Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video (Response)

This is a great read and has given me some ideas for mashups. I've been researching a bit about the Outrun and Vaporwave aesthetics, so this was a timely read for inspiration. While the piece was specifically about fair use, it also got me thinking about public domain stuff.

Here is summary of the best practices. These are all critical for having meaningful discussions in our society, particularly discussions that critique the media, politics, religion, corporations and popular culture. As the article notes, they are also critical for maintaining free speech; otherwise a copyright holder could silence someone's speech through enforcement of their copyright.

One: commenting on or critiquing of copyrighted material

Two: using copyrighted material for illustration or example

Three: capturing copyrighted material incidentally or accidentally

Four: reproducing, reposting, or quoting in order to memorialize, preserve, or rescue an experience, an event, or a cultural phenomenon

Five: copying, reposting, and recirculating a work or part of a work for purposes of launching a discussion

Six: quoting in order to recombine elements to make a new work that depends for its meaning on (often unlikely) relationships between the elements

I'll admit that I was a victim of some of the myths about fair use, specifically the one that says "If I’m not making any money off it, it’s fair use." I do think, however, you're less likely to be the target of legal threats, but automated algorithms like YouTube uses can catch a lot that would've previously gone unnoticed and automatically restrict them, which is also a concern.

http://sites.uci.edu/elad/files/2012/03/video_fair_use.pdf

Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide by Mark Warschauer (Response)

I agree with the author that historical references to the "Digital Divide" overly simplify the issue and may lead to a weak response to address root causes. As referenced in other readings, it is not simply a technology access issue; that alone is one symptom, and its treatment in isolation is not sufficient to alleviate the damage it causes to our society and the individuals affected.

Even when resources are available to provide access, unintended consequences must be considered. These include disruption to existing social frameworks and practices. Examples in the reading include a public kiosk in India, a technology lottery in Ireland, and a university lab in Egypt. In each of these cases, the technology was disruptive, and not in a good way. It contributed to lower grades for poor Indian school kids, more isolation for Irish villagers, and political infighting and project delays at the Egyptian university. Lack of planning for implementation, education, and sustainability could have prevented these problems and resulted in better success for the initiatives.

Sustainability is greatly overlooked in general; technology is viewed as a magic bullet, without considering the entirety in a holistic manner. Additionally, every situation is unique and may have different challenges than other implementations. Those impacted by the digital divide must not be viewed as a monolith, or as the reading phrases it, a "binary divide."

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/967/888