Ms.Sinclair

= Topic 1: Blogging =


 * ==Blogging Activity 1==

The goal of this first activity is to create an email account if you don't already have one, and I personally have too many (school email, hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc.!), so I'm all set on that front. However, I have to admit that, while I know what "wiki" means in general (i.e. free content created through social collaboration), I have never actually //created// anything using WikiSpaces, so making this page and learning my way around the site is helping to prevent me from becoming technologically out-of-touch (I mean, I know basic coding, how to make webcasts and create websites, etc., but there's so many different innovations popping up all the time online that it seems impossible to keep up with everything!). So, thanks to this library activity, I can at least cross one more application off the list (of about 5,000,000+ new apps and emerging online interfaces to learn about)! :-)


 * ==Blogging Activity 2==
 * Watch these short video tutorials ** to gain a better understanding of what blogging is all about.[|What is Blogging] [|Post to be Private] [|Social Networking] [|Protecting Online Reputations].

//1.) What is Blogging?//

Although I already knew the origin of the word "blog", what it means, and how it works, this video tutorial taught me to regard blogs as an evolution of the traditional/journalistic News media, whereas I always thought of them as "online diaries" or editorialist pages. After watching the video though, I see now that the popularity of blogs grew exponentially primarily //because// they have become an increasingly legitimate source of news for greater numbers of people. In many ways, this emergence of blogs as real news source is positive and exciting: it's more interactive and dynamic, information can be accessed from nearly anywhere and updated in a matter of moments, and multiple viewpoints--spread across over 7 million blogs--are represented overall, as opposed to only 3 or 4 news channels shaping "their" version of what's important. On the other hand, however, the fact that more traditional news media formats (such as newspapers, magazines, and, especially, television news) are increasingly referencing information taken from blogs, as well as tweets, emails, and texts, and discussing their content as though it was the gospel truth. And, about half the time, it seems like you end up learning that the blog was merely stating an opinion at best (and gossip, at worst); or that parts of an email were deleted, to take the meaning out of context, all twisted around. The fact that so many supposedly "real" journalists on t.v. now regularly talk about information taken from blogs, often without first investigating the truth of what's being said, makes me feel wary about the rise of blogs being accepted as "real news". Then again, the fact that some reporters us blogs and other digital/social media as an excuse to gossip is the fault of the people who doing it--//not// the blog.

//2.)// //Post to be Private//

This short video points out the importance of remembering that even if you mark your website as "private", on a site such as Facebook, you need to remember that everyone who is on your "friends" list can usually still see whatever it is you are posting, so you need to really think about what you're posting and who is going to see this, //before// you actually click "send". In the scenario in the video, however, the girl who posted her supposedly "private" information says that she doesn't need to worry about anyone sketchy on her so-called Friends list seeing her posts, since she only adds people whom she knows (and, presumably, trusts) onto her Friends list in the first place. Personally, I have the same philosophy about only adding people that I already know, in person, to my Friends list--but I know A LOT of people who don't, either because they accept a friend request from someone who claims to know one of their real friends, and they don't want to be rude, or because they're just very social and want to meet new people and/or are obsessed with having an insane # of so-called "friends" to try and impress people. Fortunately, Facebook continues to develop new safety measures (such as the ability to mark every single photo or comment on your page as viewable by certain groups of people that you define, or by only friends--or friends //of// your friends, et cetera), so there are numerous ways to try and guard your privacy in an online environment. Yet, despite all of this, there's still the problem of not being able to control who tags you in a picture on //their// page--plus, you can never escape the fact that, no matter what, people who work at Facebook will always have records of EVERYthing that you post on your page, even after you've deleted it on your end (creepy!).

//3.) Social Networking//

This video contains much of the same information as //Post to be Private,// but it takes the topic one step further by discussing how the information that you post on your online profile can impact your future. Specifically, it mentions that prospective employers or colleges that you apply for in the near or far future will definitely check the content of your online profile and, if they find something unsavory posted there, this could negatively affect their decision to hire or accept you--even if the thing that they object to was posted several years ago and no longer reflects the person you have become. The video doesn't mention it specifically, but it also reminded me that anyone you date in the future will most likely check your online profile (and judge you by it!), too--not to mention potential friends, landlords, classmates, OR creepy neighbors/co-workers who may try to dig into your past for juicy details-! All of these reasons create a strong reminder about the importance of remembering that anything posted is ultimately susceptible to future unwanted access (hey, social media can get hacked, someone can find out your password, etc.), or that it could come back to haunt you even if the person looking at it has your permission.

//4.) Protecting Online Reputations//

This tutorial primarily addresses why it is important to carefully consider the content of everything that you can post online--videos, pictures, comments, etc.--//before// you click "send" and then lose control over who can access this information in the future. Just as in the last video, this tutorial asks you, the user, to think about how anything and everything that you post online could be viewed by someone who has the power to affect your future, whether tomorrow or ten years down the line. I appreciate that it mentioned the fact that, even though *you* may decide to delete something on your end, once it has been scanned by a search engine, a copy of it could potentially exist on the Internet for-eeeeee-ver! In addition to making sure you only share things with people you know you can trust, the tutorial advises you to take the initiative to take responsibility for protecting your (and others'!) reputations online--by informing your friends when you want something to remain private, considering in advance whether you trust the people that your friends could share it with (and where it could go from there), and by requesting to have content removed, retroactively, if nothing else works.

Big questions:
 * Topic 4: Images and Giving Credit **


 * What does copyright law really mean?


 * Why does it matter?


 * What is your opinion about copyrighting?

Sometimes in the past, I have thought "What is the big deal about referencing other people's work? Why do people have to be greedy--why can't they just share?" And, though I often still wish that others were more generous with their ideas, especially when those ideas can help people in need, I've come to see that respecting copyright issues, and giving credit or gaining permission to use other people's creative work isn't always about money (the artist getting paid), as much as it is about respect. Everyone wants to receive respect and to have their hard work recognized as their own--and copyright laws are one way to try to ensure that people respect each other's work. Okay...and it's also about money--but not necessarily meaning that the original artist is being greedy; it just makes sense to me that it isn't right for someone to make money off of something that someone else created, period.

Some interesting resources that I came across while looking into copyright issues include:

Copyrighting Vs. Street art This Blog highlights several instances of copyright imaging issues in pretty well known cases, pointing out the very fine line between artistic inspiration and flat-out copying.

Lawsuit over copyright violation of a tattoo!? This news article from Fox News shows a very clear picture of the tattoo on Mike Tyson's face, as juxtaposed to the (fake) tattoo on actor Ed Helms' face in a movie. It's a case of a pretty widespread image and yet, I never would have thought of tattoos as being an image that would be copyrighted, too!?

Hello Kitty Copyright Lawsuit As the name of the link implies, Sanrio, the makers of Hello Kitty, got entangled recently when one of their characters, "Kathy," looked too similar to a Dutch cartoon character created 20 years earlier. I wouldn't think you could copyright such a simple, basic design, but I guess you can. It seems like trying to copyright a stick-person drawing...uh oh, can you copyright that, too?

Copyright battle over student's photo in school paper (bear falling from tree) And, in perhaps one of the weirder copyright issues, this link leads to a story about a college student who took a photo of a bear falling out of a tree (yup, that happened) and, although the student gave permission to the school newspaper to run the photo, the newspaper then sold it to news outlets all over the country and didn't give the student a cent! It sounds crazy, but it brings up a question: would a photo that a Poly student takes belong to the student or to Poly if they are on the yearbook or newspaper team? Apparently schools often own the intellectual rights of their students, although I couldn't find out by looking online what Long Beach Unified's policy is...what do other people think about this?

"Illegal Art" Article And, finally, this URL links to an article about an art show several years ago that featured all artworks that were sampling from other well known cultural icons (a Mickey Mouse gas mask, Pez dispensers featuring deceased rap artists). Unfortunately, the original website is no longer up, so the best I could find is a blog with several photos from the show, at @http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/illegalart/ The main point of the article is that, traditionally, "sampling" others' artworks (particularly in music) was not only common, but necessary for new art movements to flourish--> think of hip hop songs sampling other songs, how a lot of early jazz songs referred to and then built off of one another, and even early rock 'n' roll songs frequently heavily copied different elements (guitar riffs, drum rhythms, vocal stylings). If no one was ever allowed to "quote" anyone else, then these great musical genres would probably never have happened. A lot of people may not know it, but even traditional composers like Mozart, Haydn, and Rachmaninoff regularly incorporated melodies from the famous songs of earlier composers; and this practice wasn't even looked down on, either. Rather than being viewed as "copying"--as a negative things--audiences and other musicians considered this to actually be a form of flattery; it was essentially an artist's way of saying "You really inspired me with this, thank you," and was considered a normal, positive thing to do. Of course the composers were only referencing other musician's work though, not straight out copying it note for note for the entire song; instead, they'd take a section or a tune and then add on to this and make the rest of the song their own. My point in all of this (and I do have one!) is just to point out that "copying" has not always been seen as lazy/rude/horrible and, in fact, there are several arguments that "copying" actually helps create new, creative art. Ultimately, yes, it is important to respect copyrights, for legal and ethical reasons, but it's also important to see all sides of the issue. What do you think about copyrighting: is it beneficial to artists or unnecessarily limiting?
 * Images Activity 1: ** All about copyrighting
 * Copyright:**

The term copyright is a legal term that literally confers the “right to copy,” publish, distribute, or sell a piece of work (whether an image, text, drawing, etc.) to the original author or creator of the work, for a limited amount of time. The rules surrounding the time limit vary, depending upon when the work was created versus published, and whether it was made before or after certain copyright laws went into effect. For example, a work created on or after January 1, 1978, is ordinarily protected by copyright from the moment of its creation until seventy years after the author's death; however, in the case of works made for hire, the employer—not the writer—is considered the author, and the duration of copyright is ninety-five years from publication or one hundred and twenty years from creation, whichever is shorter. Copyrighting is meant to protect the intellectual property of the creator, so that other people are not taking credit or making a profit off work that is not their own.


 * Public Domain:**

The public domain refers to all works that are either no longer protected by copyright or never were copyrighted. (Today in the U.S all works are //automatically// copyrighted after the moment of creation; prior to 1989, however, you had to register and renew work for copyrights through the government—so it is very possible that older materials may now be in the public domain, if the creators did not properly secure the rights.) The concept of “public domain” should not be confused with “public availability,” though; just because something is readily //available// to the public (such as content on the Internet), copyright laws still apply.
 * Fair Use:**

The fair use policy is an exception that allows limited copying of a copyrighted work without having to obtain the permission of the copyright holder. The determination of whether a use of a copyrighted work is within fair use depends upon four factors, each legally open to some subjective interpretation by the courts. Basically, the fair use policy means people can copy something that is copyrighted without permission //if// they are going to use this information for an //educational// purpose that is //not// intended to make money, where copying does not diminish the value of the original work. For example: typing up an entire book and then selling the text to make money would clearly //not// qualify as fair use, and would be a copyright infringement, open to legal prosecution. Alternately, a teacher using the image of a book’s cover and opening sentence from a book that has already been published, for a slide in a presentation could argue that the information was being copied according to fair use.
 * Images Activity 2: ** Creative Commons licenses
 * Creative Commons **

A Creative Commons (CC) license allows the distribution of copyrighted works conditions defined ahead of time by the original creator of the work. CC offers flexible options for copyright owners; this means that owners might can allow only non-commercial uses of their own work, or they can stipulate that others can use their work, to make money or for non-profit purposes, only if the second party gives credit to the original artist, etc. The CC allows for wider-distribution of works, while also protecting people who want to use the work, so they don’t have to worry about copyright infringement, as long as they abide by the conditions that the original creator has specified. Using Flickr, I found and downloaded this image of a dachshund jumping, mid-air (since I am totally in love with dachshunds!).
 * Images Activity 3: Find Photos and Images **

[] I decided to choose photographs of dachshunds because I am a pet lover in general, but my fiancé and I are more than a wee bit obsessed about dachshunds in particular! My fiancé, Sam, and I both grew up with dachshunds and now we have two miniature dachshunds together: Hazel (4 years old) and Archie (8 years old)! The following photos were downloaded in accordance with a Creative Commons license from Flickr; I found it was easier just to click on their Advanced Search option and then check off “creative commons license only” to narrow the results. Once I had the images I wanted, I used NoodleBib to help create the citations to attribute the original photographers. This part of the process was a little tedious in my opinion, but I NoodleBib is great because it makes it so easy and straightforward to do!
 * Images Activity 4: **

Here is the same picture as before, only now it has more detailed information attributing the original photographer: Alter, Tony. "Dachshund in Flight." //Flickr//. Yahoo, 26 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. .

Bledsoe, Dave. "Spring Dachshund Festival NYC Washington Square 2011 (66 of 74)." //Flickr//. Yahoo, 30 Apr. 20111. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. []. MacKenzie, Alexandra. "Basking Dachshunds." //Flickr//. Yahoo, 16 May 2008. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. .

= = Topic 4: Images and Giving Credit = =

Images Activity 1:
// Watch this VIDEO to learn about what copyright, public domain, and fair use are. //

__Copyrigh__t:

__Public domain__:

__Fair use policy__:

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Images Activity 2:
// Watch this VIDEO to learn about Creative Commons...comment on why it is important to pay attention to copyright and how YOU might use Creative Commons in school and in any posting you do online. //

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Images Activity 3: Find Photos & Images
// There are several websites online which allow you to search for Creative Commons licensed images; some of the most popular include Flickr and Google's Image search. Flickr is a website used primarily for storing and sharing photos. Flickr includes many Creative Commons images, as well as many that are copyrighted. If you want to publish an image you find at Flickr on your blog, be sure to search for images with Creative Commons licenses. //// When you publish one of these images, be sure to give credit by citing and linking to the url of the page where the photo appears. Look for the word “attribution” on the Flickrcc site. Copy that address and paste it under the photo in your post and make it a hyperlink. //

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Images Activity 4:
// Find at least two Creative Commons images you like and add them, along with a credit link, to a blog posting. //// If you need to cite something - use NoodleBib Express for a fast/easy citation. //// Also write about your experience finding the images and why you chose them. //