Week 1 Reading: Shared Culture

"Our best thoughts come from others." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The reading, videos, and other media this week explained copyright, fair use, and creative commons. The one common thread that wove all of these topics together was the idea of shared culture and the effects that technology has on it. What implications does the kind of technology and the way we use it effect our culture? 

Copyright, fair use, and creative commons have been referred to by many as moving targets. This too could be said about the cultural implications that technology has on us as a people. Previous generations have dealt with the fixed forms of content in which users traditionally consumed it in comparison to the way the current generation learns and operates today in which consumers have become the creators (or remixers) of the content.

CONSUMERS = CREATORS

Here is the lay of the land as it stands today (click for the larger image):

With all this user generated content how could we not be sharing and feeding off each 0thers' creativity? I am a proponent of using others work fairly. I think that is necessary to perserve validity and value of the work, however, I do think that we need to continually examine how we protect the content and how we limit it. In watching Good Copy, Bad Copy it is obvious that many are not educated on the rules of copyright or if so choose to ignore them. It all seems to boil down to a matter of approach and how we as a culture value what people create and how we choose to share it or protect it. 


The relevance to what we are learning in our EDMT program for me is how to continually provide innovative and creative ways of teaching and training while presenting it in a manor that is understood by today's learners. By accepting the cultural shift in the way technology is used and consumed we can become better teachers and trainers. 

I must say that all the information provided can be overwhelming and a lot to take in. Here's a website that can be used to assist in teaching copyright to others: 

http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

After going over all the material, I realize now the importance of teaching these concepts to others, especially in today's digital age. That being said, I would have liked to have been presented with this information in the first class of the EMDT program. I think having a better understanding of these ideas would have really helped in making my way through the program.

Images:

1. Flickr - mikecough 
2. MyCube