Weekly Report & Reflection Post #10

Welcome back everyone,

This week we explore the importance of copyrights and Creative Commons, as well as exploring the new tool Animoto. Animoto is a slideshow tool that allows you to create quick slideshows. I really liked exploring all the different templates the website provided, and how easy it was to navigate all the different features. However, I did not like that each slide had a character limit- this made it difficult for me to get my point across about copyrights. I wish that I was introduced to Animoto earlier because the only slideshow tool that I use is PowerPoint. This tool tool is much more appealing and I find more professional than PowerPoint. In my original PLE, PowerPoint was listed under my educational tools, but I will definitely add Animoto to the list as I find this slideshow tool to be more more effective and creative than the features PowerPoint provides.


Animoto and Prezi has contributed to my knowledge in other slideshow tools, but also the importance of using copyright free images in those presentations. Copyrights are legal rights that protect a creator from their work (music, speech, images, artwork, etc.). When something on the Internet is copyrighted, it means that you cannot use it without the owner's permission. I was not aware that just referencing the image or work was not enough to protect you from copyright infringement. Flickr is a great website to get copyright free images from the Internet without violating any digital laws. This week definitely contributed to my learning and understanding of becoming a digital citizen. It is important to be aware of all the rules and regulations that come with the territory using information and images we retrieve online. Copyright infringement can lead to serious consequences; therefore, take the initiate to be informed.


Article of the Week
This week's article on my Feedly refers to copyright infringement that has occurred in the music industry. The famous song 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams violated copyright laws by using elements of the 1977 Marvin Gay song 'Got to Give it Up.' Read more about it here:  What’s Wrong With the ‘Blurred Lines’ Copyright Ruling. 

Until next week,

Heidi Fung