.png)
Roll-up, Roll-up, (My) Instacanv.as Gallery is now Open
Helloooooo to you all, hope you are well and are on target (for whatever it may be -seriously, I’m curious now, what are you all up to these days? Leave a comment below and let’s have a conversation 
). If you all are asking about moi, these past few weeks I’ve been busy spending time with my family/friends (and Megan), writing, resting and snapping away taking pictures and editing them to my hearts’ content and then sharing them on instagram and here (when I have the time to do so). This has fuelled my creative drive somewhat and other than the odd spurts of dizzy spells (which forces me away from my laptop and any long-burst of writing) I have been feeling rather positive about what is in store for me. Getting back to my art and photography has become a blessing in disguise (as had my writing last year); being able to visualise and bring together images and create imagery which people appreciates’ has been extremely satisfying -as well as it has reminded me how much I missed just doing arty stuff. So, this is me -in addition to my writing; I will be designing visual artworks when I cannot write anymore due to my dizzy-spells; hopefully my art will spur on my writing and vice-versa.
read more
Copyright – What Do You Constitute as Ok?
Thursday’s Topical Tête-à-Tête:
I have just realised that I must have saved this article instead of hitting the ‘publish’ button yesterday (apologies). Please find below my blog post intended for yesterday.
Today I want to talk about a topic that has preoccupied my mind since the onset of my writing endeavours and subsequently my venture into the blogging world. Copyright – I am no master on the topic and quite frankly I am uncertain if I will ever achieve that honour; therefore, I will only attempt to ‘think out loud’ for the purpose of this discussion. Should you want to jump right in and give us some insight or just your own thoughts on this matter then please do grace us with your presence -I am all ears. 
(As always, there is a pdf document at the bottom of the post for those who may find this a difficult read.)
COPYRIGHT – WHAT DO YOU CONSTITUTE AS OK?
I have always been a little hesitant when it comes to putting out my writings/artworks/photography etc on the internet (be it fictional or not) -not that I do not want to share it with you; it’s more the case that -if what I do is any good; someone may pinch/borrow/pass it on as their own etc… (I am certain I am not the only one to be plagued with these thoughts –particularly if I think about those working in the creative field; how do you protect your own work?!)
Then there’s that age old argument ‘if you don’t put it out there you will never know’ and no one will hear of you if you haven’t bagged yourself an agent (what are the likelihood of attracting an agents interest by self-promoting?) -so begins the conundrum… I know I am going off on a tangent; it was just a random thought that has some weight when considering promoting your work and with that, the issues of copyright arise…
I pestered a lot of my good knowledgeable friends about the aspects of copyright –I researched it on the internet (as you do) and came up with a wealth of information that surpassed my knowledge and added extra question marks in its wake. It seems copyright laws differ from country to country, though there is also the Berne Convention which encourages an international collective understanding and agreement. I have since found out that there are other laws to consider (depending on where you reside) these are: the Creative Commons Licence and the DMCA (see further details in the comments section of Self-Hosting – My Trials and Tribble-ations -Wayne Borean enlightened me quite a bit; I recommend the read).
Whilst doing all the above necessary reading; it dawned on me; all we can do is declare ownership of our creative works, enforcing it would be another matter entirely –if at all possible… This hurt my mind whilst I pondered away. Amongst a million thoughts I got talking to Emlyn Chand and she told me how I could track my articles/creativity etc by using Google Alerts; this somewhat cheered me up –though in practice I have been lax –mainly because I keep forgetting to do so. Though it makes me wonder, how I would proceed if I came across someone who took content from my blog… I took precautions; I put up legal notices on my blog (copyright notice & a linking policy) and now I question if the linking policy was a good idea.
Four months into blogging and I have come across many trackbacks/pingbacks that link to my posts (some from genuine bloggers who mention you in their posts (which I have no quibble with) and others from more dubious backgrounds that have copied parts –if not whole, and enabled a link back to the original article). I wonder if these are a good thing or not; where do these stand’ with copyright laws? I suppose it is a good thing that they (whoever they are) do not pass it as their own and provide that link etc, but I am still unsure if it should be acceptable; shouldn’t they seek permission? Then there’s the whole issue of how can you contact them if there is no contact details –totally annoying!
What are your thoughts? Do you think these levels of ‘linked’ plagiarism are ok; should you allow their trackbacks/pingbacks to be visible in your comments? Do you have any other concerns or discoveries that may enlighten us? I would be intrigued to hear from you.
Copyright © Ozlem Yikici 2011 & Copyright © doodllz™ 2011. All Rights Reserved.
***
If you want to share your thoughts; by all means do so: As I always say ‘all good discussions start with just one word‘.
Pdf. document: Copyright – What Do You Constitute As Ok