Activity Objective:
What does it mean to be ethical while consuming media online? And why is it important? Since the dawn of the Internet, media has become increasingly available around the world, copied and retransmitted millions of times. A simple search will take you to your favorite song, movie, book, photograph, or news item. But have you stopped to think about the importance of where and how you consume this media, who created it, and whether or not you pay for it before you use it?
The digital turn has prompted the move from physical formats like books, CDs, and DVDs to digital streaming and downloading online, and with those changes there has been a fundamental shift in the perception of this content’s value. Consumers have come to expect most content for free or virtually free. And the Internet has also allowed anyone to access free but illegitimate versions of content that would otherwise cost money through legitimate channels.
In this activity, you will apply the critical process to learn more about copyright protections and what they mean to content creators—and to those of us who use media on a daily basis.
Pre-Activity Instructions:
Let’s do some research. Imagine that you are interested in working to create one of several creative media products: an investigative news piece, a music album, a fictional book, and/or a movie or television show. Before you embark on the start of the project, you want to learn more about the concept of copyright protection and what it will mean for you and your product. You also want to consider your own attitudes and behaviors related to copyright protections.
Let’s get started! Click the forward and backward arrows to navigate through the slides. You may also click the above outline button to skip to certain slides.
Developing a media-literate critical perspective involves mastering five overlapping stages that build on one another. Let’s review the critical process you’ll be using below:
Description: paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the subject under study
Analysis: discovering and focusing on significant patterns that emerge from the description stage
Interpretation: asking and answering “What does that mean?” and “So what?” questions about one’s findings
Evaluation: arriving at a judgment about whether something is good, bad, or mediocre, which involves subordinating one’s personal taste to the critical “bigger picture” resulting from the first three stages
Engagement: taking some action that connects our critical perspective with our role as citizens to question our media institutions, adding our own voice to the process of shaping the cultural environment
Take the time to research the basics of copyright law by reading the materials at the link provided and watching the accompanying video. The goal of this research is to understand copyright and its importance to the lives of millions of your fellow Americans. It will also directly impact your livelihood, should you decide to pursue a career in media.
Link to copyright resources: https://creativefuture.org/macmillan/
Use the space below to answer the following questions.
Consider the patterns that emerged from your research. What did you learn about copyright and who it is designed to protect? What is the connection between people, their creative work, and copyright? And what are your thoughts about piracy and the “Internet of free”?
Use the space below to answer the following questions.
Your research and analysis should have helped you think more critically about your relationship with media consumption, the copyright protections in that media environment, your personal sense of its value, and what all of this information means. Let’s interpret your findings.
Use the space below to answer the following questions.
Now, evaluate and write about your relationship to copyright, creative rights, and the digital world.
Use the space below to answer the following question.
Let’s take action! To be fully media literate, we must actively work to create a media world that helps serve creators and consumers alike. Engagement can mean peer outreach; participating in online discussions; contacting various media producers or governmental bodies, such as your representatives in Congress or agencies like the Copyright Office or the Federal Trade Commission, with critiques and ideas; organizing or participating in public media literacy forums; or learning to construct different types of media narratives yourselves—whether print, audio, video, or online—in order to participate directly in this discussion.
Use the space below to answer the following questions.