About Me
- Sue Parler
- New Jersey, United States
- I'm currently in my 32nd year teaching at DePaul Catholic HS in Wayne, NJ. I teach Game Design, Cryptology, and Spanish -- yes, it's an odd mix -- even I admit it. I am the IT Coordinator at DePaul Catholic as well, which means I manage the network, the student information system, the website, and the 900+ computers in the building. Yep, keeps me busy.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
MAC Week 2 Free Post: Mashers and Mixers
Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel - a mashup of the stories of Genesis, the ancestors of Christ, and twelve prophets.
Alice in Wonderland's author Lewis Carroll, may well be considered one of the world's first and most famous parodist. He loved telling stories to children and often would parody those that they already knew.
Titus Maccius Plautus - rolls right off the tip of your tongue, no? Well, it did for William Shakespeare who borrowed from Plautus, as did many of his contemporaries.
No where do we ever question the genius of Homer, Michelangelo, Carroll, or Shakespeare.
So, perhaps it's time for schools to tone-down the hostility towards mashups and remixes and recognize them for what they are -- creative expression. Our kids have the extended capabilities of technologies such as digital recording mixers and Photoshop to re-purpose the original works. Engage them in doing so. Encourage them to do so. These skills may lead to completely original creative expression. And while we encourage and hone their skills, perhaps we can teach our kids the responsibility of attribution as well.
Speaking of which, the image above is that of a marble called a "Masher". Only those of us over 50 would probably have understood the reference. And under the Creative Commons license, I gratefully acknowledge its originator: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vvvracer/4573612840
MAC Week 2: Wimba
And I know I'm not alone. One could hear the frustration of Suzy O'Day as she attempted on several occasions to ask questions. Until she and others admitted that we don't know many educators who are not in violation of copyright laws.
I ventured into the faculty room last week after hearing a portion of the Wimba session and raised my concern. The resounding retort was that the two could not be compared. Here was the prevailing thought...
In plagiarism, an author attempts to pass off the work of another as his own. What we do is nothing like that.I asked if anyone had ever copied a workbook page from one of his or her ancillary materials and distributed it to the class. To be clear, one copy of the workbook is in hand - 25 copies are made. Several teachers said, of course they had done that. No one saw that as an issue.
I asked if anyone had ever used PDFs from the web with those little disclaimers on the bottom that say something to the effect of "Use with permission....". Of course they had. Had anyone contacted the original author for permission? No. The two best (worst?) answers were 1) I just cut that part off when I make my copies. 2) I leave it on - the students just think we have permission.
Yes, greatly troubled I am.
I mentioned that using full-length films was probably copyright infringement too. You can imagine how that went over.
Professor Bustillos attempted to clarify these murky waters, but the waters grew deeper and darker for me. Until Jim Farmer posted two good links:
1. http://www.teachingcopyright.org/
2. http://www.mediaeducationlab.com/
The first one is outstanding. I loved the peer-to-peer sharing unit. If you happen to be reading this, please take a moment to visit - there are some great resources.
As for me, I'm developing a full-year, twice per week professional development series for our staff to launch in August. It's a blended learning experience. I'm excited about the possibility of catching our teaching staff up on some good 21st Century skills. You can bet a unit on copyright will be included. As will the advocacy of using sites such as Creative Commons.
Since I never took re-mixing (another topic covered in this week's Wimba) too seriously, I've done some limited research on the topic. One article from MIT mentioned game modding in the same breath as music mash-ups. I had never thought of it in quite those terms. I teach Game Level Design. I see the originality and creative expression required to complete a great modded level. And yet my students use assets created by others and "re-mix" them to build something completely unique. So, while I'd never really thought of it in those terms, I've been teaching re-mixing for the past several years.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
MAC Week 2: Response to Classmates' Blogs
Bruce Neubauer: Week 2--Blog Number 1: The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Zander, Chapter 1-4
“A cynic is a passionate person who does not want to be disappointed again.”
That quote was worth the entire price of admission. For this is what The Art of Possibility is all about: Protecting my heart from becoming such a stone-cold realist that I possibly miss being something better, or making others better.
At first glance The Art of Possibility reads like quasi-secularized-Buddhist theory. Unfortunately, the universe does not operate on subjective feelings or perceptions. Newtonian or Einsteinian, both still describe a physical universe that operates with mathematical precision. Which leads me to believe Zander is either a confused cosmic humanist, or an apostate secularist. Evolution (which is referenced a couple of times) is all about measurement. That’s how less vigorous organisms (or less desirable traits) get marginalized in biology’s great game (to use Zander’s analogy) of elimination
Which is why I disagreed with the perception that school grades are gamed to compare one student with another. The students at USC were not graded against their actual accomplishment, but with a random, arbitrary system. Math is not arbitrary. Grammar is not arbitrary. So I’m not sure about the accuracy of connecting these particular dots. Real skill is…real skill. Would Zander allow The Art of Possibility’s final draft to be overseen by a person with second rate editorial or proofreading skills? He wouldn’t. No matter how many conservatory musicians are encouraged to feel good about their A, no orchestra is going to keep them on the payroll if they can’t play the notes. Feeling special is not the same thing as being excellent.
I liked the metaphor of chipping away at a child’s exterior to help them achieve their natural bent. Absolutely correct. I also liked the future tense A grade. It places the student in the position to step up and take the responsibility for their success and growth. And the monk’s story touched me. I need to shift some ideas in my head about people in general. The monks were looking for the Messiah in one another. Not everyone is a Messiah, but everyone is worthy of such honorable respect.
Zander's ideas spoke to me. He is proposing a friendlier, more organic approach with ourselves and with others.
***My Response***
That quote struck a chord in me as well. As did the anecdote about the passionate musician who appeared disinterested because she so disagreed with the bowlines. I would tend to agree that sometimes that passion is stepped on, trampled, or blatantly disregarded. And that is what I took away as a change that I could make in terms of how I manage my perceptions.
I understand the dichotomy of the grades argument. I’m on both sides – I’m a Gemini, so this is completely acceptable ;-) On one hand we measure the level of mastery of material with a grade – we do not measure the level of deficit (which is exactly why I NEVER put a negative score on my student’s papers. I always measure how much they know.) When we present them with tangible evidence as to their level of mastery, we also challenge them to do better. Yes, I understand, that sometimes backfires. I also wish I could conduct a class where grades were not in the picture at all – learn for learning’s sake. I think Zander’s impetus in “Giving an “A”” was a good one – don’t let the fear of not achieving stand on the way of self-actualizing. I can’t imagine doing that with my kids – again, I understand the theory – I simply question the reality.
I, too, enjoyed the Monks’ story. We have a tendency to play it more like the game “The Mole” – where we have a natural distrust for each other, rather than a natural reverence. Having read the first four chapters about two weeks ago, I remember going into school and attempting to treat each person mindful of his/her divine dignity. It didn’t last long, sadly. But I went in the next day trying again. It didn’t last long that day either. It’s a journey. A very long journey.
Suzy O'Day: Week2 Reading - Art of Possibility - Ch. 1-4
When I first skimmed through the book when I downloaded it at the beginning of the month, I couldn't help but think that it was very similar to those self-help books you would find in the wellness section of Borders. When I sat down to actually read the chapters so much of what was said made sense. The author may have used his experience as a musician to set the backdrop for many of his concepts, but those concepts can be applied to the classroom very easily.
It makes sense that what we only perceive what our minds have been programmed to. I would think that this pre-programming would make affecting change very difficult. How do you think outside the box when your mind has been programmed not to? This is probably why change in society takes so long to come into effect. Every person has their own "programming" and getting all of those programs to work together as a cohesive unit seems like an insurmountable task. Encouraging students to "color outside the lines" may open their minds up to even more possibilities in their education. Then maybe in the future these students could affect change more quickly.
I agree with the author when he stated that our views of the world are limited by outside factors that limit our world of possibility. Every teacher has had to cut a lesson plan short or cut out a cool project because of a lack of time and resources. This leads directly to the author's belief that our view of the world is limited by competition and the struggle to survive. Rather than focusing of the needs of the individual child, we assign grades and force students to compete for their successes in our classrooms. I think that it is important for our students to be successful, but sometimes the best lessons come from failure. How does a teacher strike a balance between students' successes and failures in the classroom? The fear of failure can either make a student work harder or make them shut down. My goal as a teacher is to make my students want to work as hard as possible. I'm constantly telling my students to do the best that they can and I'll be proud. I can tell them this to try to make them relax and enjoy the work in my class, but that is only in my classroom. I cannot change what they hear at home.
I agree with the author when he stated that our views of the world are limited by outside factors that limit our world of possibility. Every teacher has had to cut a lesson plan short or cut out a cool project because of a lack of time and resources. This leads directly to the author's belief that our view of the world is limited by competition and the struggle to survive. Rather than focusing of the needs of the individual child, we assign grades and force students to compete for their successes in our classrooms. I think that it is important for our students to be successful, but sometimes the best lessons come from failure. How does a teacher strike a balance between students' successes and failures in the classroom? The fear of failure can either make a student work harder or make them shut down. My goal as a teacher is to make my students want to work as hard as possible. I'm constantly telling my students to do the best that they can and I'll be proud. I can tell them this to try to make them relax and enjoy the work in my class, but that is only in my classroom. I cannot change what they hear at home.
I think that a teacher sets the tone for their classroom with every assignment that they give. In order to do this effectively, the teacher needs to understand at what level and how the students learn. This also means that grading will have to be skewed to accommodate the differences among all of the students in the classroom. Despite all of this, I still think that there needs to be some sort of benchmarks for the students to meet. If there is not at least some form of standards then public education would be impossible because there would be no effective system for making sure the students and teachers are doing their job. I also think that participation or contribution needs to be an important component of a student's final grade. Hard work needs to be rewarded even if it is not always successful.
***My Response***
And… how do we prepare our educators for the artistic scribblers? I have suggested in the past to several close colleagues that I would prefer to teach without grades to encourage learning for learning’s sake. I won’t even repeat some of what they retort but “Rose-colored Glasses” and “Pollyanna” are among the kindest phrases uttered. They ask questions like how would colleges know whom to accept. Clearly there are ripple effects – actually it’s more of tidal wave proportion.
I wholeheartedly agree that the teacher sets the tone. However I’m not 100% sold on your concluding line about having participation and contribution rewarded – certainly if the assessment opportunity calls for collaboration as a part of the rubric, then yes. But it reminds me of a question posed in one of our previous classes – should the grade be based on effort or productivity. I have a tendency to lean towards the tangible product. If one student can do in ten minutes, what it takes another student an hour to do half as well, are they to be rewarded equally? If he’s building my car – I’ll take the perfect product every time.
Friday, May 13, 2011
MAC Week 2: "Art of Possibility" Reading
It didn’t take long for me to get hooked on the required reading, “The Art of Possibility” for my Month 11 class, Media Asset Creation. When I got to page 4 and read…
Standard social and business practices are built on certain assumptions - shared understandings that have evolved from older beliefs and conditions. And while circumstances have changed since the start of these practices, their continued use tends to reconfirm the old beliefs. For this reason our daily practices feel right and true to us regardless if they have evolved to keep up with the pace of change.
…I mentally exclaimed “Bingo!”, logged on to Amazon and bought eight additional copies – one for each administrator and academic dean at my high school. Then I bought the audiobook for me.
That one passage sums up what I have been saying for the past six years. My line has always been, “Geometry concepts may not have changed since the days of Euclid, but the students sitting in front of you have. Therefore, the content delivery must change to keep up with those students.” Sure, you’ve always done it that way – and yes, it may still work, but perhaps – just perhaps – there is another way that may really excite your students and, at the same time, get you re-stoked as well. Win-win.
The next bookmark came on page 46 (which is not to say that from 5-45 there were no aha! moments, just no bookmarks)…
How often do we stand convinced of the truth of our early memories, forgetting that they are assessments made by a child?
…Broccoli.
Yes, broccoli. I don’t know if I ever really had tried broccoli. But somewhere, I made the judgment that I didn’t like it. I consciously, yet graciously, declined all offers of the little green florets for all of my adult life…until two years ago. I went on some boxed diet plan and broccoli (although not listed among the ingredients, or surely I would have avoided that purchase) was sprinkled throughout the meal. Unavoidable. I scraped and pushed as much as I could, but some of that green stuff leapt upon the fork anyway – I had to eat it. There’s no climax to the story here – I found it quite tasty and now actually rejoice to find broccoli as the vegetable of the day anytime I dine out.
So what have I learned? Clearly, I've learned to re-examine my judgments. To ask, "Why do I think that?". And to ask - was the reasoning ever valid? If so, is it still valid? And to make a choice - a conscious choice - from there.
Another point well made by the Zanders was that of “survival thinking”. I get caught up in this all the time. Someone asks a simple question and my first thought is “What’s the real question?” Someone pays a compliment, and I think “What does he really want?”. I’m sure I was not born paranoid, but I have evolved into being so. And yes – a valuable, but limited resource – energy – is dramatically taxed in an effort to remain so paranoid. It would behoove me, and make others around me happier, if I re-directed that energy in a more positive fashion. I’ll try. But just as it states on page 4 – those daily practices feel right and true. I’ve become accustomed to the paranoia and don’t even recognize it as such.
The competency ladder (and numerous other labels for the theory) is attributed to many possible authors. I prescribe to the theory. Prior to reading, I could easily describe myself as unconsciously incompetent – paranoid, and not really knowing it. I need to put what I’m thinking and feeling and making appropriate changes on my learning spectrum. In doing so I’ll climb to the second rung of the ladder: being consciously incompetent – paranoid and knowing it. The next step will require that I make a conscious effort to relax – consciously competent. Sooner or later, the hope is to reach the top rung of the ladder: unconsciously competent – relaxed, open and not having to think about being so. It’s a long journey. And I shall slip back often. But, eventually, I’ll get there.
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ykjc9/2579890315 Creative Commons License
Sunday, May 8, 2011
MAC Week 1 Responses to Classmates' Blogs
From the blog of Holly Loganbill:
http://web.me.com/hloganbill/Hollys_Place/Blog/Entries/2011/5/3_WK_1_Reading...Copyright_Issues.html#
Copyright has been a very hot topic at school this year. I’ve been able to share the requirements with our teachers, who were very surprised to see some of the limits. For instance, they were distressed to learn that having students draw or write to a particular piece of music is an infringement, and “fair use” goes just so far. I’ve had to introduce my students to Wikimedia Commons for their images rather than Google Images, and they’re becoming pretty savvy about reading the copyright statements. It has pointed up a need to do more instruction on paraphrasing and giving credit for any new information gleaned from reading, even if the student feels they now know it themselves. We’re making progress, but it’s going to take time to get everyone on board. Awareness is an important first step.
“It’s great fun to cut stuff up” wraps up the Good Copy Bad Copy video. That makes it sound like something creative and cute from kindergarten. I think all the remixing goes right along with hacking and identity theft and all other outgrowths of digital technology. For as many as use it creatively and responsibly, there will be others finding a way to subvert it and capitalize on it.
I don’t listen to contemporary music and had no idea this remixing was such a huge business. When I was in China about 10 years ago, the big thing was to go to the black market for pirated movies and music. You could buy really huge films like Titanic for the equivalent of $.25 US. The same was true of buying the Microsoft Office Suite. Millions of dollars changed hands – they loved getting US money. That’s a drop in the bucket compared with what’s being made today on pirated/remixed goods. How will the originators of this music and other creative art ever be able to earn a living? I think it will completely redefine the world of music and creative expression, and I have no idea what that could look like.
This is a lot to think about. My takeaway from this series of videos is threefold. First, we need fair use to be able to preserve history. As the “Eyes on the Prize” example attests, it’s all too easy for a significant historical event to disappear or be rendered private property. Our library has a copy of Eyes on the Prize, and I’m wondering if we’re still allowed to show it.
Second, we need to do a better job of informing teachers about the real legal limits of fair use. Just in thinking about all of the projects I’ve seen created in the last three years at my school, there have to have been hundreds of copyright infractions. I agree that it’s a balancing act between someone’s right to create vs. another’s right to protect what they’ve created.
Third, the codes of best practices can certainly help, but they need to be uniform across all disciplines and potential uses.
Many folks at school point to the fact that no one is going to be checking on what happened in a 7th grade creative writing session when the instructor played the full album of Beatles music for inspiration. They also see no harm in using Google Images for all of their students’ illustration needs.
This balancing act is just as one gentleman described it, it’s all about First Amendment rights and giving reasonable protection to the original creators while allowing others to create new material from old. That leaves a great deal up to debate, as the criteria are a bit general. It sounds like that can work in the favor of either side, depending on whose attorney or judge is defending, accusing, or judging a specific instance of testing fair use.
When Lessing talks about this age of prohibitions and the corrupting of our youth by making them go underground as they “live life against the law”, it really points up what’s wrong with the prohibitions at my school in regard to social networking, digital devices, and email for students. Our administration has made it forbidden fruit, which is always enticing to any tween or teen. My question would be, if it doesn’t make someone a fortune, can it survive? Creative Commons is a great concept and collaboration, but how will it survive against the monstrous financial forces in our society? As Lessing pointed out, artist choice is the key to equal rights for new technologies.
From the blog of Bruce Neubauer:
http://brucemonth11blog.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-number-1-copyright-laws.html
Week 1 Blog Number 1---Copyright Laws, or Are We Becoming Addicted to Mediocrity?
I am a fanatical user of http://creativecommons.org/ , but even there one must be cautious. Just because an image is available does not mean it is usable. Often one must check with the image's owner to view the CC license agreement. My experience with CC is that usually the owner allows for free usage (including image manipulation) as long as you do several things: 1) Give proper attribution, 2) Give proper tittle, and 3) Make some kind of statement in which the image's owner is viewed as endorsing the content of your production.
I also like to use old film and video footage. It is fun to view and adds a nice creative bump to any video project. Older black and white footage is especially cool to use in more modern pieces. Its retro look even adds a bit of humor. I have used stock footage this way in several FSO projects. A great place to locate stock footage is at Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ This site provides a vast array of older films that are bow in the category of public domain. Public domain is great stuff because there is absolutely no worries whatsoever about any ownership infringements.
I did like the 10 copyright myths. I always used to laugh when someone would tell me, "But I'm not selling it." I could never convince these people that the issue was never about sale; it was about unauthorized duplication of any kind.
As to the content of the film, Good Copy, Bad Copy. I'm not sure where my thinking is on this. I have never really considered it before. I tend to believe someone's property is someone's property, regardless whether it is physical or intellectual or creative. I have strong feelings about people being overly subjective about someone else's possessions. I understand the need for the free exchange of ideas. But to freely exchange a creative piece that is the direct product of someone else's s efforts and talent? Well, I just don't know. This feels like a slippery slope to me. I have the impression we are trying to over-intellectualize what is at the core a moral issue. Maybe that's why it feels slippery to me. It feels like a lot of people seeking for a way to justify a presupposition.
As the one executive stated, "You need copyright law as an incentive for people to create." Also, I have read that the era of the 'professional' musician is on the wane. The advent of digital technology and the Internet have completely changed how musicians produce and distribute their creations. We may be seeing a major shift in how music is consumed by its listeners. According to the film this is already the model in Brazil. Still, I have a hard time calling someone 'creative' when all they are doing is mashing up pre-existing pieces and parts from someone else's talent. It's ending up with a product, but with little of the sweat and musing of a real artist. Again, this feels like a slippery slope of some kind, like we're willing to settle for a certain amount of creative blandness; like we're becoming addicted to mediocrity.
I have used footage from other films and videos in my FSO projects. So I am also a remixer of sorts. But I certainly would not call my projects creative or artistic. I just reassembled a few odds and ends to use toward an end.
But I have to hear and read more before I can think intelligently about the issue.
http://web.me.com/hloganbill/Hollys_Place/Blog/Entries/2011/5/3_WK_1_Reading...Copyright_Issues.html#
Copyright has been a very hot topic at school this year. I’ve been able to share the requirements with our teachers, who were very surprised to see some of the limits. For instance, they were distressed to learn that having students draw or write to a particular piece of music is an infringement, and “fair use” goes just so far. I’ve had to introduce my students to Wikimedia Commons for their images rather than Google Images, and they’re becoming pretty savvy about reading the copyright statements. It has pointed up a need to do more instruction on paraphrasing and giving credit for any new information gleaned from reading, even if the student feels they now know it themselves. We’re making progress, but it’s going to take time to get everyone on board. Awareness is an important first step.
“It’s great fun to cut stuff up” wraps up the Good Copy Bad Copy video. That makes it sound like something creative and cute from kindergarten. I think all the remixing goes right along with hacking and identity theft and all other outgrowths of digital technology. For as many as use it creatively and responsibly, there will be others finding a way to subvert it and capitalize on it.
I don’t listen to contemporary music and had no idea this remixing was such a huge business. When I was in China about 10 years ago, the big thing was to go to the black market for pirated movies and music. You could buy really huge films like Titanic for the equivalent of $.25 US. The same was true of buying the Microsoft Office Suite. Millions of dollars changed hands – they loved getting US money. That’s a drop in the bucket compared with what’s being made today on pirated/remixed goods. How will the originators of this music and other creative art ever be able to earn a living? I think it will completely redefine the world of music and creative expression, and I have no idea what that could look like.
This is a lot to think about. My takeaway from this series of videos is threefold. First, we need fair use to be able to preserve history. As the “Eyes on the Prize” example attests, it’s all too easy for a significant historical event to disappear or be rendered private property. Our library has a copy of Eyes on the Prize, and I’m wondering if we’re still allowed to show it.
Second, we need to do a better job of informing teachers about the real legal limits of fair use. Just in thinking about all of the projects I’ve seen created in the last three years at my school, there have to have been hundreds of copyright infractions. I agree that it’s a balancing act between someone’s right to create vs. another’s right to protect what they’ve created.
Third, the codes of best practices can certainly help, but they need to be uniform across all disciplines and potential uses.
Many folks at school point to the fact that no one is going to be checking on what happened in a 7th grade creative writing session when the instructor played the full album of Beatles music for inspiration. They also see no harm in using Google Images for all of their students’ illustration needs.
This balancing act is just as one gentleman described it, it’s all about First Amendment rights and giving reasonable protection to the original creators while allowing others to create new material from old. That leaves a great deal up to debate, as the criteria are a bit general. It sounds like that can work in the favor of either side, depending on whose attorney or judge is defending, accusing, or judging a specific instance of testing fair use.
When Lessing talks about this age of prohibitions and the corrupting of our youth by making them go underground as they “live life against the law”, it really points up what’s wrong with the prohibitions at my school in regard to social networking, digital devices, and email for students. Our administration has made it forbidden fruit, which is always enticing to any tween or teen. My question would be, if it doesn’t make someone a fortune, can it survive? Creative Commons is a great concept and collaboration, but how will it survive against the monstrous financial forces in our society? As Lessing pointed out, artist choice is the key to equal rights for new technologies.
***My Response***
Hiya Holly,
Don't you find it at least a bit ironic that a group of people so concerned with plagiarism is so *not* concerned about copyright.
Prior to Blackboard, we subscribed to tunritin (Blackboard has a built-in service called Safe Assign). I would frequently hear teachers discussing who plagiarized what, from whom, yadda, yadda, yadda. Those are the same teachers who show full-length copyrighted videos without a blink.
I read a great book called "Spark" about how physical activity stimulates mental activity. The first chapter in the book went into depth and detail about a revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois. It was truly inspiring. And truth be told, our school's PE curriculum is slightly lacking. So one Friday, I gave a copy of Spark to one of our administrators. I asked him to please read chapter one, and if he chose to, to feel free to read the whole book.
I saw him on Monday and asked if he had a chance to read the first chapter. His response? "Read it? I was so impressed with it that I did something I know is wrong - I made copies for all of our PE teachers and handed it to them personally."
Isn't that the truth? We know it's wrong, but somehow we justify it by thinking there is a greater good.
How many schools pay for X-number of software licenses and use "Y"? I can't tell you how many of my staff members ask for copies of our site licensed software to use at home (keep in mind we're 1:1) and look at me like I'm crazy when I try to explain how that would violate our site license.
I can't tell you how many times I see 50 copies of an article that clearly says "This material is the property of the XYZ. It may be used and reproduced for non-profit, educational purposes only after contacting XYZ". How many teachers actually take the minute to make that outreach?
We constantly stress modeling a behavior, yet we are so off-base on this one. If you have any really good materials or resources that you would be willing to share about how I can better educate my staff, please let me know!
***
From the blog of Bruce Neubauer:
http://brucemonth11blog.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-number-1-copyright-laws.html
Week 1 Blog Number 1---Copyright Laws, or Are We Becoming Addicted to Mediocrity?
I am a fanatical user of http://creativecommons.org/ , but even there one must be cautious. Just because an image is available does not mean it is usable. Often one must check with the image's owner to view the CC license agreement. My experience with CC is that usually the owner allows for free usage (including image manipulation) as long as you do several things: 1) Give proper attribution, 2) Give proper tittle, and 3) Make some kind of statement in which the image's owner is viewed as endorsing the content of your production.
I also like to use old film and video footage. It is fun to view and adds a nice creative bump to any video project. Older black and white footage is especially cool to use in more modern pieces. Its retro look even adds a bit of humor. I have used stock footage this way in several FSO projects. A great place to locate stock footage is at Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ This site provides a vast array of older films that are bow in the category of public domain. Public domain is great stuff because there is absolutely no worries whatsoever about any ownership infringements.
I did like the 10 copyright myths. I always used to laugh when someone would tell me, "But I'm not selling it." I could never convince these people that the issue was never about sale; it was about unauthorized duplication of any kind.
As to the content of the film, Good Copy, Bad Copy. I'm not sure where my thinking is on this. I have never really considered it before. I tend to believe someone's property is someone's property, regardless whether it is physical or intellectual or creative. I have strong feelings about people being overly subjective about someone else's possessions. I understand the need for the free exchange of ideas. But to freely exchange a creative piece that is the direct product of someone else's s efforts and talent? Well, I just don't know. This feels like a slippery slope to me. I have the impression we are trying to over-intellectualize what is at the core a moral issue. Maybe that's why it feels slippery to me. It feels like a lot of people seeking for a way to justify a presupposition.
As the one executive stated, "You need copyright law as an incentive for people to create." Also, I have read that the era of the 'professional' musician is on the wane. The advent of digital technology and the Internet have completely changed how musicians produce and distribute their creations. We may be seeing a major shift in how music is consumed by its listeners. According to the film this is already the model in Brazil. Still, I have a hard time calling someone 'creative' when all they are doing is mashing up pre-existing pieces and parts from someone else's talent. It's ending up with a product, but with little of the sweat and musing of a real artist. Again, this feels like a slippery slope of some kind, like we're willing to settle for a certain amount of creative blandness; like we're becoming addicted to mediocrity.
I have used footage from other films and videos in my FSO projects. So I am also a remixer of sorts. But I certainly would not call my projects creative or artistic. I just reassembled a few odds and ends to use toward an end.
But I have to hear and read more before I can think intelligently about the issue.
***My Response***
Hiya Bruce,
I have a tendency to agree with your “what’s yours is yours” concept. I, too, don’t really see the difference between the intellectual property rights, patent rights, and creative rights. To me, it’s simpler than that.
Nowhere is this more clear to me than in the music industry. I went to a concert recently where nearly a third of the audience was standing throughout the concert recording songs with phones and cameras. I turned to the person I was with and said, we could have stayed home and caught the whole concert on YouTube tomorrow. It wasn’t that long ago that concert-goer belongings were searched for recording devices prior to entering the concert.
I went to a Christmas concert that featured Wynonna Judd two years ago. She walked out and stopped at the front of the stage and said, “OK, get the camera-phones out. Here is your moment.” The artists know the juggernaut cannot be stopped.
And yet we seem so cavalier about it. I don’t get it. I also don’t get it with sites like Kazaa, and LimeWire, and BitTorrent, and FrostWire. They may have been developed for an honest reason, but are we sticking out heads in the sand about what they are really being used for – unauthorized sharing of music, video, and software. I just did a search on YouTube for “MS Office 2010 product key” - 2440 Hits. I don’t get it – why can’t we stop this? And like you, this week has given me much to think about before I can intellectually digest any of it.
Friday, May 6, 2011
MAC Week 1: Free Post - The Autodesk Educational Community, et al...
The above post is purely for the edification of my classmates at Full Sail who always wanted to dabble in professional grade 3D design, but never could afford to do so.
In my month 11 class, Media Asset Creation, I need to decide whether I am going to eventually present the findings of my Action Research Project at a conference, or whether I am simply going to work on publishing it.
Tough question.
Somehow I think presenting would be easier. I would be able to "fill in" any gaps by responding to the audience questions - not that I would plan to present something unfinished or incomplete, but it seems like publishing would be the far more difficult task to accomplish.
The publication would have to be top-notch and complete to even be considered for review.
Hmmm... this one is going to require a little time and thought - but not too much, for whatever the choice, it must be ready by week four.
Week 1: Copyright Issues
Prior to watching the video, I thought remixing was cheap - certainly not creative. Apparently I had not been exposed to a good creative remix - OK, so I'm now enlightened. But here's a question one of my students asked just the other day - "If I copy a song, change the tempo, delete perhaps the bass line and add another instrument, is that OK?" I said no. Now - I don't know - what's the remix formula? (He, by the way, was trying to add a soundtrack to a video game he had created. That game was purely for educational purposes and there is no intention to market the game)
It's painful to think that a piece of history may be sacrificed for the sake of copyright law, such as the one in the Dr. MLK video. It is equally painful to think that an artist's work was "stolen". Where is the balance? Again, I don't know.
The whole Fair Use piece has me baffled as well. I can get a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" on DVD from Library Video (http://www.libraryvideo.com/). But am I permitted to show it to my class? It's not like it's essential - it's just such a great supplemental piece. According to the Fair Use video series, I'm beginning to think not. If that's the case -- well, I've been doing that for years - pre-DVD, pre-VHS - gosh, it goes back to 16mm film on my old Eiki!
And finally, is there a line in the sand between plagiarism and copyright? If so, where's that beach - because I'm ready to head out. Oh yes... and I'd love to post an image here, but I'm a little gun-shy at this point to do so.
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