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Lessig on Digital Barbarism
Lawrence Lessig has posted a review of David Halperin's recent book, Digital Barbarism.
Halperin, who authored the (in)famous New York Times article calling for perpetual copyright, has now compiled his ideas into a book. Lessig offers a much-needed critique, including citing misconceptions about Creative Commons (Halperin conflates it not only with "freeware" with software... more
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Youthvoice: Teaching Korean kids how to share
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| Kids participating in the Youthvoice project, by Youthvoice |
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How should we define 'media literacy' in this digital era? Traditional notions of media literacy are based on the evaluation of the messages we are overwhelmed with every day, making use of media technology, and expressing ourselves through various media activities. But we are also required to pay attention to the new phenomena of 'sharing' in the digital media environment. The spectrum of creating and communicating has become closely and critically related to sharing activities within a shared media environment. Perhaps we should incorporate the concept of sharing into media literacy in this increasingly networked society.
Youthvoice is a media literacy project for youngsters, steered by a non-profit organization in South Korea called the Daum Foundation, in which the concepts of sharing is encouraged and highlighted. Every year, Youthvoice invites children between 14 and 18 years of age, who are interested in media art to participate in their project, and encourages them to produce more creative and critical artwork from their own point of view. For young aspiring creators full of inspiration and imagination, Youthvoice provides materials, sponsorship, mentoring by professional artists, media workshops and much more. Creative Commons licence education is included in the curriculum and is actively discussed amongst the learners. The process is not educational but rather supportive or consultative. The kids involved gain experience in creating and are encouraged to find answers for themselves through different activities.
From 2002, more than 800 kids from more than 170 teams have successfully completed artwork though the project. The participants produce works in a variety of media, from short movies, documentary films, clay animation, website design, online game design, video art and Flash animation clips. The products created by these young media artists cannot be more creative and fresher in both the concepts and expression.
Every year's program is concluded with an official exhibition, both offline and online. Young media artists are encouraged to upload their work for an online exhibition on the Youthvoice site, under Creative Commons licences. It is encouraged to put their work up under a CC licence, though the participants have the choice not to. If they do go with a licence, it is their own decision as to which one they choose.
A young participant from a movie producing team in 2005 confessed that it was hard to decide on the licence conditions of his work. 'The idea of labeling our work with a 'sharing-allowed' type of licence was quite unsettling. Copyright law is under social discussion, and is not settled at all. It is obvious that things will change, but I think nobody can tell what direction it will take from here. Also, we didn't know how our work will be received. What if a 'sharing license' creates a 'disadvantage' in the future? Who knows whether our film will gain more popularity and we might lose the opportunity to make big money, or who knows how our film will be copied or abused?' she said.
In response, Nanshil Kwan, a project manager at Youthvoice, said it was important to let young media activists decide on the rights of their own products. In deciding which licence to choose, they discuss the social meaning of artworks and which licence they think would best communicate and circulate their artworks to the public. Through the process, youngsters seem to realize that licensing is a critical component of creating artwork, as well as the fact that there are alternatives to copyright that allows for distributing and sharing their creations, while retaining some of their rights too.
tags: korea education youthvoice children learning teaching sharing creative-commons
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