Week 2 - 2nd Blog Post - Gryphons Woohoo!

Blogspot completely ruined my original post about World of Warcraft. I managed to recreate it below:

My World of Warcraft partner and I recently leveled up to levels 62 and 61, respectively. This means that we can now learn to fly our own Gryphons, the mythical half bird/half lion type of beasts that WOW gamers use to get around from region to region within WOW. We were SO excited about this that we went out and trained for advanced riding/flying lessons and we purchased a pair of Gryphons. The problem was we could not figure out how to fly them, then we realized that we could NOT fly them in the version of Warcraft we were currently questing in. We had to be in the expansion called “The Burning Crusade,” which we had just installed recently as we were leveling up so fast. So, we went through a ‘time portal’ and were able to mount our Gryphons there, but still could not figure out how to ‘fly’ them. They would gallop around for us in a rather ungainly looking fashion, but no flying…oh well. We would eventually be in the higher expansion levels and perhaps that would enable us to obtain a flying license or some such thing for us. Well, today I managed to figure out how to get my Gryphon airborne, and so did my partner. It was a matter of just pressing the space bar for ‘up’ and the x on the keyboard for ‘down.’ It was almost too easy, no wonder we couldn’t figure it out at first! So, my next video will be one of us flying our OWN Gryphons around, not the ‘rented’ ones as in my video above! I love this game…

Week 2 Reading - "A" Grades and the Art of Possibility

Ben and Roz Zander’s book “The Art of Possibility” is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read. It is a complete ‘page turner’ for me anyway. I absolutely love it and could not close my e-book reader until nearly 2:00 a.m. I should mention here that I am not a very engaged, excited or avid reader of non-fiction, textbook-types of reading materials, with one exception of course, I do love Adobe Creative Suite instructional books. This ‘textbook’ is so different. I really did not feel like I was reading a textbook or a ‘how-to’ book for our course. Roz and Ben’s stories are all true, from their own life experiences, so I feel very ‘connected’ to them right away. While each chapter is a sort of ‘technique’ description, such as “Giving an A” and “Be a Contribution,” they are also a testament as to why these individuals are so successful in their lives. I can’t personally see how anyone reading this book could not improve something about their own life, no matter how small.

Zander’s concept of giving an A is really interesting to me. Because he is a teacher of a group of musical students, who play orchestral instruments, it seemed to me that they would be a really receptive ‘audience’ for that type of grading. I can also see it working in other artistic courses such as drawing, painting, graphic design, etc. However, I think it would be difficult to teach say a high school English course and start the semester giving all the students an A to begin with, and somehow expect them to ‘earn’ that A as the time goes on. I suppose every case of this is different, and I really did like the idea, it sounded like his class really took it to heart from some of the wonderful letters the students wrote to him which he published in the book. I really enjoyed the heartfelt letters very much.

On being a ‘contribution’ in your life to others around you, that makes perfect sense. No matter how busy I am, I try to be there for people who need me or need something. I am up to my ears in my AR project as well as these courses at the moment, plus I have other obligations to take care of. However, I am making time this week to help a long time friend of mine who is out of work. I have offered to create a new resume for him and to shoot some photos of him ready for his job search efforts. He is not as computer savvy as I am, and he needs the help. I am glad to do this because he is going to make the effort to look for work in an economically crippled town in this poor economic time our country is going through. I think it’s the least I can do to contribute to someone else’s luck.

I love the book, I think everyone should read it regardless of what their profession or schooling is.

Week 1 Discussion – Reply to Michael George III:

Michael George III wrote:

Don’t even get me started on ‘fair use’. One thing that really irks me about copyright law is that ‘fair use’ is a defense but not a right. Lawyers and copyright holders do not respect ‘fair use’ exemptions like parody. For example, I create original parody videos and post them to YouTube like this one:

Mein Superintendent

Each time I post a parody video on Youtube, I get hit with a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice by the copyright owner. This is clearly not the full-length movie. It is clearly subtitled. It is clearly a very short excerpt. It is clearly not something that could be confused with the original work or diminishes its value. Yet, every single time I post a parody, I get threatened for infringement.

YouTube labs has a great video on challenging a takedown notice under the “fair use” provisions to copyright like parody (in case this should ever happen to you.)

Know Your Meme: Challenging a YouTube Take Down with Fair Use

I have never lost on challenge, but it is just another hassle under our current system. YouTube must respond to all DMCA notices and remove potentially infringing material to comply with the Safe Harbor provisions.

Yet another thing that bothers me about copyright is there is no clear registry of ownership like in the patent system. This is a huge problem in the software industry. As companies file bankruptcy and have their assets parted out to creditors ownership becomes murky. Even if you wanted to legally use or re-release old games or software, it is nearly impossible to track down who even own the rights. I feel that in copyright law that if a product is not offered for sale after a period of 10-years than it automatically falls into the ‘public domain’. This would solve so many problems and we could then play all those 8-bit video games again from our childhood.

Copyright was put in place to develop our culture, but instead it starting to stifle us because we can’t re-use, re-mix, and even resurrect software that has long been abandoned. It’s just like the videotape library shown in the movie Good Copy/Bad Copy. Piles and piles of historical footage locked up forever because of copyright. A new balance needs to be struck and fair use needs to become a clearly articulated cultural right.

Hi Michael,

Your post here is absolutely fascinating to me!  Wow!  I had no idea that you could not do the parodies using clips like that.  By the way your parody was hilarious, I really enjoyed it, and it was just so perfect! I did not realize you could get threatened for infringement by doing that, I have seen so many video parodies and also audio ones as well, and I was unaware that there was such controversy over it.  This is all sounding like ‘unfair use’ to me after reading your writing here.  A key statement by you really resonated with me:  “…another thing that bothers me about copyright is there is no clear registry of ownership like in the patent system.” This makes it all the more insane that you would be threatened by YouTube for infringement.  I think it is all very convoluted isn’t it? Thanks for educating us here! Live and learn! 

Week 1 Discussion – Response to Patricia Ort

Pat wrote: 
I think teachers really get squeezed when it comes to copyright because many don’t know where to look for copyright free material that is also cost free. The Internet is a really big place, and resources that seem obvious to some are not all that easy to find for others. FSO has really helped me with that this year. As other students have shared resources, I have finally begun to find places to get music that my students can use and which don’t cost me anything. I still need to broaden that list of resources, though.

The drive to integrate technology into the classroom puts teachers and students in situations where they may need music or images they can’t make themselves. Digital natives resist the idea that they can’t share the things they find on in the Internet freely, and in any way they like. I have spent all year reinforcing the idea that you can’t use someone else’s work without their permission. We are doing better, but often kids have a specific image or piece of music in mind when they think up a project. When they find out they can’t use those things, they have a hard time coming up with alternatives. Actually, sometimes so do I. I needed medieval music for my class movie. I did purchase some music from iStock Photo, but it was a very limited selection. And no. I can’t make that in Garage Band.

I use online videos a lot, embedding them in my school web pages or blog. I could never create all of that myself. The rules about copyright can be a little slippery, too. Colleges, for example, can do some things that K-12 can’t, and vice-versa. And the rules change. I have required my students to use copyright free sources and to document their sources. However, it is still hard to be sure every item is safe and to check every student’s sources.


Hi Pat, 
As always, an interesting and thought-provoking post from you on the copyright and other issues you face as a teacher who is actually trying to be creative in your endeavors to teach in your challenging environment. I can see where students might get frustrated with having to come up with alternatives to their ideas of things they want to use that they ‘can’t’ without permissions, etc. I know what you mean about Garage Band. Although, you can create some nice loops by using your own keyboards, get your ‘musically inclined’ son to make some for you that would fit the genre of music you seem so drawn to, the medieval stuff. It’s funny, I hear quite a bit of that type of music each night as I quest my way through Warcraft with my partner, and I think of you and how you would probably enjoy it. I know you use video a lot, and that is a great way to reach today’s kids as they are so inundated with media on the web. As far as what the different institutions and grade levels can do, you practically need a degree in order to be able to keep up with the different laws, rules and regulations, not to mention all the hoops you have to jump through, both virtually and in ‘real life.’

Week 1 Blog Post – Presentation vs Paper

I thought a lot about this before posting my blog entry.  We have the option to do a paper or a presentation for our Action Research projects.  I would like to do both, but for the assignment and final, I really have decided that I will do a presentation. I think my main reason for doing this is that my project is really fun and colorful, and really deserves to be seen as a whole or ‘big picture’ in my opinion.  I like the idea of a paper for scholarly reasons and for participation in a journal at some point, but, my heart of hearts is in design and the colorful nature and wildlife photos and videos I produced for my e-book “The Adventures of Little Boat.”  The children who participated in my AR project cycles loved the book, and I have some really great video footage of different kids discussing the e-book, which I think also deserves to be seen and enjoyed for what it is.  I just loved the interaction of the kids together when they viewed my e-book, it was like one big “Little Boat” party for them.  This was really such a fun project that I want it shared with everyone who will watch my presentation.  There, in a nutshell is why I think a presentation will best suit my particular contributions to Action Research through my project!

Week 1 Reading: Copyright Issues

Photo "Takamine Dangerous" by Zoe Marlowe

Copyright, as many people in my Media Assets Creation (MAC) course which just started this Monday, May 2, have posted and commented, is really a super 'hot topic' isn't it?  I didn't realize that the length or duration of copyright is 'lifetime plus around 70 years.'  Our instructor mentions this in one of the videos we watched for this week's discussion topic of copyright.  

I have a little experience in my own copyright issues.  I have personally filed around 10 form PA Copyright forms at the Library of Congress for several musical compositions I created in the 1980s.  At the time I was not aware that I could have just recorded my tunes and then sent in the tape or whatever digital media.  I went to the trouble of having a transcriber write charts for my songs, as my ability to write down notes and musical notation is weak, and then I sent copies of those charts or 'lead sheets' in to the Library of Congress.  I still have the original form PA's that were sent back to me approved for copyright by the L of C.  

Later on I published a poetry anthology and had to do something similar,  although it was a slightly different form than the original music form PA I used in the 1980s.  So, it is an interesting area to study and think about all the 'copyrights and copy wrongs' while we are in this course creating our media assets for our Action Research Projects.

Sources:
Wimba, May 3, 2011 with Joe Bustillos
Personal experience with copyright

What's Been Happening Since Last Post

Hi Everyone!

I have been really letting this blog 'go' since the beginning of the year, but in my next course I am going to be blogging again, so this is a good reason to start ahead of time.  Since March, 2011, I have completed my  AR Cycle 2 data and analysis, which came out GREAT...in fact, it was miraculous and positive to me!! Yay!  Also, in Dr. Dan Siegel's class I received the prestigious Course Director's Award, which is always a wonderful thrill.  Dan's class was amazing, and it has left me with a permanent, all time fave activity, which is playing World of Warcraft nightly!  That's right, since the beginning of the Game Strategies and Motivation course (GSM), I have been playing 'Warcraft' steadily, and have attained Level 56 on my Fire Mage avatar.  My partner and I play nightly and we LOVE it!  Oh, and incidentally, my WOW partner and I also participated in Karl Peterson's AR project, where we went and did 'dungeon runs' with him and others in a group to basically work on team building and communications skills.  World of Warcraft really gives you a workout in more ways that one!