Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Today's Symposium

Thank you for attending today's Copyright Symposium. We hope that you enjoyed the event and have taken away some valuable information. Please take a moment to share your thoughts of the event by commenting on this blog post. We would love to hear your feedback.

11 comments:

Yifeng Hu said...
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Yifeng Hu said...

I enjoyed the symposium. It prompted me to re-think about many issues that appear to be ok in our daily life.

The crazy baby case that Gigi mentioned (http://youtube.com/watch?v=N1KfJHFWlhQ) struck me. One youtube user was as confused as I am. He/she said: If i record a vid with Prnce`s album i bought is playing in the back I`LL GET SUED?

I believe many audience at the symposium would agree with him/her that this isn't an infringement. Gigi said the case is not an infringement because the music is not clearly recognizable, and only a very small portion (less than 30seconds) is used. But how if I changed the scenario a bit: I bought the CD and played it while my baby was dancing. I recorded my baby's dance (naturally the music was in the video). Unfortunately, my recording equipment was so good that the music was recognizable, and my baby liked to dance forever, so the portion used was large. In this case, is it an infringement? Should we, ordinary audience, be scared to death by the word "infringement" in the age of sharing??

If there is anything else that I'd liked to see from the symposium, it would be more sparkles, i.e., arguments, among the panelists.

Yifeng Hu said...
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Unknown said...

I thought the symposium was definitely a success. I had the pleasure of attending the luncheon at Kendall Hall and it was very inviting. The majority of the communication professors were in attendance and each guest was conversational. The food was great and plentiful. I was happy it arrived on time and was waiting for guests, since the campus food service can never be trusted with complete confidence.

The library was a fitting location for the symposium, since I relate copyright to books moreso than audio or video. There appeared to be about 50 people in attendance and the guests asked the panelists good questions. Each speaker was clearly knowledgeable on their area of expertise. I thought Stanley was the best speaker. By the way, I cleaned up my computer as soon as I got in my room just in case he was telling the truth. Gigi spoke a bit too long and was very opionated. I agreed with several of her points as well. Wendy was the least confident speaker. Even though the presentation was 2 1/2 hours, I have a feeling that they could have argued back and forth all day, which is a good thing. The reception to conclude the event was enjoyable since all of the key figures stuck around for a few minutes.

The event planning group did a great job. The whole day appeared to run as smooth as possible and it was a big success. Each member should be proud of themselves.

Yifeng Hu said...

Coincidentally, I received the following email from the mailing list of ctp-aejmc (Communication Technology Division at Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication). I think the subject is quite relevant to what we discussed in the symposium. Therefore, after obtaining the permission from Dr. Abrams (thanks to yesterday's symposium, I am more aware of the word "infringement" now), I am posting his email here for your interest.

Here is his email:

To all who are interested --

There is much to be ironed out about unethical conduct on the Internet.

I have written about newspapers and how they flout ethics in their online reader response columns, treading on violations of libel and privacy laws, and, of course, have heard response on this issue. Newspapers say that they are merely acting as ISPs. This is pure baloney in the service of commercial greed, rather than a judicious exercise of First Amendment rights and responsibilities. Does a ‘free and responsible press’ - as urged so many years ago by the Hutchins Commission - exist on the Internet?

An interesting free Webinar will take place at NewsU/Poynter on April 8 in which some issues will be discussed, and I hope some of the real problems will be addressed. What I suppose will be talked about is the haphazard placement of inappropriate ads on pages, often an embarrassment when juxtaposed to serious stories.

You can sign up to join this at http://www.newsu.org/courses/course_detail.aspx?id=nwsu_APMEweb08

The collateral issue of how intellectual property is stolen on the Internet is an area that needs some more investigation. I wrote about this at http://www.flwildflowers.com/madonna

Many Internet users link to pictures and stories from other websites, usually with permission to do so. The use of these links is often a neat trick in that bandwidth is stolen from the original users, something that might be called “dynamic linking.”

Let’s say you have a popular website, or even a newspaper website, and suddenly you discover that someone else has not only linked to the site, but is using the full site on their page, with their own advertising at the top of the page. Each time that page is accessed, it uses your bandwidth rather than theirs, as their html code seeks out your pages from your server. You pages are used as an advertising vehicle for the people who have appropriated it.

Now, one might think that this is seldom done, but it appears to be big business on the Internet, where original content is scarce and where corporate interests have found a way to appropriate the work of others. Who pays for the bandwidth usage? You do. Getting ripped off is part of the Internet experience.

Mike

Michael E. Abrams, Ph.D.
Professor of Journalism
Florida A&M University

Jenny Smith said...

I was able to attend to the first hour and a half of the event, so I heard each copyright expert speak at the podium, but missed the discussion session and reception treats afterward. However, from what I did see, I think the planning team did a fabulous job!

The Library Auditorium was a classy place to have the Symposium, so the setting was spot-on. The whole team was there to greet attendees with brochures as people came in, and having all of the press (photographers/videography, The Signal/LTV) was a smart way of capitalizing on post-event coverage. The multi-part layout of the evening was a great idea in theory, as the luncheon and reception gave the guests a chance to mingle and attendees to network, and the speeches mixed with the open-forum session added different dimensions. However the one critque I have, which might be anticipated, was it's length. It's difficult for a lot of us to set aside 3 hours for a mid-late afternoon event, which is why I unfortunately couldn't stay past 5:30. I'm going to also be honest and say that the topic wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, so keeping it short and sweet may have been more effective and may have helped to draw in more people.

Despite that, from hearing the behind-the-scenes chats in class and then seeing all of the logistics of everything pan out flawlessly (at least from what I saw!) you guys should give yourselves a huge pat on the back: future event planners in-the-making :-)

Rowena Briones said...

I thought the event was very well put on by the team. This is such an upcoming and prevalent topic that needs to be discussed on college campuses. I definitely learned a lot about copyright that I never would have known had I not attended the event.

I thought both the luncheon and the reception afterwards were great opportunities to mingle and network with the speakers. They were also pretty low-key, which I liked because I felt more comfortable approaching the speakers and dicussing the event. Also everyone asked really good questions at the symposium that I thought were able to really drive the discussion.

All in all it was a really great event that I thought was really interesting and a good way to celebrate the new School of Arts and Communication. We should definitely have more symposiums like this one in the future; it would really benefit students.

Great job!

Suzanne Carbonaro said...

I thought you all did a good job coordinating the speakers, the food and the flow of the event. I would, in the future, have more of an ushering system so that people are seated closer to the panelists, additionally, as we have discussed, always keep your marketing alive, when it is a free event and something else arises, people usually decide against going last minute. Symposiums like this one which covers topics relative to the students is what makes our department cutting edge and competitive in the world of research and beyond. I thought it was insightful and provided a good opportunity for students and faculty alike to observe their technology and copyright usage.

Danielle said...

I thought the event went very well and was a great way to celebrate the new school. The library auditorium is always a great place to house academic events because it is large enough to hold a decent group of people, but is intimate enough to facilitate discussions and question and answer. I liked that Stanley and Gigi were able to bring their own point of views to the discussion while Wendy was able to discuss an array of copyright issues we are now faced with in the digital age.

I was impressed with the organization and professionalism the planners brought to the event. They interacted well with the speakers and were always close by and paying attention to what was going on. They made it easy for me to cover the event for LTV by answering my questions and allowing me to visit the location a day in advance to prepare for the shoot. Congratulations on an event well planned!!

Meghan said...

Congratulations on planning a successful event! The symposium touched on very relevant and important issues for the time we live in. I enjoyed listening to the speakers, and thought them to be very credible. Having the event at the library auditorium was a great idea because it is one of the newest locations on campus. The reception afterwards had great food and provided a laidback environment to talk with the speakers.

-meghan kennedy

Suzanne Carbonaro said...

I was very impressed by the copyright symposium yesterday. Great panelists, very together logistics, and (most importantly) perfect venue.

Kudos to all involved.

Terry


Terrence W. Epperson, Ph.D.
Social Sciences Librarian
TCNJ Library
The College of New Jersey