Response to Jazmin's Wk1 post

Week 1 Reading: Copyright issues.

The videos were very informative. One of the things Full Sail stressed from the very beginning was to avoid using copyrighted work illegally. We were strongly encouraged to create our own music and visuals when possible. By now (month 11) we all have tons of original work that we have created. It will be interesting to learn how to go about copyrighting it if we so choose. I did not realize that the list for things that cannot be covered by copyright would be so short. Nor did I realize that a dance was something that could be covered. As an ESL teacher, I have taught the 'Chicken Dance' and the 'Electric Slide' to my students. As I was looking for a video with music for the 'Electric Slide', I came across articles about a man (I don't remember his name) who was claiming to have created this dance and suing others for using it without his permission. I thought it was silly, but apparently he may actually have a case. As teachers, we use so many things and so many sources to create classes that are 'edutainment'. For that reason, we have to be especially careful of copyright issues.

Jazmin, I was also very surprised by the tiny list of items that were not copyrightable in the U.S. but also by the ‘top 10’ myths.  Some of them have even come up in various Wimba’s for classes we’ve shared over the last 11 months but EMDT students.  One interesting note from your post is you mention that we’ve been encouraged to create original work here at Full Sail, a fact that has certainly been hammered into us frequently.  The interesting aspect I found after our readings/videos that I felt the Brazilians are also doing ‘original’ work, albeit with others work as a base to build from.  Like some of our classmates, I’m certainly not encouraging anyone to go out and grab others work – but I think this issue is one that is crystallizing into something that will require the industry itself to shift models for, and soon.