Blog Comment to Britni

Blog post by Britni:

Week 1 Reading: Write-Up

 (image from http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/154884)

Copyright has always been confusing to me. I mean I know that when you use someone else’s work you must always give credit where credit is due but I had no idea that copyright had an actual (limited) lifespan. I also really appreciated the clarification of “fair use.” My first year of teaching, my fellow co-workers made “fair use” sound as though it was a given right, however it is not. There are limitation that we must be aware of. I also really appreciated the multitude of different points of view in the film Good Copy, Bad copy. One quote that I had to write down and think about was that copyright should not been as a limitation but yet “copyright is an incentive to create.”  This just really got me to thinking about analyzing copyrighted works, and fair use, and some of the ways this all effects not only teachers but also our students.

I am all about a shared culture, but I do believe that there still needs to be a copyright in place for those who want credit where its due. Creative Commons rocks in my opinion! I think they have not only the access but also the control that is needed. I see both ends of the spectrum. I see artists that want credit for their work no matter what, and I see people that are taking great works/materials, adding to them and creating new cutting edge innovative materials. Where exactly do we draw the line? Like with the sampling idea. This sampling takes so long and often times add in several pieces from several artists. I never really got my one questioned answered when it came to sampling, and that was, is sampling illegal? I did understand that there really is no written rule in regards to a set length when using media.

Posted by BNHendrickson at 8:11 AM


Britni, I am right there with you about all the gray areas when it comes to copyright issues and laws. It seems that there are so many what ifs you don't know the answer until you have to deal with it and by that time it might be too late and you are already in trouble. Fair use is also such a crazy gray area that really needs to be looked at in depth before using. There are always limitations on whatever we do it seems and using others material is no exception. I loved the quote you posted about copyright being the incentive to create. We need to be creative using our own thoughts and ideas but also take into account our society and the things around us that we see play into our creative juices. We do need to give credit when credit is due, and it becomes a real problem when people abuse this system and take other people's work and use it as their own.