everything but the girl

Copied from the OTO Call for Fair Use Curriculum Development Team Members:

So how many teens in the United States do you think are familiar with the concept of fair use? How many are exposed instead solely to the message that copyright infringement is always a crime?

Between warnings on DVDs, television PSAs, movie theater anti-piracy ads, and print advertising, kids are usually pretty familiar with a vague idea that copyright is that law that means you can't copy stuff, and that in particular, any commercially produced entertainment or cultural property is sacrosanct.

The message is that remix, criticism, reinterpretation, and transformation are legally transgressive. Missing from this message is both the actual aim of copyright law and the idea that there are legitimate artistic and critical reasons to use copyrighted material, and that such use is legal. The OTW believes that education about the principles of fair use and similar rights around the world are an important part of the defense and preservation of fanworks -- our rights to create, share, and enjoy our work. To that end, we are developing resources for schools, teachers, and students that will allow students to learn about their rights, and how to exercise those rights.

Copyright is intended to protect the creator's right to profit from her work for a period of time to encourage creative endeavor and the widespread sharing of knowledge. But this does not preclude the right of others to respond to the original work, either with critical commentary, parody, or, we believe, transformative works.( Read more about the project & how to volunteer/help! )

How to Volunteer
Please use our contact form to tell us:

* Your name
* Your email address
* Applicable experience and what you believe you can contribute to the project

All volunteers will receive an email confirming their information has been received; please give us up to a week to reply. You are welcome to send us a resume at that point if you wish.

Now, me speaking personally...
This has been a project I've wanted to do since probably 2000 or 2001, and I think now is the right time for something like this, because of the state of the law, and the state, frankly, of fandoms and fannishness. We're also planning to do versions of the curriculum in countries other than the US, so we are interested in hearing from people who are/would be interested in getting on board for such a project.
I can't wait to get stared!

Copied from the OTO Call for Fair Use Curriculum Development Team Members:

So how many teens in the United States do you think are familiar with the concept of fair use? How many are exposed instead solely to the message that copyright infringement is always a crime?

Between warnings on DVDs, television PSAs, movie theater anti-piracy ads, and print advertising, kids are usually pretty familiar with a vague idea that copyright is that law that means you can't copy stuff, and that in particular, any commercially produced entertainment or cultural property is sacrosanct.

The message is that remix, criticism, reinterpretation, and transformation are legally transgressive. Missing from this message is both the actual aim of copyright law and the idea that there are legitimate artistic and critical reasons to use copyrighted material, and that such use is legal. The OTW believes that education about the principles of fair use and similar rights around the world are an important part of the defense and preservation of fanworks -- our rights to create, share, and enjoy our work. To that end, we are developing resources for schools, teachers, and students that will allow students to learn about their rights, and how to exercise those rights.

Copyright is intended to protect the creator's right to profit from her work for a period of time to encourage creative endeavor and the widespread sharing of knowledge. But this does not preclude the right of others to respond to the original work, either with critical commentary, parody, or, we believe, transformative works.( Read more about the project & how to volunteer/help! )

How to Volunteer
Please use our contact form to tell us:

* Your name
* Your email address
* Applicable experience and what you believe you can contribute to the project

All volunteers will receive an email confirming their information has been received; please give us up to a week to reply. You are welcome to send us a resume at that point if you wish.

Now, me speaking personally...
This has been a project I've wanted to do since probably 2000 or 2001, and I think now is the right time for something like this, because of the state of the law, and the state, frankly, of fandoms and fannishness. We're also planning to do versions of the curriculum in countries other than the US, so we are interested in hearing from people who are/would be interested in getting on board for such a project.
I can't wait to get stared!

I have one invitation to AO3, so first come, first served, whoever wants it. It's most of use right now if you want to write Yuletide treats so I'd rather give it to someone who wants to do so, but doesn't have an account there yet.

LMK. Comments are screened, but this post is not flocked so feel free to send a friend over.

We lost power yesterday evening, so a stockpile of links & info that I'd put together got lost - mostly recovered now.

1. Yesterday was a big mess in Miami - between the unexplained power failure at about 815 all over the beach, the tragedy with the crane that crashed into the house from Something About Mary, killing two, and the motorcycle accident on Macarthur Causeway that closed one of four main routes to the Beach and created major traffic tie-ups.

Hopefully today, things will be calmer and less catastrophic.

2. ( If you're interested in vidding *Heroes*... )

2a. Even if you don't vid yourself, you can suggest a song here.

3. Crowded House is coming back to the states! SQUEE! And I am (probably) going in NYC with jlh on April 30 - see more ticket info here! : flails with finnlove

ETA Tickets are purchased and jlh and I will be going, yay! General admission so if anyone wants to join us, we'd love to see you there. But just after I squee-ed about the ticket purchase going through, jlh said, "but heidi, where are you going to eat? didn't you hear that DTUT closed?"
me: OMGSLDFHLWHJEIOJWLKDSD
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jlh: yeah
me: : wails
jlh: we were like, where will heidi go in new york?
me: WHY WHY WHY? !?!?!?!?!?
jlh: with older places like that, it's either (1) the owners are kinda done or (2) there's a lease problem
me: BUT STILL
I had my bachelorette there!
jlh: I know darlin
things fall apart
the center cannot hold
mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
maybe we can get you out to brooklyn.
me: um, we could go to the cheese place? I have a wild and crazy love for fondue. [/ETA]

4. If you follow otw_news, you've seen that membership in the Organization for Transformative Works is now open, squee! To reiterate what others have said, of course you don't and won't have to pay to use the archive as a reader or as a writer, but becoming a member gives you a formal way to support and be a part of the organization.
Read more about membership here, check out the fantastic roadmap and if you're ready to contribute $10 or more, you can join here.

5. There's only a few days left to bid in this spring's Sweet Charity auction - I'm up for auction in the Vidding category - and there's a bunch of really talented people whose "prices" are still pretty un-pricey, so give it a look, bid and support R.A.I.N.N.

6. Very amusing article from Mechanix Illustrated's November, 1968 issue (in other words, three years before I was born, this is what people thought would be; huh). An excerpt:

[...C]onveniences ease kitchenwork. The housewife simply determines in advance her menus for the week, then slips prepackaged meals into the freezer and lets the automatic food utility do the rest. At preset times, each meal slides into the microwave oven and is cooked or thawed. The meal then is served on disposable plastic plates. These plates, as well as knives, forks and spoons of the same material, are so inexpensive they can be discarded after use.

The single most important item in 2008 households is the computer. These electronic brains govern everything from meal preparation and waking up the household to assembling shopping lists and keeping track of the bank balance. Sensors in kitchen appliances, climatizing units, communicators, power supply and other household utilities warn the computer when the item is likely to fail. A repairman will show up even before any obvious breakdown occurs.

It's cute. What I love about futurist articles from pre-1980 is that they never look at the social implications of all the futurey changes they're suggesting, or the environmental implications. It's as if those concepts didn't exist at all - which I know is not true because "Silent Spring" was already out - maybe the concerns of what would happen to all those disposable plastic plates and plastic roads hadn't permeated certain corners of the scientific community?

7. ( Vidding meme - I was tagged )