Wednesday, September 24, 2008

An intro to the virtual world

In today's world, many people communicate through "social networking". As I type this, my MySpace page is open in another window, allowing me to communicate with friends and family.

MySpace and other social networking sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Flikr (among many others) are part of a side of the Internet known as Web 2.0. Web 2.0 refers to the social side of the Internet, where users can add content, view content of others, and communicate with people all over the world.

This new Web "neighborhood" opens up a whole new realm of copyright implications, including protecting original content users may post to such a site, or unknowingly infringing on the copyright of others by posting content covered under copyright laws.

This type of copyright law is a gray area. This blog is meant to explore how copyright and these social networking sites can co-exist.

5 comments:

Valerie D. said...

I too use MySpace to keep in contact with people who I do not live around. I am sure it is a matter of time before there is a charge since you are able to upload music and layouts from the web.

vbonnie said...

I know that when my kids wanted music I used to encourage them to buy it from itunes. It was just so easy to get from the web I'm not sure they always paid for it. I'm enjoying the web so much that I hadn't thought about the fact that others might eventually need to charge for some services to protect themselves and their "property".
Valerie B.

Michelle W. said...

Marissa-

I like the personal touches you added to your blog. ie: bio and pic. By the looks of the Clarion discussion board and the other blogs I've read tonight we all have a lot of learning to do on the topic of copyright. Looks like you are off to a good start.

Michelle

Steph Herfel said...

I am excited to hear more about your topic! I have only "dabbled" in this on-line social networking business. Well, I do have a MySpace account, but my friend who is an English teacher created it for me a few years ago, and I have only visited it once or twice and don't really know how to work all the features. I find YouTube very entertaining but don't find much time to just play around in there.

One of these days I would like to get into Flicker as I am really into picture sharing. Currently, I have been only backing my photos up on discs and e-mailing to friends to share. When I first got a digital camera, I purchased photo managing software called Jasc AfterShot, and that was probably before Flicker existed. I probably have over 2000 photos saved in various albums there. Well, looking forward to coming back here to visit!

erinanderson said...

Marissa,

I hadn't really ever thought about MySpace and Facebook having issues with copyright, but you bring up some really good points! I look forward to reading more about the way copyright laws are enforced on some of these social networking sites. I know I have both a MySpace and Facebook account, and I really like being able to keep in touch with friends (I've done a lot of moving in the past 3 years). Anyway, great topic!

~Erin