Week 1 – Free Post Blog – Teachable Moments

Teachable Moments

Some of the most powerful and unforgettable lessons in life come from the times when teachable moments present themselves and we are able to recognize the moment and capitalize on it. What a great moment in a teacher’s life when a student asks a deep and thought provoking question and in minutes you can search and acquire the media that will craft your powerful guiding response that will lead to in-depth discussion that leave the whole classroom with a lasting impression and life lesson learned. Now imagine when this moment comes and your use of technology doesn’t deliver in the process but hinders it through blocked access or the media acquired make one hesitate in crafting a synthesized response because your are not sure of the copyright laws allow you to use it. My fear is the current situation with censorship in the form of technology blocking and copyright paralysis, the teachable moment will not bear the fruit we long for since the item we would want to use to shed light on the learning need would have blocked access or the fear of copyright infringement would cause hesitation in using beneficial material in a manner of enlightenment. Will our culture be so inhibited by access denial and usage paralysis that opportunities to use teachable moments to learn the important lessons in life will be lost? Lets hope not because too many moments have slipped by already.

Week 1 Blog Comment #2 - Meghan Bassett

My response to Meghan Bassett:

Your blog really shows the push and pull of the struggle of how much to allow and where to draw the line. My six-year-old daughter is a great artist and some of the projects we do with her utilize copying the master’s such as van Gogh. You talk about emulating the technique of artists and I know that is important for developing artists. In the Renaissance I remember learning that the master would teach their students to copy them exactly so that the artist and their students would do big works of art and no one could tell the difference. The best students would then branch out and make a name for themselves when the timing was right. Of course we want the students to be creative on their own and not get into a habit of getting their ideas from other places instead of reflecting and bring it out of them. But sometimes the expression we are looking for depends on using something borrowed. Much like you expressed when it comes to saying just the right thing with music. This struggle of course will always be present in the creative process and is good for it. The hope though is that it will not hinder the process as it seems the current copyright practices are starting to do.

Meghan Bassett's blog link and copy of content:

http://meghanbassett.blogspot.com/

Being an Art Teacher, I always worry about my students copying work. In fact, one of my 4 rules in my classroom is no copying or ‘borrowing’ previously created characters. I do allow my students one project where they can use what they want, but that doesn’t get published anywhere.
The film brought up a great point when it comes to music. I sometimes hear a song and could swear I had heard it before. At times I have taken the time to think about it, at pinpoint what part of the song I recognized in the other song. They use such similar elements that it has to be so complicated to make a copyright infringement decision.
That being said, how much more recognizable would our work be, and how more into our work would our students be, if we could use samples of music that they can relate to? Not saying we should or could use them, but I think as far as education goes, it would be extremely useful if we could. For my screenflow videos, I use the tools taught to me in Music Theory and try to create my own music. In theory this is a great idea, but it’s time consuming and not always what I want.
I have to look a little more into artwork copyright laws at least for my students sake. My students aren’t obviously trying to steal anything from other artists, but are trying to emulate them to learn their techniques.

Week 1 Blog Comment #1 - Brian Thomas

My response to Brian Thomas’ blog.

Brian, the points that you highlight in your blog about Copyright were right to the point and sum up what I found to be most important also.

Your points were:

· Copyright is about permission

· The Fair use document is helpful because of the fact that there is no definable amount

· Possibility of artists not going after the big bucks is there but the likelihood is questionable

The concept of permission makes me think of politeness. How polite is our culture when it comes to letting others have the right of way or using our stuff? Two examples that come to mind is when we have to drive on the road or when we ask our kids to share. My experience on the road is the bigger the vehicle the less likely they will give right of way. Disney is a big truck! With my kids the opportunity to share becomes more a time to conduct negotiations. I’m still trying to break them of this tendency.

In the Fair Use ideas, I thought it was interesting that the Judges that are making decisions are looking for direction from people involved to help define what the acceptable practice is. Since there is a lot of a grey area it is good to be proactive and create the documents that guide best practices so that people can follow them and Judges have something to look towards as they make decisions. I wonder if there is any activity in the educational arena to create such a document.

I too wonder if the market culture in America would have the likelihood that people would willingly forgo compensation for the altruistic goal of a better healthier culture. Are people too much about their own gain? Time will tell if a change is coming.

Brian Thomas' blog link and copy of content.

http://briankatiethomas.blogspot.com/

The blog is alive again, and now I’m talking about copyright. Let me start by expressing my surprise to some of the copyright laws:

I didn’t realize that improvisational acts that the actor wanted to make permanent were not copyrightable unless they had a script or had it on video. I suppose I’ll have to start recording my amazing one-man improvisational plays before I get bamboozled.

The belief “If I don’t charge for it, it’s not a violation.” was a good reminder of something that is NOT true with regards to copyright. I didn’t fully understand the legalities of that before these videos. The best reminder for me was the statement: “Copyright is not about usage, it’s about permission.”

The story about Pirate Bay was enlightening. The Swedish interviewee had some interesting points but I think it’s all based on perspective. Had he created something that provided him his major source of income, I wonder how he would feel about others using it and it’s affect on that income. That being said, international piracy seems like an impossible problem because of the lack of international laws against this.

On to the Fair Use discussion:

The part that surprised me the most about fair use was that there was no definable amount that could be reproduced when using copyrighted content. While there is no black or white area here, I do like that some documents about fair usage in documentary films and online video were created to at least give a general guideline. The shocker for me was when I learned that if you can teach the content or subject without the copyrighted material being used, then you don’t really have Fair Use rights to use it, no matter how little you take.

It sounds to me like those that want to be able to use copyrighted content for free have some very impressive arguments. However, ultimately the music belongs to the big music producing companies and as long as there is ANY threat to their bottom line I anticipate they will fight against the free use of their music. I believe a change to copyrighting IS possible but think that it would have to be made by independent artists that become popular through social media sites rather than the big labels. Then they would have to vocally support the free use of their content. All the while ignoring the promises of riches from the big music companies. Possible, yes. Likely…?

Week 1 Reading - Copyright Issues - Creative Commons Solution

Creative Commons Experiment

I am intrigued by the creative commons movement and how one might compare it to the American Revolution and the similarities that can be found within. In Larry Lessig’s TED talk, he mentioned that there is no revolt but rather a movement to extremes in the response to copyright concepts. As in the early days of the American Revolution the extremes were being defined by the loyalists and the patriots but if it were not for the defining document of the Declaration of Independence and the leadership of Washington and other founding fathers the potential of our revolution looking more like the French’s was a possibility much like the lawlessness that we are incubating in our youth with the lack of common sense being applied to the constraints of current copyright practices. The thought I have about the Creative Commons approach is whether it is capable to bringing about the necessary balancing effect to the copyright battleground as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did to the American Experiment.

How much does the Creative Commons approach depend upon the character of the people involved to relinquish the greed that feeds the current extension of the copyright termination to be extended further and further into the future? Will the involved see the needs of the culture taking precedence over the financial gain they could continue to have if they hold firm to reaping from the current copyright laws. Does the 11 possible choices of Creative Commons structuring allow for an effective strategy to balance the personal gain and preserving the culture for healthy growth in both areas? This is yet to be determined but is worth a try since it is obvious the current status quo is destructive.