Tag: ct101

Copyright

What is copyright? “In simpler terms, copyright is the right to copy. This means that the original creators of products and anyone they give authorization to are the only ones with the exclusive right to reproduce the work.” –Investopedia.

Why is there copyright? I believe copyright exists to prevent someone from duplicating the original work of another. It exists to protect what we call “intellectual property.” Honestly, I have no idea what that means but from what I figured from Professor Sewslow’s post and what I read on other sites,  intellectual property is unique original creations that necessarily took a significant mental activity to create.

We practice copyright laws to protect that awesome content from getting remixed, modified, or reshared without permission!

We should all be aware of copyright laws. I mean, nobody likes a copycat, right? Maybe. I don’t think all situations are the same but, according to the law, they should be. So let’s be smart about the content we just love to re-share, share, and switch up a little bit!!!

Fair use is a doctrine that lets us use a limited amount of copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder. It is a way to give some liberty to use content without getting into serious trouble. This doctrine should be used more often since many of us have amazing ideas about other people’s work. I believe, most of the time, these ideas enhance the original version in creative ways almost to say, unlike anything else!!!

 

While watching Larry Lessing’s TedTalk, the quote I found most compelling was the following:

“Never before in the history of human culture had it been as professionalized, never before as concentrated, never before as creativity of the millions been as effectively displays, and displays because of these, quote: “infernal machines.”

This quote was referring to another type of machine, but I believe it reflects well with what is going on in digital technology. It clearly identifies the true intentions of those individuals who re-use, re-share and re-shape content. Lessing mentions this later on by saying that people take and recreate other people’s content using digital technologies to say things differently. Lessing also mentions the content serves as tools of creativity that become tools of speech, which I thought was very inspirational. To me, it is clear these people are doing it for the sake of creating something new and not to copy information and call it their own.

 

 

*CT101 Final Blog Post & Course Completion Information*

CT101 Final Blog Post & Course Completion Information

**Please read all of the information below carefully & mark your calendars**

Please e-mail me with any questions at – rseslow@york.cuny.edu

Im always here to help.

Here we are in the final 2 weeks of our Fall 2020 semester. I wanted to get things set in advance to help and give everyone enough time to complete our course. Please know, I am here to help in anyway that I can. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Please know, it is not too late to catchup if you are a bit or even far behind.

The last day of classes is Wednesday December 9th but I will be hosting a live Zoom session scheduled for Thursday December 10th from 10AM -12PM to serve as a platform for those who have specific questions, need help with troubleshooting their websites and helping clarify anything to help us complete the semester. (the zoom link info is the same as always) As you know, the Zoom sessions are not mandatory but serve as a synchronous space for our class meetings. Most class sessions have video tutorials that are recorded and added to the weekly blog posts on our class calendar page here.

**Final Blog Post Submission Guidelines**

Please make sure you follow each step below – Each student will write and publish a Final Course Reflection Blog Post. (The details are below)

You will publish this post to the CT101 website. You will E-Mail the direct link of this blog post to me – rseslow@york.cuny.edu no later than Friday December 18th by 12 pm – Noon, please. 

*Please do not e-mail the final blog post link to me before Tuesday December 15th.

*The e-mail subject should say: “CT101 Final Blog Post/Your First & Last Name”

Here is the e-mail subject example – CT101 Final Blog Post / Ryan Seslow

Here is an example below for finding a blog post’s direct URL – (this is the direct link to the content you see at the moment in the web browser address bar at the top of the browser) The post must be published in order to copy it and paste it into your e-mail to me – it would look something like this below.

*Your final blog post is Mandatory, it serves as our final exam and final project and it must include the information stated below:

Your final blog post will be a detailed narrative and re-cap of what you have learned in CT101, and a reflection and assessment of what grade you have earned in our class and why you deserve that grade? (Yes, you must include this part!) 

What did you enjoy about our class and how you will apply your new skills into the world. Will you maintain and keep up your new website? If so, how? If not, Why not? Your final blog post should include a culmination of supporting images, GIFs, hyperlinks and writing. Please let this post display the best of your skills sets learned and applied! (The post must include more than 1 single image, GIFs, Hyperlinks and supporting Verbiage! Make it your BEST work!)

*Final Website Link & Description –  As a part of the final blog post each student will be sharing their new website link URL (your domain name) and will give a brief descriptive tour of their website and share how the website is being used, plus a few words on your successes, frustrations and an over-all assessment of building and having a website. (If you did not build a website this semester you must state that in your final post.)

**Not mandatory, but if you would like the opportunity to present your final blog post & website to me during a Zoom session next Tuesday the 15th or Thursday the 17th @ 10am – 12pm I will be in Zoom and happy to meet with you there!

*The Final Blog Post submission requirements as stated above are Mandatory, please let me know if you have any questions.

All questions should be sent to – rseslow@york.cuny.edu

Im here to help!

Vaporwave

When Professor Sewslow first introduced the vaporwave, I was blown away. I did not believe such artistry existed. What I mean is, I had never seen vaporware before.

The concept looks like something quite easy to accomplish. But looks can be deceiving!

I had a hard time trying to develop a vaporware-worthy picture. I mean, when Professor Sewslow created his version of a vaporware image, it was almost too easy! (Image provided below)

This was far from what I thought I could accomplish!

After battling my way through photopea and losing everything! I decided to try an alternative. I went to snorpey.github and tried to complete something close to the Professor’s vulture-pop image:

I came up with this:

It may not be the greatest vaporwave example, but I am proud to have completed something pretty close!

 

Classmate’s Website Review

First of all, I’d like to say all the websites I’ve viewed so far look exciting and very innovative. Some of them are the following:

https://janett4kids.com

In this website, Janett brings a concept of motherhood, which I love because I am a mother myself! I’m excited to view the content Janett will post because I love hearing other people’s views on motherhood. I hope she posts some content and fills out the About section. Don’t be afraid, Janett, you’re doing great!

The next website I’d like to talk about is Saul’s website, https://thephantomchronicle.com. His take on his new website is unique. I really enjoy reading his posts, “Enola Holmes A Fresh Take on the Holmes Family” and “A Summer Worth Forgetting: The Death of a Once Great City.” They inspire me to write more in-depth on my own website, so thank you for that, Saul! I think he shares his thoughts beautifully, and everything flows nicely. I agree Enola is a great film and can’t wait for that sequel!

Another great website I came across was Isacc’s website, https://paperpig.net. Right of the bat, I can tell this blogger is an artist. He incorporated his Instagram page, which reveals his talented creations. I can tell Isacc has been drawing for years and his work demonstrate that. I can’t wait to read the next blog post!

Many of the websites I view are up to date or missing minimal additions to make the websites their own. Adding a contact page, switching up the fooders/sidebars, and posting some new content goes a long way! So keep up the great work!

So, What is Copyright?

This week, lets delve into copyright… So, What is copyright?

From the content below (and there is a lot of great stuff to explore) please select a blogging prompt to respond to – you should respond to at least one but of course you can respond to all of them!

Why is there copyright?

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

What is fair use? Think about these questions and watch Larry Lessig’s TEDTalk  – How creativity is being strangled by the law. 

**Assignment Option #1– In a new blog post, find a quote from the Larry Lessig talk (link above) that you find compelling and tell us why. Also respond to the questions posed above. 

 

 

As a further reflection on “fairness” and fair use consider two cases that actually tangled with the legal system under copyright law. First, Andy Baio a software developer for Kickstarter writes and speaks about his experience being sued by a photographer and is forced to settle and pay thousands of dollars. This is despite the fact he believes the law is on his side and so does his pro-bono counsel the EFF.

 

https://www.creativemornings.com/talks/andy-baio/2  <- link to the video

 

Second famous appropriation artist Richard Prince is sued by photographer Patrick Cariou for Prince’s use of Cariou’s photographs in a number of collages. At first the courts sided with Cariou the photographer, but then on the appeals court reversed the decision in favor of the Prince’s remixes being fair use.

**Assignment Option #2 – In a new blog post, find a quote from both Andy Baio’s case and Richard Prince’s case that you agree with, disagree with, or both. Tell us why. Also tell us whether you think law around fair use is working. How would you change copyright law and fair use if you were in charge. 

**Assignment Option #3– In a new blog post – Digital Storytelling Prompt on Fair Use – Create an image, GIF, video, and/or piece of audio that reworks a quote and/or image found in any of the linked essays or videos above. Think about possibly creating a poster that uses an image and quote (https://photopea.com will help). Or create a video or audio remix that samples from the Andy Baio and/or Larry Lessig talks. Or maybe come up with something on your own that is inspired by these discussions. In your post, remember to use hyper-links to reference texts incorporated in your work as well as give context to the work.

Have Fun!

Stopping by my classmates website!

This assignment required me to stop by one of my classmates website and comment. It was really interesting looking at another website. Its like looking at a different culture since so many people have different ideas to put in their website.For example, Claudiabakes’s website is about baking which is awsome! She shares some of her recipes and posts really nice pictures of what she’s baking. Her first blog post was a recipe idea and it looked like she was already use to the blogging process. She did a great job!

 

 

This semester was crazy!

This semester was crazy!

I felt like a blogger throughout the semester. It was a different experience for me because I dont usually explore the enternet the way I explored it this year. I would say I was forced in the beginning to discover new things in the internet. I did initially because I had to complete my assignments for this class in order to get a good grade. But, it was all worth it at the end because I learned alot. I was not going to do it unless I had to, so this was the best way for me to get out rom my box.

Yes, these are people trying to change the tires while the car is driving.

The things I learned in this class were how to make giffs and creating giffs from videos. This is definitely something that I’m obsessed with. I didn’t know you can create a giff from a video! I have been using the same giffs thats offered when you text someone. Now I have upgraded my giffs and they’re more funny. So for now my strengths are making giffs.

Something I needed to definitely work on was my website. I still need to enhance my website and learn more about other programs that can help with that. I also need to start exposing some of my culture just like how I did in here. I started making giffs that were related to the Middle Eastern culture. I feel like thats something I need to expose more, especially when I finally have the opportunity because I have my own website!

The assignments of this class cetaintly helped me as a communicator. I was able to use my voice and it was not limited to anything. Thats the best part of this class. Although we have requirements to fulfill, like the questions that are asked for us to answer, we can answer in our way which was really fun.

Yup, it says it on the picture. I believe I deserve an A+!

Joking! Everyone wishes to see that grade on their transcript. I’ll be very exited if I receive that grade for this class, but we have to be fair. I feel like I could’ve done more. My creativity wasn’t enough to recieve that grade. I feel like I have earned an A because I did all the work but theres always room for improvement. I could’ve done more.

#Livingwithayoosh is my domain name for my website. I am planning to post Middle Eastern recipes and talk about food. I am also planning on posing things avout nature because I love nature.

VaporWave Thoughts

Today we were introduced to vapor waves!

Vapor waves has pinkish, purple vibrant colors that gives out very calm vibes.  It is a genre of electronic music and futuristic colors arraying all together. I personally love it because it makes a normal photo pop out 10x times.

I will review this vapor wave from a journalist perspective and just admire the vibrant colors that tells a story.

Vapor waves reminds me of a old retro style video game with futuristic coloring.

Vapor waves will definitely be the future and it is trendy and I hope people check out the textures it has along with it. You can’t look away from it without thinking man I wish I can live in a vapor wave world.

Vaporwave + Creative Tools = Storytelling ENERGY!

Soooo, what is Vapor Wave?

**The Digital Art Making Tutorial / Recording from class on 11/19 is at the bottom of this post – scroll down to follow along please**

Well, before we dig in, I blame professor Michael Smith for getting me hooked on the Aesthetic! Did I just say “aesthetic”? It all started when I saw that he created this post and assignment for a previous CT101 class that we were team teaching:

(PS – The assignment details are at the bottom of this post!)

Prof. Smith went on to say:

“I saw this morning’s DS106 Daily Create and thought of the Vaporwave Aesthetic (read the wiki – it helps) and thought I’d share my interest in it. It’s an amalgam of retro culture remix focused on the commercial aesthetics of 1980s and early 1990s – VHS artifacts, Glitch art, a little greek classical sculpture, 90s web design, low poly 3D computer graphics, and more. It’s a fairly recent phenomena starting around 2010, but there’s already a brief history video if interested.”

I updated the video link to another variation as the original video from a few years ago was removed.. but if you go to YouTube and do a search for “VaporWave”, well, down the rabbit hole you will go!

Prof. Smith is also responsible for introducing me to the infamous but yet now very famous – KIDMOGRAPH – a motion graphics artist based in Argentina who continues to dominate the Motion Graphics world in many many ways! Including inspiring tons and tons of artists and designers of all types, all over the world.

“There’s a Tumblr by the handle KIDMOGRAPH that’s a personal favorite GIF artist in this particular genre. Here’s an example of his work which incorporates low polygon 3D models.”

KIDMOGRAPH is also on Instagram of course – here

Prof. Smith made a few cool examples below using some mobile and web applications, Ill also go a over a demonstration in our class! (Below)

“If you’d like to attempt to create vaporwave styled piece, consider using this – I like this Trianglify Generator to create low poly backgrounds or how about a low polygon generator from images. I made this remix from an NYPL Vulture archive image.”

“This I then took into a couple apps Ultrapop and Ultrapop Infinite to recolor and then to animate the images using ImgPlayPro all on the iPhone”

vulture-pop

“There are a lot of other influences to consider in vaporwave such as 90s windows application interfaces and greek classical sculpture. Have a stab at this AE S THE TIC.”

We actually do a lot using https://photopea.com as an interface to make some digital art pieces, there are tons of transparent graphic assets out there on the web, ill share the process in class this week!

(Ryan’s photopea.com examples made in class – above)

Below – watch the video tutorials made in class

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/a260thZlEXuVuFR4f63ebkQqXCo_cV67k5Rv9fSkOR7gn_TBLT2zknTCuOCFzaR1.yOxtZJM_n4OYyy0j

Passcode: *3cBkkh?

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/D1Jr6vaq8PlhV679LpVWLiaQJr-_zgqqT4S9qq5z4AaJKmM-vfWj–KppqxgSJtR.eFOXAuiNR3peFvwc

Passcode: vs=Zt1Pk

 

The ASSIGNMENT: In a new blog post, review this blog post and its content! Describe what you see and perceive, what is Vapor Wave? Do you love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Will you review the vaporwave aesthetic from a journalists perspective? Or will jump in as an artist and make some VAPORWAVE digital art? Will you do both? Either way, lets get to work and share this creative project on CT101 (and your personal websites if you wish! Be sure to check out the vaporwave student gallery here from CT101 students in the past!

Classmate Website Thoughts

I want to start off by saying how incredible everyones website is looking!

I think I have some competition lol, anyways after going through a bunch of websites one that really stood out was https://paperpig.net/

Man, Isaac this is some really good stuff showcasing your drawings. I hope other people find this website and see more of your stuff. I liked your website layout with the social media handles it was nice, clean and easy to follow through.

I might have to take some tips from you to make my website amazing as well!

With my website https://slimshakey.com I hope to bring a horror experience for the audience members and make it big eventually one day!

 

Mid-Semester Assessment Assignment

When I first started CT101, I was terrified by the content we had to accomplish this semester. I mean, I wouldn’t call myself tech-savvy…

Anyway, as the semester moves forward, I realized the work wasn’t only comprehensible, but FUN!!!

I got to write my first blog ever, Internet Happiness, and make my first ever meme!

Animated GIF

However, this was just the beginning of my internet enlightening journey… now, I can even build a website!!! It is incredibly exciting to say I can make a website. I thought I was far from ever achieving such an accomplishment, but here I am, a proud owner of a brand new website!

I’ve learned so much from this course, things like blogging, website building, and completing assignments through the DS106 Assignment Repository website, such as summarizing a movie with Animated GIFs and placing a pop star out of place!

All of these assignments, and more, have helped me become a better communicator. They showed me how to have a voice online. When you blog and post words and content, you can bring your internet persona to life!

Before I started this class, I had no idea how to do any of these things, but with the help of Professor Seslow, all of this and more has been made possible!

Right now, my website is under construction. I need to improve and work on the small behind-the-scenes data and add content. It seems simple, but there is so much to do!

My domain name is claudiabakes.com. I decided to go with a simpler web name because I found it to be very catchy. I hope to do exactly what my domain name says, which is to bake! I would love to share many recipes I have in mind and explore new ones through other people’s websites.

Like Professor Seslow said, right now, we all have As! I am going to do everything possible to keep my A and keep moving forward. I hope we all get As when this semester is done. It will be a sorrowful goodbye to this class…

 

Midterm Assessment

 

So, here we are at the last stretch of the semester. Overall, I can proudly say that I’ve really enjoyed this CT 101 course. I love the fact that the assignments we’re given don’t ever feel like it’s a burden to complete. I love the fact that it’s a class that is set at our own pace. This has been a great advantage because I do have much more demanding classes this semester. I also love how we’re being pushed to be creative and authentic. Not a lot of courses give you the chance to do something like that. However, just like any other class, we were tasked with a midterm blog post questionnaire.

 

Below I have provided the main questions asked and my honest answers. 

What have been some of the main skills that have been discovered, learned, and applied? 

The main skills I’ve discovered while in CT 101 is the art of using memes/gifs. Memes/gifs are used as another form of communication, it expresses relatable feelings/thoughts using pictures. Another skill I’ve discovered is creating logos, this skill came about when we created our domain names. I knew I wanted an original logo, so I decided to use my helpful internet & YouTube to learn the process. I was surprised at how easy it was to do and how enjoyable it was to make them. Here some samples: 

What do you know now that you did not know before the class began? 

All the different concepts thus far that we have learned were all new to me. I knew of gifs and how to personalize but I didn’t know how to embed them or even make it move on a post.  I didn’t know that a website took a lot of customization. I thought we would’ve made a domain, change some coloring and effects around, then we would start blogging weekly. We spent 3 classes just setting up the logistics and background information on the front page to look personalized. 

What are your strengths so far? 

I believe my strengths so far is writing and organizing my thoughts in my post; Everything seems to flow & synchronize. Also, I think my creativity is a strength, I have a lot of ideas and I like to play around with content to ensure it’s perfect for my liking. Thirdly, I’m a fast learner so the new concepts we learn each week aren’t difficult to execute. 

What do you need to work on and make improvements on? 

Comments more on my classmates’ posts. If I improve on this it would ensure that I’m fully completing all the requirements for the class. Also, looking/commenting on others’ work can help me come up with ideas when I have writer’s block. I would like to work more on embedding videos into my post, that’s one concept I haven’t used yet in any of my posts. 

How have the assignments helped you as a communicator? 

The assignments have been a lot like written tutorials to the skills we’ve been learning. I feel as though I’m able now to fully explain myself, where people can fully understand. This is a great skill set to have in writing because it ensures your reader is understanding and following the ideas/theme of your writing/body of work. 

What grade do you feel you have earned so far in our class?

I think my grade should be ranging in the A category. My work is always done for the most part and I provide really good blog posts. My work is authentic and reader-friendly. 

 

Information on my website:

Three weeks ago we registered our domain name. I chose RAAIWLou.com as my blog post domain. “RAAIW” is an abbreviation for Read All About It WIth Lou( Short for Louannie lol). Check the hyperlink to check out my recent post and feel free to leave a comment! Thanks! 

Louannie N. Smith

Its Time to share Your Website in Progress!

Its Time to share Your Website in Progress!

This week in CT101 we will share and explore each others websites, learn about creating “categories” and “custom links” and how to add them to your websites navigation menu structure. Of course I will record this process during Zoom and post the video here after.

**Here is the Video Recording from this Week’s Zoom Session – 

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/ABOgmZmTrcTV0IKcy7ez0cLGtpR04G5tI0hBeTguapK-QG8GTrzTC3-qWCzfG6Tv.TlhsbwTvqot21Ibi

Passcode: YJ!x7?.3

Here we are 3 plus weeks into being the proud owners of a shiny new Website! We are customizing our pages, building menu navigation, tweaking colors and fonts, and blogging away into oblivion! Exciting!

The Assignment for this week:

First: Its time to share your website’s URL, please add it to the comments section below in this blog post (My example is already there as an example)

Simply leave a comment below sharing your website’s address and press the Post Comment button!

Be sure to include the –  http://  part.   (some of your have added https:// – thats OK too)

Here is an example–>  http://your-website-url.com 

This is my example of my website URL – https://ryanseslow.com

Second: Explore some of the website’s of your fellow classmates! Leave them a comment, or two about their progress directly on their website! Then, write a blog post here on CT1010 OR on your own new website sharing your thoughts and feedback about discovering your classmate’s websites. Be sure to include their URL in your post (and hyperlink it!) What do you like about the websites that you discovered? Did you find a favorite blog post, or project? Share it! Give some feedback!

And, Why are we doing this?

Well, to share our development, support for each other and their process of course! Maybe your classmates and peers missed your last few posts and are in need of some feedback, inspiration and contrast. Lets dig in!