Wednesday, February 22, 2006

This is my first post for this blog based on our Tactical Media website which I'll be focusing on in the coming months. Enjoy the news from posts as I, and all of us make progress with the website! The URL for the website will be posted here soon.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Check out Danielle's post on the NYC Grassroots Media Conference on Feb 11th. Could we pull something like this together in Boston?

Copyright Discussion (Matt) Part 1 (Feb 15, 2006)

1790 – Idea of copyright started in U.S.

- under the auspice of promoting creativity, a sort of social contract where the government will protect you if you create independent work

- US was the first country, and we use it more and push it out on other countries

- Each country has its own sets of copyright rules

PUBLIC DOMAIN

- up copyrighted material

- these things were created to benefit the greater society

- examples include Shakespeare plays and videos from the 1930’s

Modern Changes in Copyright:

1976 – Last Major Revision / Basic Copyright framework:

- Copyright covers the expression of an idea, not the idea itself

o Patents cover the idea and are usually for scientific ideas

1989 – Absence of a copyright symbol is not absence of copyright

- don’t have to file if you created a work, you automatically get work copyrighted

Intellectual property becomes a profitable industry:

1998 – Sonny Bono Act

- extended copyright by 20 years

- copyright now lasts the duration of the artist’s life plus 70 years

- for corporations, it lasts 95 years

- no standards on how copyright owners can charge to use material

Challenges for Media Makers:

- Current works want to incorporate other current works (for example, documentaries about the state of the media industry want to include current tv shows, but they cost too much to get rights to use materials from big networks)

- “Thicket of Rights” - Untold Stories: Creative Consequences of the Rights Clearance Culture for Documentary Filmmakers by Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jasziby (http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/rock/finalreport.htm)

o it’s a challenge to navigate the legal system of what you can and cannot do

- for musicians – there are several layers of copyright ownership: lyricist, composer, artist

FAIR USE:

- allows media makers to use bits

- for purposes of education, commentary, political & economic life, news reporting, and research

- BUT, statute doesn’t define:

1. Purpose

2. Nature of original work

3. % use of total work

4. Value

- 1st sale doctrine – resale / renting videos

FUN FACT:

How to get the copyright symbol © on the computer:

- Hexadecimal code: 00A9

- HTML: © OR © OR &#169

Monday, February 13, 2006

Tactical Media Website

Hello,
I've been working on the content that's going to go on the homepage of the website. Take a look and let me know if this sounds okay. Thanks.

“History of Tactical Media”
Tactical Media started as a collaborative experiment in project-based learning being undertaken by the Community Media and Technology Program at UMass Boston's College of Public and Community Service and Media Working Group.

In Fall of 2004 four 20 minute documentaries produced by Media Working Group and students from the Community Media and Technology Program: Transmitted nationally via cable/satellite link created by Cambridge Community Television during the Democratic National Convention.

Spring 2005 a mission statement was formed and a week long Digital Media Workshop was put together. During this week workshops such as Basic Video Camera Instruction, Intro to Web Design, Digital Storytelling, etc. were given and people from the CPCS community as well as the Boston community attended.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Media Policy – Figuring Out Where to Start (notes from Fred October 19, 2005)

Sources:

  • Center for Digital Direction (Jeff Chester in DC)
  • Yes! Magazine
  • Community Media Review

Public Interest and the Media

  • Thinking about impact on community
  • Politics
  • Democracy
  • Diversity of ideas/culture

Points of view:

  • corporate
  • regulatory
  • consumer affairs – ask if PEG access raises cable rates

Two other parts of Media discussion:

  • Media Culture
  • Infrastructure Development

Media Policy – Levels of Regulation:

  • Federal
  • State
  • Local (county/municipality)
  • GAT (global, formerly WTO) *new

Regulatory Categories (based on type of software; differences in business models & computer management):

  • Broadcasting
  • Cable
  • Telephony
  • Internet

Monopolies DON’T:

  • innovate
  • diverse
  • do the unpopular
  • share
  • price competitively
  • they sell services at a low prize to kill smaller competitors, then jack up prices (price gouging)

Emerging Issues:

  • Copyright (Open source and free distribution, Creative Commons)
  • Definition of communication service vs. cable service (Title 1 & 2)
  • Must carry: A FCC regulation requiring that cable TV systems must carry all locally-licensed television stations. This was done to prevent cable from destroying free over-the-air television.
  • elastic demand for cable keep prices high and censor local stations
  • General Public License (GPL) agreement
  • WIFI (or now WIMAX)
  • Public ownership / monopoly
  • Broadband over powerlines


Thursday, February 09, 2006

Internet Accessibility for Sensory Deprived

(Bruce)
  • Sensory deprived include vision impaired, blind, hearing impaired and deaf
  • Affects workplace, education, government services

  • Barriers are a form of discrimination

  • Websites are graphic user interfaces (GUI), that we usually navigate visually
    and where pictures represent information

  • Visually impaired users employ electronic screen readers to make images
    readable on the Web

    o Use alt tags

    o And long desc (word doc's or paragraphs)

    o No blinking

    o Use rollovers that can be stopped

    o Have format consistency

    o Be able to tab through page options

  • MEDIA POLICY implications:

    o Internet standards need to be updated

    o Access to government agency websites (Section 508) must be made for sensory
    deprived

    o Private impact, such as legal fights by the ADA (under the laws of "places
    of public accommodation"), for example SouthWest airline (kiosks not
    considered places of accommodation in court) and AOL (settled out of court)

*Need Bruce's handout!


Competencies!

CPCS Community Media & Technology competencies you can get by participating in Tactical Media:
Hi y'all! Welcome to the Tactical Media Group team blog! More to come!