work.  I also understand that material that are improvisational that are not filmed or recorded can’t be copyright.  From viewing the other videos on copyright I learned that individuals with copyright ownership has that for the lifetime plus 70 years and companies copyright lasts for 100 years which is an extremely long time.

Part 2--What is fair use- fair use is not a right it is a legal defensible position. It involves these three conditions whether something is fair use nature, the amount (which is unassigned percent) and commercial effect.  As an educator one must be very careful when dealing with fair use because although the amount is unassigned it is still a very small percent.  Teachers are still required to follow the same fair use rules as non-educators when it comes to materials. They have to give credit to the owner of the material and how much is use is just as important as well.

Part 3-- What is Creative Commons Solutions- creative commons is a place to find all kinds of material that is free to use as long as you give credit to the owner of the material.  Creative commons solution uses symbols to inform the borrower how they are allowed to use the material and the type of permission they are given for that particular work. 

 Posted by Blogger TracyM at 9:29 AM

WK 1 Reading - Copyright Issues

Week 1 Reading

Jena Wyat's Post and My Response

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012

WK 1 Reading - Copyright Issues

"If you can create it, then you have the right to protect it and legally claim it as your own." This is the legal definition of copyright. So, what does it mean? Well, any copyrightable materials are works such as audio, books, artwork, plays, movies and videos. Only the owner has the right to use and reuse his/her work without permission. I was surprised to learn that dance can also be copyrighted along with movies, film, and music. Are Michael Jackson's moves copyrighted? What about MC Hammer? I can think of a few others, but I'm sure you get my point. A copyright for a company lasts for 100 years and a lifetime plus 70 years for an individual owner. That is quite a long time. It seems that copyright is all about money and not about creativity. In Brazil, artists are more interested in becoming popular by allowing their music to be mixed and played at large parties and clubs. If the audience likes the music, the artist will be able to perform in a concert where he/she can make some big money. In the US, pirating and mixing music is a crime. What does that say about our country?

As an educator, we are not covered by the tag, "All images, clips, and audio captured are intended for educational use only." As stated in the videos I watched, if I can remove the copyrighted material and still teach the lesson, then that usage doesn't fall under the Fair Use umbrella. I would have to obtain permission from the original author or owner. With fair use, I can borrow a small amount of copyrighted work for teaching, news reporting, parody (comedy), and critical comment (Walter Cronkite type of stuff). Fair use is only a legal defensible position, not a right. I have to follow certain rules as with everything else. In short, how I use it and how much I use. It is very important to remember to always give credit to the original creator. Creative Commons (creativecommons.org) is a great place to look for this type of material. On this site, you can find all types of works that you are free to use as long as you site the source and give credit. Symbols of the creative commons license inform users how they are allowed to use the work. The owners are giving us permission to use their work in different creative ways instead of stifling our creativity. I really like the TED talk by Larry Lessig. What caught my attention the most was what he said about John Philip Sousa. What great foresight Sousa had about where our culture was headed, from a Read/Write society to a Read/Only society. This is so true in many areas. The kids of today are trying to tell us that they want to be allowed to have the right to be creative in any way they choose, but it is our job to teach them the correct and legal way in which to express their creativity. I feel confident that now I am able to do just that.

Paula SanchezJune 29, 2012 12:53 PM

Jena - You have addressed many of the topics covered in this week's videos. I appreciate your last sentences, where you said that the kids of today want to be creative in any way they choose, and that it is our responsibility to teach them the correct and legal way to express their creativity. Having learned tons of new information from this week's videos, I think the best way for me to educate my students as to the legalities is to model it for them. I plan to make a very intentional point of not only discussing copyright, but also modeling how to correctly select and cite sources used in my presentations for my students.

EDM613 Media Asset Creation

Week 1 Reading Blog Post

June 29, 2012

The whole notion of copyright and fair use has been clarified through this week's reading (3 sets of videos), but has also further muddied my understanding of what I am able to use as an educator, how much I am able to use, and how concerned I should be about using something created by someone else.  There is a sense of unease that always comes with using photos and film clips and other materials that you did not create.  That sense of unease frequently causes me to underutilize materials in my presentations, both for this course, and in the education of my students.

What I better understand is the definition of copyright, and how I can use copyrighted information.  I understand that in order to use material created by someone else, be it text, video, still images, music, or even dance, permission needs to be obtained.  Fortunately, with fair use, I can "borrow" small portions of materials to use with my students.  (I am still very unclear on what small portions really means.)  I also know that it is critical to credit the original creator whenever possible.  This is the biggest issue for my students - they think that if something is on the Internet, it is available for them to use.  Use often translates into copy, and they really struggle to understand the difference.

Having said this, I do appreciate the last set of videos from this week's assignment.  I appreciate the Creative Commons notion - that in this information rich Internet age we live in, there exist agreed upon guidelines that do carry the weight of the law.

As mentioned in the videos, Creative Commons falls somewhere in between "All rights restricted" and "public domain".  If all information were clearly labeled using these guidelines, it would be less difficult to determine whether or not I am able to use the information, for example, in a lesson for my students.

This coding system will also help me better educate my students as to what information they are able to use for projects, as well as their personal uses.

Still images captured from video:

copyright pt3-2cc videos.m4v