Friday, September 30, 2011

Week 1

Photo Credit: Picture found using Microsoft Office Images To begin with, I found that I had a lot of misconceptions about copyrights. I was one of those people that had myths about copyrights. For example, If I don't charge for it, it's not a violation, or as long as I was making a copy of something to use with my students, then it was OK. I never even thought it would be a problem to use items that belonged to others, until I started my own photography business. When I first began, I would post photographs on the internet, without a copyright, because I didn't think it would be a problem. Then I saw where others had stolen my image off the web and tried to claim that they had photographed that particular image. That's when I realized how important copyright laws are, and what it means to the creator of different types of media.

Often times, when working with Kindergarten students, using pictures from the internet to help build vocabulary, was part of my daily routine. I often searched for pictures that were not watermarked with a copyright logo. I figured that if there wasn't a copyright notice, then it wasn't copyrighted.

After viewing "Good Copy, Bad Copy", I had a hard time absorbing this concept. Basically they were saying that if you take any part of a recording and use in your own recording, then this is copyright. Take a minute and think about the following dilemma and let me know what you think about it.

Dilemma 1: Person A creates a recording completely on their own, with all their own ideas, and then produce it. Then a recording artist (Person B) accuses person A of copyright abuse, and that a loop of the Person B's recording was stolen. Well, what if Person A, had never even heard of Person B's Music, and created the work independently from his own creativity. Is person A guilty? What would someone do in this situation?

4 comments:

  1. Dear Rosalyn,
    I had so many misconceptions regarding the copyright topic too. In fact, just like you described, since I teach a lot of vocab in Spanish, I thought that I could just go to a search engine and copy pics without a watermark. When I started at Full Sail in month 1 with Mr. Bustillos, was when I realized the importance of copyright and fair use, but I feel that it's now when I have gotten a better understanding on this matter. Just like you, I still feel there is still a lot to be done about it, and I also have questions or have thought about certain situations where I wouldn't know how the fair use and copyright laws apply. BTW, I love your blog font, it makes it so personal, so you! Loved it!!!

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  2. Rosalynn,

    Yes having images copyrighted helps but does not always resolve the issue. Use the metadata and imbed the copyright information. When selling stock images I have the agencies on my side. They have actually had websites taken down for copyright issues. When I do portraits I use Zenfolio so people buy prints direct. To get to their images they use a password. This keeps the stolen images at a minimum. I completely agree on the remix of music. I think taking something that someone makes is wrong. Don't copy their music, get some TALENT and make your own. Coping it with software is not talent it is stealing!!

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  3. Rose,

    When I was working as a Media Speicalist, I found the same thing that you described. Most teachers assume that because they are using in the classroom that they fall under the "fair use" umbrella. I found it interesting that "fair use is not a right but a defensible position." I am not sure how you interpret that but it seems like what one person believes is fair use may not be viewed that way by its creator which lands the user in a grey area. The way i recommended teachers avoid these grey areas is similar to what you described; I always suggested that they create their own or use student created images.

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  4. You've hit the nail on the head in many ways, especially that none of this is "real" to us until we find that someone has taken our work and called it their own. And given today's technology, highlighted in the Good Copy/Bad Copy Video, it can come down to a single sound, twisted, filtered and added in a completely new context. And proving that a single sound didn't come from a certain source... talk about oceans of grey. Ack.

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