Copyright.

This week in our digital media workshop we looked at copyright. We were split into 3 different groups all looking at different sections of copyright.


Group 1: In defence of copyright – the publishers position
Imagine you are a publisher or a creator of content. Why is copyright important to you? Why is it necessary? What problems does the internet pose for content publishers and copyright? What kinds of copyright infringement are there?
Some areas/sources to investigate:
• Copyright and the World Trade Organisation.
• Global copyright enforcement.
• Andrew Keen – The Cult of the Amateur
• The Pirate Bay and other copyright enforcement cases.
• What is fair use?

Group 2: Copyright and participatory culture
What problems does copyright pose for participatory culture? What arguments can you find for a change in copyright laws due to these problems? Use examples to demonstrate the arguments.
The Free culture argument – (Look at Lessig, Doctorow, Benkler, Leadbetter - see pg 44 in the handbook)

Group 3: Solutions?
What solutions are there to the problems discussed above? What solutions have already been attempted and how successful have they been?
. For example:
• The technological fix – DRM, Bandwidth throttling
• Open Source – the commons & capitalism
• The legislative fix – 3 strikes, tiered internet provision (Net Neutrality)
• Digital Britain Report

We chose to be group 3 and therefore were looking at The Solutions. We decided the easiest way was to take a section each, look at the solutions and then meet to discuss and put them all together. Dale and I were looking at The technological fix - DRM, Bandwidth throttling. Dale chose to look at DRM and i was looking at Bandwidth. We researched each area and together and then planned out what we were going to present. When meeting up with the group we all discussed our ideas and were happy to present it to the rest of the group. Unfortunately when we got to our workshop Tom had some bad news and he had to leave the lecture, therefore taking the backbone of our presentation. Group 1 were not present so we did not see a presentation In defence of copyright , the publishers position. We watched Group twos presentation which was interesting and showed some good examples of Copyright and participatory culture. We then went up to present ours, it was a little, or a lot, unorganised due to the fact Tom had had to go and it kind of all fell apart when we stood infront of the class. Simon finished the workshop by going through the information in slightly more detail and I now, nearly, fully understand all aspects of Copyright.