Fair Use Should NOT be Ignored

“Fair use,” despite being what should be considered an essential limitation on copyright laws, is often ignored for digital creators that rely on its function. This limitation essentially grants one with the freedom to use the copyrighted works of others in their own media, just as long they alter it enough to make it easily distinguishable from the original. For example, one could sample the footage from a show or movie, while adding their own commentary and editing to offer potential audiences an entirely new experience that would differ from simply watching the piece of media that was sampled. This is common practice for content creators on YouTube, with many making a living by implementing this practice in their videos. Unfortunately, there are instances where the original owners of borrowed media are against others using their creations/property, resulting in them forcibly removing videos that should technically still fall under fair use. In fear of being sued by wealthy media creators/distributors, YouTube creators often comply to these cases of unfair video removal without making the effort to fight back. Last year, however, a YouTube channel known as h3h3productions did the opposite and actually went to court after being faced with a similar strike. After over a year of fighting their case in court, the channel was able to come out victorious, as the judge deemed their sampling of the plaintiff's content to follow the accepted rules of fair use. Nevertheless, this still came at a massive cost, as they were faced with hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees that were necessary just to resolve the case. Luckily, the were fortunate enough to have a dedicated fan base that offered them support, thus, lessening what would have been a devastating financial burden. Many don’t have this luxury, however, making it all the more important to keep fair use alive and properly implemented in cases that it should rightfully apply.

Óðinn at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Spreadability vs. Stickiness/YouTube vs. Netflix

Earlier this week, we were assigned a reading that detailed the differences between spreadable and sticky media, two distinct approaches for reaching out to a desired audience. A website focused on spreadability will be much more preoccupied with making its content accessible through various means in hopes of gathering a diverse audience. This also results in a wide selection of content that can be easily shared by those viewing/interacting with the website. On the other hand, a website prioritizing stickiness will be much more focused on gathering a sizable and loyal audience that is attracted to what is being offered to them on that single platform.

By YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/)[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Netflix (https://www.netflix.com/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Youtube is a website that I feel embodies the spreadable approach, seeing as how the content produced is made easily shareable allowing individual videos to be sent to others and even embedded onto other websites. It is also made up almost entirely of user generated content, providing audiences with endless selections of videos that they can watch and share for free. On the other hand, I feel that Netflix is a much more sticky website, seeing as how all of its content is only accessible through its website/apps that require a subscription to get into. Its content also mostly consists of traditional media, such as movies and television shows made without the audience’s direct involvement.

Revisitng Reddit

After making Reddit the central topic for my first blog post, I had never thought that I once again be discussing this website on the same platform. However, this time around, I want to focus more on what was covered in “The Culture of Reddit”, a video which shares several of Reddit’s user-based communities, as well as the impacts, both good and bad, that have occurred as a result of their existence. A number of these smaller communities (subreddits) have been able to come together to positively impact the lives of fellow users, such as delivering pizzas to those in poverty or, as mentioned in the article we were assigned to read, making an active effort to talk others out of suicidal thoughts and actions. Though this occur within individual communities, Reddit has been able to come together as a whole to make collective efforts for the greater good, such as sparking a protest against bills threatening to bring limitations to the internet. Unfortunately, this website, being comprised of varying communities, has had its fair number of toxic users that go against the good that the website can actually produce. Though this fact definitely puts a blemish on the website’s reputation, it just happens to be one of the consequences that arises from offering all users the freedom to openly contribute.

By No single author (www.reddit.com/r/place) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Shown above is personally one of my favorite examples of reddit collaborating as one large community; here, each user was able to freely contribute to a blank canvas, resulting in this being produced during the span of just a few days time.

Improvising: There's a Time and a Place for It

From my experience as a spectator, watching others improvise can often lead to either impressive and/or entertaining results, depending on an individual's ability to do so, as well as the circumstances that required them to put this skill to use. For example, being able to spontaneously create funny and imaginative scenes during a session of improv acting, such as this one, is a situation in which improvisation can really shine. However, I have unfortunately also witnessed cases in the past in which students have attempted to utilize improvisation as a last-ditch effort during presentations that they had come unprepared for. Though doing so might have potentially improved their grades depending on how well they were able to sell it to our instructor, these were still clearly cases that were not suited for improvisation in the first place. Nevertheless, there are still multiple applicable uses in which improvisation could come into play; so many, in fact, that I strongly believe that everyone would greatly benefit by improving upon this skill, no matter how intimidating it may seem. Being able to come up with something clever, funny, relatable, etc. just on the spot is an impressive talent in itself that can most definitely enhance our ability to communicate with others, just as long as it is used during the appropriate circumstances.

By J0nny1992 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons