MHC Students Get Creative

What is a Copyright?

A Copyright is simply a permanently fixed original work in some form that can be seen or heard only the copyright owner has the right to use their work for commercial purposes!

It is illegal to use a copyrighted work without permission of the copyright owner and the consequences can range from a fine to imprisonment – depending on the severity of the infringement.

As mentioned before, only works that can be seen or heard! Ideas, for example, cannot be copyrighted.

What things can be copyrighted:

Books, plays, music, dance, movies, and pictures

You can’t copyright an idea – only the form an idea takes.

Copyright Duration & The Public Domain:

Copyrights only last for a fixed amount of time.  Originally they lasted only 14 years in order for the copyright owner to make profit on their work.

After 14 years the work became a part of the public domain – where anyone can use it.

A work in the public domain is free for anyone to use.  Cultures can create new ideas by building from old works.  The public domain is necessary for a living thriving society.

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

Copyright duration changed in 1896 under the Berne Concention. Time duration changed to an entire lifetime and an additional 50 years after that.

This gives most people the impression that copyrights last virtually “forever.”

How to legally use copyrighted work

One can use copyrighted work through “fair use.”

Fair use is the limitations of copyright usage.  You can borrow a small amount of a copyright work to teach, report news, parody, make critical commentary.

Rules that demonstrate fair use:

The nature of the work borrowed, the amount of the work used, and the commercial impact of the work determine the legality of usage.

More videos regarding Copyrights

How many different ways do you know how to talk to people?

Text? IM? Phone? Email?

What about video conferencing?

Now someone who lives thousands of miles away is visibly and audibly accessible with the click of a button. With the power of the internet you can talk to anyone almost anywhere. Websites like Skype allow you to download their application for free, and they are constantly updating it, making it easier, faster, more innovative, and more fun.

Skype allows you to make free calls, and video calls all over the world. It’s quick to download and set up your own account. Before long your finding your friends and family, saying hi, catching up, and just enjoying the chance to see those you wouldn’t normally.

Thats how us, (Gabrielle, Audrey and Jacky [the one thats reeeeeally tiny]) managed to see each other (even though we were right next to each other).

Skype also has a new feature called screen sharing, which allows you to show what’s on your screen. So if there is something your friend just HAS to see, like the worlds cutest puppy, you can just click ‘share’ and voila lah there it is:

Besides Skype, iChat is another great way to video chat, it works with your AIM account and, unlike Skype, allows you to do a three way video call.

Here we are…with MacBook’s in hand. And not just some MacBook – but a MacBook Pro ! We are so super excited and thankful!

Our project uses the most modern technology of umapper.com, which is a great site to create your own personal map of a desired location and connect it to any other location. We chose our dorms, we figured it’d be the most helpful place to choose. Anne and Kristina live in Brookdale and Tamar dorms in Queens College Dorms. Check out the links to see exactly how these awesome and interactive maps work!

www.dipity.com
www.maps.google.com
www.umapper.com