“Among our children their is a growing copyright abolitionism”

I chose this quote because this is a quote describing my generation, who  supposedly neglect copyright. Even though it is common for younger individuals to be against it in reposting vines, tik toks & Facebook content without tagging the content creator, I fully support it. I think copyright should be appropriately accepted because its purpose is to acknowledge creators and their work. Their work can serve as inspiration to others, but in the end, it is not there to be taken from them without due credit. 

1. What is copyright?

Copyright gives owners the right to their intellectual or creative property. They are the only one that can take credit for that work and make changes to their work. 

2.Why is there copyright? 

The purpose of copyright is to protect authors and their work while allowing others to benefit from their work. Normally protecting literally, and artistic work. 

3.How much should users of the web think about copyright as you and others share, re-share, and remix content on the web?

Users should think about it a lot, especially since it is a law. Many schools and jobs have very strict copyright rules to help individuals to follow proper copyright rules. 

4.What is fair use? 

…eh eh em with a legal exception Marge

Fair use allows individuals under certain circumstances to use verbatim of an individual’s work without payment or permission from the copyright holder. Instances like teaching, journalism, criticism, and research. 

 

Today we’re taking an inside look at one of our classmates websites. I scrolled far enough on the comment section that my clicker landed right on Vinika Harrinarine’s website @ https://vinikaeats.com/

AND i have to say my gosh. WOW!

Everything just pops. I love how she choose the black background with the white lettering, it is very complementary to the outline of the photos she has on her static page. Also the image placement, on how they are very subway styleish are just extraordinary. ON TOP OF THAT her pictures!!! They are so retro New Yorker, they really give off Friends central perk vibes and this makes me so jealous. I choose to go with a teal background on my website and it does not pop as much as yours, honestly great job!

My favorite blog post on her website will have to be the Cantina Rooftop:

the food and location looks very appetizing and pleasant. As a foodie myself i’m always looking for new food and adventures, and i will be sure to check out Cantina Rooftop, as there is not much Mexican dining locations on my list. I have to say Vinikas Website really inspired me to step my websites game up and get posting more creative content!

 

Good Afternoon Class!

I know this blog post is not on the syllabus, but i think a second blog post on whats making me happy on the web is something refreshing that i needed and, i felt the need to share it with you guys.

I cant recall if some of you remember, but I am a huge car fanatic, probably ever since i got my first Hotwheels at the age of 4.
Fun fact; i may be old but i still collect rare Hotwheels lol

Anyways my favorite car brand Nissan was on the way to its downfall, when their previous CEO Carlos Ghosn corrupted the company by embezzling money out of the organization directly into his pockets and neglecting the brands poor quality parts and downward spiraling reputation. Since his investigation he has fled to his childhood home; Lebanon. His reign is over!
… and so the Re-birth begins. Nissans new acting CEO- Makato Uchida is rebuilding the brand, ridding poor made quality parts such as the CVT transmission and focusing on better collaboration with their Research and Development teams for strong, longer lasting, better made vehicles. Two of their prototype vehicles on the web that I am currently obsessed with are the 2022 Nissan Frontier & 2022 Nissan Z. Below are two pictures.

2022 Nissan Z

2022 Nissan Frontier

Anyways this is whats currently making me happy on the web. Thanks for reading!

 

Good morning CLASS! I am beyond ecstatic to finally have the day come where I can share my website here with you guys.

The link to my first blog post is https://anilmangroo.com/uncategorized/first-blog-post/

My first post is up and available. It is about the famous and tasteful photographer Rinko Kawauchi. She is a Japanese Photographer who shoots assorted moments in life. I highly suggest you guys take a quick read and check out some of her photographs on google. I hope that they inspire you as much as they have me. Below is a shot i’ve taken in inspiration of her.

 

PS, below is a recent image of hers that I can’t stop thinking about;

 

 

This quote from Larry Lessig’s TED Talk stood out to me:

“I’m talking about people taking and recreating, using other people’s content using digital technologies to say things differently,” said Lessig, adding that although media has done this since the birth  of television, it’s something that anyone can do as long as they have access to a computer, calling it “democratized.” “These tools of creativity have become tools of speech. It is literacy for this generation. This is how our kids speak, this is how our kids think. It is what our kids are, as they increasingly understand digital technologies and their relationships to themselves.”

If you noticed, this TED Talk is from 2007, right around the time social media started to take over our world. Social media started to become ubiquitous around this time, where pretty much everyone knew what platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and some became familiar with a new kid on the block, A.K.A, Twitter. My point is, with social media, came the frequent use of GIFs and memes to spread information in the form of creative or entertaining content, which aligns with Lessig’s point of “tools of creativity have become tools of speech.”

Kids or kids who are now adults that grew up with the frequent use of memes, Vines or TikTok videos are using these tools to communicate ideas or facts, and in reality do define themselves through these platforms and content, as terms such as “YouTubers”, “influencers”, “TikTok Star” have emerged as modern terminology.

Copyright exists to prevent others from taking someone’s original work and using it without their permission.

I believe everything should be done carefully and with consideration when it comes to copyright. Follow that website or user’s guidelines when it comes to copyright and you should be fine. Sometimes you have to recognize and know where to find these guidelines, especially if you are into using others’ content for your own purposes.

Fair use allows the unlicensed use of copyrighted content to be used in another form, such as creative content. Examples of this are provided in the anime remix and the George W. Bush remix video in the Lessig TED Talk.

As for Andy Baio and his experience with fair use and the law, it seems as if fair use isn’t just allowing unlicensed use. There are caveats and judging by his case, it’s quite contentious.

As the story goes, Baio used the cover of Jay Maisel’s photo of Miles Davis’ album Kind of Blue and attempted to convert it into pixel art.  He gets a friend to do this after he couldn’t do it successfully. In turn, he gets sued by Maisel and his attorneys, demanding $150k for infringement and  $32,500 for the violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

From Baio’s article about the experience, here are the factors included in his own words:

Factor 1: “Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning? Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings?”

Factor 2: “The second fair use factor is the nature of the copyrighted work. Works that are published and factual lean towards fair use works that are unpublished and creative towards infringement.”

Factor 3: “Although the illustration does represent the cover of Kind of Blue, it does so at a dramatically reduced resolution that incorporates few of the photograph’s protectable elements. Courts routinely find fair use even where the entirety of an image is used.”

Factor 4: “The impact on the market value of the original work. It’s obvious the illustration isn’t a market substitute for the original: it’s a low-resolution artistic rendering in the style of 8-bit computer graphics that is, at best, of interest to a few computer enthusiasts.”

As for the fair use guidelines set by the government, provided by Baio:

1. The purpose and character of your use: Was the material transformed into something new or copied verbatim? Also, was it for commercial or educational use?
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market

Fair use all seems so technical and really does, as Lessig argues, impede on creative control. Baio makes the argument on his website, “You shouldn’t have to ask permission to create something effectively new,” and it essentially sums up this whole assignment and Lessig’s TED Talk.

Copyright is basically a way of using protecting the content of the original author which also helps to uplift the originality of the author’s work. However, The copyright is definitely a major issue if it is done in the intention of stealing others work. Copyright is a very common thing now a days since a lot of people share content of others on websites, youtube, and other social medias. For example, a person can choose to use a person’s writing, but if there’s copyright in the person’s work the work has to be acknowledged.

From the Ted Talk by Larry Lessig, he does a great job of explaining how we are using the copyright in our day to day life. He says, “It’s a culture where people participate in the creation and the re-creation of their culture” which is ultimately in the context of the copyright culture.

 

First of all, I was very excited to work on this and to register my domain name 😀 It was a very interesting process to lear about. I would say registering my own domain name was a very easy process overall. When I first started, I watched the recorded video provided by the Professor to not miss any step. The step by step process was very helpful in terms of setting up my own domain name. 😃

The website name that I chose was basically my name. I wanted to use my name because I can later use it as well for promoting my projects on the website. The overall idea of building a website is pretty intriguing. I learnt a lot about website hosting through this process.

After the end of this course, I want to keep using my website. I will also list my personal computer science projects on the website to make it more visible to the recruiters. I also want to work with the specific of the website such as adding HTML/CSS to the website.

After a lot of deciding over names, I finally decided to go with nafisatabassum.com for my domain name. I really like that I can use my website even after the course is over! 😀 This is such a cool experience overall.

Most of these websites were well put together as well as distinguishably creative. The first one I checked out was https://vinikaeats.com/ which about restaurant food through NYC. What I liked about Vinaka’s website was the collage of the photos on the front page  as well as the type of food and drink the ordered or recommended.

Then I checked out Damion’s website https://wilts-stories.com/uncategorized/walgreens-summer-job/  which was about his experiences working in Walgreens as a Summer Job and dealing with customers who would count pennies at the cash register while everyone waiting in line was in a hurry. Quite hilarious.

ANIMATED GIF ASSIGNMENT

THIS IS EXACTLY MY SENTIMENTS WHEN YORK SENDS OUT EMAILS STATING WE ARE RETURNING BACK TO SCHOOL AS SOON AS EVERYONE IS VACCINATED. LOL SADLY MY GIF DOESN’T MOVE TO DEMONSTRATE THE TRUE REACTION.

 

 

ANY FORM OF EXPRESSION IS CONSIDERED ART. IN THE MEME CASE, COLLECTIVELY MEMES  HELP BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER  BY MAKING A CONNECTIONS BETWEEN FEELINGS AND GUESTURES OR EVEN THROUGH SIMILAR INTEREST.

MANY PEOPLE WILL LOOK AT THIS MEME AND THINK SIMILAR THOUGHTS. HOWEVER, IT CONFUSES ME.

A few domain names I though of were,
“ClearThinking, “SelfAwareness” “Liveyourtruth” “BeautifulThoughts” and “PositiveThinking” .




The reason I took on this directions of posting is because, in this chaotic world we live in , every one deserve time to take a minute and think or not to think and take a breather. Reevaluating ones self through the years of fast paced progressing is strongly suggested in order to stay on focused.

Copyright is basically the owner of the creative source controlling how their material is used. Materials such as music, books, art are good examples to use. One thing about copyright is that it can happen to anyone. Many people on youtube like to post videos, and some people like to copy each other. An example can be a song. If the creator of the song sees someone else posted their song then their video would most likely get taken down.

On the other hand, there are some things that are ok to use that would not be copyright. A parody of a video would be a good example. If people were to upload the song word for word it would most likely get taken down. However, if they were to upload themselves doing the song in a different way they would be fine.

After watching Laws that choke creativity, there was something that stood out to me. It is when he said “The importance is that, that technique has been democratized. It is now anybody with access to a 1500$ computer who can take sounds and images from the culture around us and use it to say things differently.” This can go back to the parody’s used. Anyone can create different things and use it to their advantage, as long as they have the tools to use them.

People can show off their creativity in a different amount of ways. They can change up a way a video or even a game was used and make it to where they are using a similar concept of a video that they have seen before. 

 

Copyright nowadays has gotten more strict. I’m seeing many videos get taken down from things such as a song being used for about 5 seconds. I think that it is weird how some laws have adapted to where people soon won’t be able to use music in their videos unless they make it.

Currently working on my self reflection, while attempting to motivate others.

In Larry Lessig’s ted-talk “Laws that choke creativity“, the most compelling truth Lessig’s shares is that the internet is the one cure to the lost voices of the people.

Lessig states:

“In my view the most significant thing to recognize about what this Internet is doing is its opportunity to revive the read-write culture that Sousa romanticized. Digital technology is the opportunity for the revival of these vocal chords that he spoke so passionately to congress about”.

Although the internet today has a lot of negative connotation, it has granted the people a way to express and communicate their thoughts and opinions to a million people in a blink of an eye, if they wish to. Sousa’s fear was that people would no longer need to nor want to go out of their way to say or do anything that expresses individual creativity.

When the “talking machines” were created and proposed, Sousa understood that it meant silencing the people, and he was right. But thanks to thee Internet, we hold the most powerful tool on the planet. Any one person, any where in the world, at any time, can write, film, draw, or verbally capture a moment and share it with the world using their cellphones and with a touch of a screen.

The point.

According to U.S Copyright Office, “copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. Everyone is a copyright owner. Once you create an original work and fix it, like taking a photograph, writing a poem or blog, or recording a new song, you are the author and the owner.”

Copyrights is the new “talking machine”, not invented to steal the voices of the people, but has made it very difficult or discouraging to create content without the fear of stealing someone else’s idea. Now, one person’s idea, is never truly original or a brand new idea. What you may think is a great idea, has been thought of by others as well, thus, creating is more about timing and action than it is about whether or not you came up with the idea on your own.

Because of this, Copyrights became a thing where creators can protect their works. The downside, if you copyright a painting of your face, that means no one can recreate another work with your face or anything that might resemble it. That may sound good for the owner, but not so much for others who may intentionally or unintentionally create or recreate something similar or resembling to your portrait. Of course, if someone really wants to use your face, there are ways to gain permission to use it. But what good is the internet, if it doesn’t provide absolute freedom?

Due to copyrights, users have to constantly think about how a company or a owner might act legally against them. As far as I’ve noticed, owners only care about someone using their work/idea if they notice that the user is making money. When people take pictures for the purpose of a meme, for example, that owner is proud to be getting recognition. Switch the situation around and say that user’s meme has gotten them the opportunity to collaborate with a reputable company, now it is an issue.

Like Lessig, I believe creativity should have no boundaries. No matter what it is. The opinion of others does not matter when considering one’s ability to imagine and bring their imagination to life. However, all users need to respect the work of others. Do not do to others what you wouldn’t wish someone does to you. Create that meme, that remix, or that painting, but recognize and be realistic about your intentions. Clear intentions = fair use.

I checked out a few of my classmates websites and I was presently surprised by what I found. Although we are all still working on our website and trying to make it our own, some people have clear ideas in their head about what they want to do with their page. Although it is slightly intimidating, it has also put a battery in my back to step it up on my own page.

The people whose pages I would like to comment on specifically are Bazan and Vinika. Both of these ladies’ pages are very clear and concise while also being visually pleasing. Bazan’s website has a vibe that jumps out at you as soon as you get on the page. The colors set the mood and the short stories grab you in with their mysterious names. Everything is short, sweet and to the point which gives, “Less is more”. Vinaka’s website is very inviting and familiar on first glace. The overlapping pictures set the tone in terms of style and word placement is very well done. The food and drinks she has up look good and definitely benefits from the black background. Great Job Ladies!

Although both pages aren’t fully customized, I can see that they are both moving in the right direction. I’m hoping I can catch up to them when it comes to customizing my site, especially with the visual aspect. Hopefully, they also keep up the good work and maybe I’ll become a regular to their sites.