Copyrights

I was able to learn a lot from the three copyright videos that we watched for this assignment. First according to the third video there are some CONFU guidelines that help teachers be more responsible about what media they show in class and post on educational websites. Some of these guidelines include the use of only 10% or 3 minutes of a video whichever is smallest and 30 seconds of a song. Now this is related to songs and media that they acquired legally but do not necessarily have permission from the author to use in its entirety. Also the first video explained that the copyright laws were not used to protect the author financially rather was suppose to help science and information spread and increase and improve. Copyright laws help encourage people to produce their own good work not simply copy others all the time. Finally, I learned that if a video is going to be showed in history class, for example, and it was bought and used for educational purposes then its okay to show the whole thing but if you are showing it for a reward our extra filler time then it is prohibited against copyright laws.

In this first video that I found Mr. Johnny Williams offers the students the chance to look at what might happen if the United States were to change drastically in a short period of time into a northern confederation led by a charismatic but then oppressive leader. He poses questions to the students to think about whether they would fight back or simply go with the flow under such conditions. The presentation is well done with music playing in the background and pictures. The problem is that at no point does he offer the viewer any reference for how the music/pictures were obtained or how they could be found. Since it is for educational purposes and non profit this may be okay if depending on how he obtained these media sources but he should still offer a works cited page at the end or footnotes during the presentation demonstrating where he obtained the media sources and giving them their rightful credit.



In this second video done by Isaac Rosete, a junior in high school, he presents a rather interesting conspiracy theory to 9/11. In a history class I think it would be interesting to show a class a short clip like this and see how they respond. My experience in the past tells me that most students would immediately accept this as fact. It sounds convincing to some if they have not studied the facts and I can't point to any of his facts and say that they are necessarily false but I do doubt his presentation for one main reason. He does not site his sources! Not only do we not know where he got the music, although he does mention the titles in the abstract on the youtube blurb, or his pictures but his information as well. As a historian it is critical that one sites their sources to add authority to the paper. It shows that proper recognition is given to others who are more informed than we or who may have a greater voice. Similarly giving recognition to media sources is important. It shows that we acknowledge the work of another. To help this presentation the student should have added a list of where he got his information and where he found his media sources. Without it he loses credibility.



The first video sources can be found on at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwX8pSTWqlo and the second at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxVvZq0REc