Week 10: Images & Slideshows

A remix is essentially an alternative version of an existing piece of work and it seems to be one of the newest art forms, not only in music but in other types of media as well. 

Cardoso, M. (2007, May 20). DJ [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/

Creative tools allow us to express ourselves, and so one must be aware of the responsibilities that come with the use of such tools. Understanding Copyright law is an important concept that digital learners must grasp: Knowing when or how to appropriately use media created by others, and how to protect their own creations. 
According to the Copyright Act of Canada, Copyright is granted the moment an original work is created regardless of whether the creator applied for a license or not. Copyright means "all rights reserved" and only the copyright owner, often the creator of the work, is allowed to produce or reproduce the work or to permit anyone else to do so.

Irish Typepad (2010, June 5). Copyright Locked [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/

 But what if the owner wants to allow others to use his/her work without having to give them direct permission to do so? 

Bonillo Sierra, A. (2009, April 28). creative_commons [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/

Creative Commons licenses forge a balance inside the traditional “all rights reserved” setting that copyright law creates. They allow the creator of a work to grant additional permissions when deciding how they want their work to be used. 
The term fair use originated in the United States and permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. A similar principle, fair dealing, exists in Canadian law and is more restrictive. Differences between fair use and fair dealing can be found on this table.

Kirby Ferguson produced a video series called Everything is a Remix, in which he examines modern attitudes toward intellectual property and how these attitudes stifle creativity rather than foster it.

I used PhotoPeach to create a basic slideshow to explain the importance of Copyright laws, as well as the difference between a work that has a Copyright license and a work with a Creative Commons license. You can check it out on the "SLIDESHOW" page I added to my blog.
Additionally, I used Flickr to locate Copyright friendly images to include in my PhotoPeach slideshow. 
These tools are now part of my PLE: PhotoPeach within the "creating" section and Flickr within the "sharing" section.

While on the topic of creative tools, I came across a post on my Feedly titled 10 Word Cloud Generators You Have Probably Never Tried. On one of my previous posts I talked about Wordle and how I used it to create a word cloud on digital citizenship. While Wordle was simple to use (plug your text into the box, select a few options, and you’ve got yourself a word cloud), it did not have an option to choose a shape for your word cloud. If I would've explored more word cloud tools rather than sticking to just one I would've come across Tagul, which works just like Wordle but allows you to choose from a variety of shapes! Try out some yourself and see which one you like most.