Copyright Law EVERYWHERE!

So for this week's assignment we had to learn all about copyright law and then give a critique of an educational video found on TeacherTube, discussing how well or not they adhered to copyright laws and fair use limitations.

We Didn't Start the Fire


This video, it seems, was a bit abusive of the Fair Use guidelines. While it was produced under the presumption that it gives an overview of modern-American history, it actually turned out to be more of a music video set to a Billy Joel song. While I love Billy Joel, no citations were ever given in regards to the song that played the entire video, or any of the images used. They acquired dozens of images and movie clips from important moments in American history that, arguably, would be educationally beneficial to use when teaching the subject. However, under the terms of fair use, the amount of images used was a bit excessive and the video seemed to be more entertainment oriented, rather than educationally oriented. Had they even given recognition to Billy Joel for use of his song, or listed a sort of "works cited" from whence they gathered the images to make the video, then yes, I would argue that it was all done under fair use. However, since no effort was made to cite any of the sources, I would say that this video is indeed under violation of copyright law, even if it was intended for an educational purpose.


A Fair(y) Use Tale


This film was, first and foremost, quite entertaining. It is a video about Fair Use, done humorously, made entirely of short snippits of Disney cartoons. The best part is they actually demonstrated and excellent example of Fair Use to teach the idea of Fair Use to educators. All the films and music that they used were cited properly in the credits at the end. The extent of the clips used was not excessive, and it was CLEARLY educational and for an educational purpose. This may arguably be the BEST example of Fair Use and copyright law in education ever to exist...ever!

I Plurked!

So, round two!

This week we were supposed to go hunting for blogs relating to our own field of study (theatre) and technology in the classroom. While that is all well and good, here is the thing: such blogs don't really exist. Theatre typically follows a non-traditional teaching model, so the way in which technology is included into a theatre curriculum is really done on an individual teacher basis. I scoured the internet looking for blogs/sources that related but to no avail. Theatre education is so much more about physically doing things with our bodies, rather than lecturing or doing things in cyberspace. There are a great deal of resources for theatre educators on the internet, but not a whole lot of blogs (in fact none that I could find).

The solution: so much of what we teach in theatre is a changing field. As new theories and ideas about theatre emerge our teaching material and they way in which we view theatre and the world at large changes drastically. So I subscribed to some websites in my Google reader that I feel will be beneficial to keeping me up to date with the ever-changing information in my area of study. Here is a recap:



Job Opportunities in Theatre and Education: This is a blog dedicated to informing theatre educators about job openings in the field all over the United States. With the nation-wide budget cuts in arts programs, finding a job in my specialty is becoming increasingly difficult. My hope is that this blog will keep me updated about where job openings are available as my graduation date draws nearer and I can see what is required to actually get a job teaching in my field.

2009 Educational Theatre Association Annual Conference: I am a member of the ETA as a pre-certification teacher. This blog keeps all the members posted about information regarding our annual conference and other activities. It is also an EXCELLENT way to network with other ETA members actually working in the field.

Theatre-In-Education: This blog deals with not specifically theatre education as is used in a secondary education setting, but Theatre-In-Education which is a field of study regarding applied theatre and theatre for social change. In summary it is based on the work of Augusto Boal and his son Julian in using theatre as an educational tool outside the educational setting. TIE (as it is called) focuses on games and devising performance in order to educate large groups of people/students about issues and teaches them how to address problems within their own communities. TIE is a rapidly growing field and it's tenets are always being applied to the secondary education setting. This blog keeps you updated on TIE activites, workshops and the general reaction to TIE work in the world.

Theatre Mitu: Theatre Mitu is a New York-based theatre group who is at the forefront of cutting edge and innovative avant-garde theatre. They do an annual college tour, educating students across the globe about their theatre techniques and studying cultures. They are coming to BYU this year to do a week in residence as guest instructors. They teach workshops, sit in on classes and will present their groundbreaking production of Death of a Salesman for the TMA department. It is important to be aware of ongoing theatre collaborations and companies so as to better educate students on the NOW in the theatrical world. It's more than just musicals, I promise...


So those are the blogs I subscribed to through Google reader. (I already have a ton of posts to read from them) I also joined the social network Plurk. To be honest I mostly just liked the name, but I also choose to join because it's a new site that I am unfamiliar with, so I can learn something new. Also, I already have accounts on Facebook and Twitter and such so Plurk was a good way to start a professional social network where I can deal with professional educators and not just friends.

I think that's all for this week.

Peace out, e-stalkers!
Jason

It's bloggin' time...

Well, here I am with a blog! Hooray! I jumped on the blogging bandwagon, well, rather I was required to, but it's all good.

So I guess I'm supposed to post about my background with technology. Let's just say that technology and I have a rough past. Basically I don't understand any of it. I'm lucky I can turn my computer on. I've never officially been taught anything about any sort of technology. I just kind of hit-and-miss (and I miss a lot!) try stuff till it works. I have no idea if I've even gotten this blog thing right. I don't know what any of it is. I'm actually pretty dumb when it comes to this kind of stuff. My brain doesn't really work in a techno-savvy fashion. I'm a theatre major.

As far as goals are concerned, to be honest, I have no clue what this class is about the Prof's blog was kind of confusing. I am kind of overwhelmed by the fact that we are supposed to know all this stuff about technology and blogs going into the class and I know NONE of it. I hope I don't get too behind. I guess that would be my goal: keep up with the class. Hopefully understand some of what is going on. That'd be nice too.

So, do I sign off? I guess so.

You stay class, e-stalkers!

Jason