Columbus Day, time to explore

Knowing that I had not posted an audio recording for a while (actually since June) I was surprised to read a recent email from AudioBoom about changes to the account. The free version I had been using apparently changed on Aug 30 and since I haven't used it since then, and haven't accepted the new terms and conditions, I am in an interesting spot.

The terms and conditions concern me:

What permissions am I giving when I post?

You’re giving us free, non-exclusive, worldwide, transferable permission (including the right to sub-licence that permission) to:

• use, copy, adapt, amend, publish, transmit, display and make the whole or any part of it available in any form, by any media, whether on a commercial or non-commercial basis, including the right to add advertising to that content, provided you have opted into our advertising agreement. You accept that this permission, allows us to make your content available to the rest of the world via the platform and through our embed functionality (or any other distribution method now known or later developed) on third party platforms and services and for the content to be listened to and used in accordance with the functionality of our services and
• edit and take excerpts from it to incorporate into promotional content to promote the platform, third parties that advertise via the platform and/or other providers of content to the platform, in all formats and in all media.

I have no intention of giving them the rights outlined. I have been keeping an ad free platform since the beginning and will continue to do so. I have no problem with paying for a service., However a service that grants ability to "use, copy, adapt, amend, publish, transmit, display and make the whole or any part of it available in any form, by any media, whether on a commercial or non-commercial basis" is not something I will do.

I will resume audio posts but use a different service to do so.

Happy exploring this Columbus Day!

Columbus Day, time to explore

All about creative commons

The K12 Online Conference is underway and there is great information being made available.

But what's in it for me?

The information from the conference is all on the web. It covers a variety of topics particularly in the area of how to use social media tools in the classroom. Consider your blog, your audience a classroom - wouldn't you like to be able to reach them in a better way? Why not find out what educational professional are using in their own classrooms and borrow from them!

For example, if you need to know about Creative Commons? There is a presentation on that topic here
http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=623

If you want to know how to tell your story, there is a presentation on that here
http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=612

This conference is just getting started so other presentation will be coming online over the next couple of weeks. This is a great opportunity to pick up some good ideas and use them for your own!

Re-looking at the remix

Lawrence Lessig, the father of the creative commons, has a thoughtful talk at TEDxNYED.



What do you think of these lessons?

Creative Commons explained

This neat little video explains copyright and the creative commons license.



My work here is for non-commercial use, share-alike, modification with attribution.

Thanks to FreeTech4Teachers for the pointer to this video.

A creative approach to intellectual property

Over the past 15 years, the rise of digital technology and the global economy has made it ever easier to copy, distribute, and profit from the fruits of other people's creativity - from the new Fergie album spreading across peer-to-peer networks to pirated "Spider-Man" DVDs showing up on the streets of Shanghai. In response, American lawmakers have instituted increasingly sweeping laws, seeking to stymie intellectual-property theft with lengthier copyright terms and more stringent consequences for violators. Without these measures, they reason, innovators will lose money, and innovation will suffer.

In something as simple as the public outcry of a Hollywood jokester, Sprigman, an associate professor of law at the University of Virginia, sees an approach that he hopes could put the lie to this thinking, and turn the heads of lawmakers. He sees a comedian enforcing respect for originality without resorting to legislation, lawyers, or the courts. He sees intellectual property being protected - not by the strong arm of the government, but by way of the very technologies that have incited stronger laws in the first place.

"People usually talk about how the Internet destroys intellectual property," says Sprigman. "But here the Internet enforces intellectual property. It helps to protect creativity by shaming pirates."

The Boston Globe Sunday issue has the full article here.

Nice approach to a tough issue. I think this approach has some merit, especially since the restrictive legal approach isn't working.

What do you think?

Use caution with Flickr pix

Found this article on Wired that caught my eye, especially since I have used a couple of Flickr photos recently that were thus marked.

Yahoo's photo-sharing site, Flickr, has been an early and enthusiastic supporter of Creative Commons licenses. But there's one aspect of the licenses that Flickr doesn't respect: Users can remove the Creative Commons designation from their photos -- even though that may violate the terms of the license.

Creative Commons offers several licenses that people can attach to their creations as alternatives to more-restrictive copyright protection. Under CC licensing, content creators can indicate that their works are OK to republish under various specific conditions. Once applied to a creative work, Creative Commons licenses are supposed to be permanent

and this is the kicker:

Flickr provides more flexibility to photographers than Creative Commons does. On the popular photo-sharing site, users can switch photos back and forth -- without limitation -- between CC licenses and "all rights reserved" copyrights.

Read the full posting here to see what you can do to protect yourself if you have used a Creative Commons licensed picture that then changes its license.