Will the prevalence of new online media creation tools reduce the amount of copyright infringement and piracy?
Low cost or free Web 2.0 tools that can be used to create original or almost original media are everywhere these days. Here are a few I have appreciated; www.creaza.com, www.prezi.com, www.gimp.org and the list goes on and on.
www.go2web20.net alone, has a list of about 70 different tools that can do anything from creating cartoons, publishing original music (which can be made in GarageBand at home) to editing photos and film. It seems like in a world with such easily accessible creative tools there would be no need to hijack the creativity of others…yet it happens everyday.
Why do so many people borrow the content others have created?
Well the answer is…because they like it…a lot. In our current world everyone is a creator and so I suppose it is difficult to have an original idea that was not posted to the Internet last week. We are inundated with ideas, images, music, film, and advertisements everyday …isn’t art an expression of our experience? If our experience is media than how do we express our ideas without falling into the gray area of copyright from time to time?
I have worked in the media creation field most of my adult life and have probably wandered over the line of infringement on more than one occasion…being that I do not make millions of dollars off my work I suppose seeing someone copy me involves a mixture of feelings from violation, flattery, and I wish I would of thought of doing that with it ☹…I am the type of person that if asked permission I would probably say yes…if someone wanted to sell my stuff and keep the profits for themselves…NO! I want some of that…cause its nice to get money especially for something you do without even getting paid sometimes.
Copyright laws do need an overhaul in our time. We are a society of information sharers and if we lock up all of the information… knowledge would be privatized…that’s frightening. A million times more frightening than a mashed up song being played at a dance party. So on the topic of copyright infringement I feel conflicted…sure hope someone gets it figured out soon.☺
It is becoming more and more difficult for people to have an original idea when we have so much media surrounding us. As a media specialist, I am an avid reader rather than a couch potato. This is mostly because I like to form my own images of the story rather than one that I watch. Lately though, I have noticed when the students come to me to proof read one of their stories they have written it seems to be small bits and pieces of other stories thrown together instead of something original. Your correct with the statement that we need an overhaul of copyrights for our time.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, I’m only a wanna be graphic designer, but I do vendor work for a publishing company, and I’m often looking for graphics to add to blogs or eNewsletters. Thanks for the tip on another great resource for copyright free images! I enjoyed browsing the site and am happy to bookmark it for easy use. Looks like this site has a lot more to offer than Creative Commons (at least from a quick glance).
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you on the copyright issues...While sharing needs to have some amount of rules and regulations, I don’t want to be the artist that has my stuff locked up in some big warehouse file buried with piles of other artistry.
Annie,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you with you even though it happens everyday even when there are creative tools, like web 2.0 tools-Garage band, You Tube, etc., that there is no need to hijack creativity of others. This is why I had decided to teach my students proper uses of creating loops in garage band and free styling appropriately with those loops to make it their own. This would have to be an ongoing technologically-based project that would instill in our students’ effective usage of media projects.