As we come to the end of our EMDT journey, it's good to have classes like this. We've had months of creating, learning new technology, making music, film, gaming, and working on our never-ending AR project. Getting back to blogging is a welcome relief for me personally.
Just in week 1 it's been great reading everyone's ideas and opinions on copyright laws. I know that Wimba is usually our time to get together, but I feel these discussion boards and blogs bring us together too. I look forward to seeing our weekly readings from different perspectives.
I've been on all sides of copyright - from violating to complying. It's something I think reflects in one's age and where they are in their life - in high school, college, starting their career, or changing careers. I know that is sort of a cop out, it's not right to abuse the copyright law, but in all honesty haven't we all done it? I try to convey the importance of copyrights to my graphic design students. In their assignments I ask that they cite the resource that they downloaded an image or logo from. I also strive to have them design original ideas, using others as springboards to creating their own unique work. It doesn't always happen, and some students just can't grasp the idea of an original thought. In today's in your face world of advertising, it's hard to know if your idea is your own, or a derivative on one or many that you have been exposed to and locked in your memory bank.
That's one of the biggest challenges for graphic designers, that almost everything has been done and that one has to acknowledge everything that's come before and try to re-interpret and re-imagine things so that they feel original. It's a blessing and a curse.
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