The Importance of Copyright

Hey all,

It's time for another blog post. Today, I am going to be talking about copyright, and the fact that it is actually an important thing! I have been a student all of my life, and if there is anything that I have learned throughout my educational journey, it's that you should never use anything that doesn't belong to you. If you have use an idea that isn't yours, you better cite it. In my world plagiarism is taboo, and if you plagiarize, you better prepare for the consequences because teachers know.

San Jose Library. (2008, August 23). Children using the computer [online image]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/5jWU3i

Continuing on with my previous post, I have been learning about copyright for my technology in education class, and there is so much more to it than just not plagiarizing. What is copyright, you ask? Well, according to Figg (2013), "Basic copyright law means that all rights are reserved-the copying, distributing, performing, displaying, or adapting of digital media found online is prohibited" (p. 1). This means, that all of those things that we see on the internet, and take and use for blogs and projects, are actually private property. This is not always the case though. When it comes to copyright, there are so many different restrictions that we need to be aware of. And this does not just apply to text, it applies to images, videos, audio, and so much more. When choosing images and other forms of media to share with others, it is so important to remember that someone else created it, and they may want their products protected. Always look for the creative commons and check to see if you can use the images you want to use.

While learning about copyright, I was instructed to find images that I was able to use freely as long as I gave the appropriate credit to the photographer. That is the main reason why there is now photos on this blog post. Both of the images selected were chosen due to the fact that the creative commons stated these images were free to use. 

McPhee, N. (2006, September 03).  Corn and sunflower (Butterfly is optional) [Online Image]. Retreived From https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Corn_and_sunflower_%28butterfly_is_optional%29_%28298058648%29.jpg

This is actually not a difficult task to accomplish. Different websites such as google images, and flickr have made it easier to filter your search so that you can find images that are free to use. This will remove all of the restricted material on your main search, leaving you with images that you can use. However, you should always double check, because sometimes these filters do not always work.

I feel that now that I know how to do this properly, you will definitely be seeing more images on this blog that will help to enhance the post I am writing, and that will hopefully make it more interesting... or at least a little bit easier to read!

Well, I hope you learned a little something about copyright. I know I have, and it has really changed the way I look at searching for images. 

- Elizabeth

p.s. the butterfly doesn't actually have anything to do with copyright itself... It was just the first thing I thought to search for. 

References
Figg, C. (2013) Copyright for tech-enhanced teaching. Retrieved September 11, 2015 from  http://www.handy4class.com/tpack-teacher-game/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Copyright-2013c1.pdf