Animoto

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Greetings fellow bloggers!

This week I had the opportunity to use Animoto. It was a fun and easy tool to use to create videos that capture the audience's attention in a short time frame. Creating this video helped me understand more about Copyright and creative commons.

According to Concordia University (2016), "Copyright protects works from being copied, performed or distributed without the permission of the copyright holder, usually the author or the creator of the work. [Moreover, copyright laws apply] to original works such as books, articles, videos, music, paintings, photographs, digital works, broadcasts and performances" (Copyright basics - What is copyright and how does it work? section).

It was also interesting to learn that "ideas and facts are not protected by copyright. Only works that are original and fixed" (Concordia University, Ideas, facts and originality section). However, once that idea or fact has been "fixed" such as writing a blog, article, or book about that idea or fact then it becomes protected.

Creative commons was also a concept I was not well informed about until now. Essentially, creative commons are "licenses which creators attach to their work [and] allow the material to be used for free for educational purposes" (Smartcopying, Creative Commons section). One of the benefits of CC is that it helps others create their work by either using the content as is or modifying it to fit their needs. Creative Commons is the concept that Kirby Ferguson referred to in his TED talk: Embrace the Remix. In his presentation, Ferguson (2012) argued that creativity today is a combination of other people's work "our creativity comes from without not from within" (minute 8:57).

The takeaway I got from his presentation is that understanding that our creativity is dependent on others is liberating and enable us be more creative; sometimes remixes are better than the original work. However, if we are to use someone else's creative work, we need to give credit to the original creator and cite it right as best as we can!

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References

Concordia University. (2016). Copyright guide: Copyright basics - What is copyright and how does it work?. Retrieved from http://library.concordia.ca/help/copyright/?guid=what

Concordia University. (2016). Copyright guide: Copyright basics - Ideas, facts and originality. Retrieved from http://library.concordia.ca/help/copyright/?guid=ideas

Smartcopying. (n.d.). Students and copyright - Creative Commons. Retrieved http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/information-sheets/schools/students-and-copyright/students-and-copyright/students-and-copyright

Ferguson, K. (2012, June). Kirby Ferguson: Embrace the Remix [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/kirby_ferguson_embrace_the_remix/transcript?language=en