Posts by tim kong
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Off-topic: This is making me a bit queasy - as on another forum my user name is "chuck" - and I can't read this one here on PA without feeling not just a little dirty, but also guilty for holding the purported views.
ahh.. the moral and meta-physical dilemmas of online living.
:-)
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as a teacher how do you use and how do you want to use copy protected material from dvd for teaching. we're short on real world examples and would love to hear your requirements.
First up - the amount of paper based analog school content that is photocopied and breaks copyright is far greater than any digital content being abused.
I regularly use youtube clips, on Friday used a clip of sepak takraw, as a bit of an intro to Thai language lesson - it was from StarTV I think, so was probably breaking copyright. I try to use teachertube more regularly, as most of its content is created by teachers and students for an education market. If I make use of flickr images in presentations, I search for Creative Commons licensed content.
But I'm conscious of breaking copyright...
I play my iPod in class - with music from my collection - that's probably breaking copyright - playback in a public space.
I have read my students "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Under the Mountain" - and then showed the movie and TV series on DVD in class to compare and contrast with the books. Probably breaking copyright again.
I have taught a series of lessons on basics of film making - and used some clips from "The Incredibles" extras DVD, which highlighted the process from storyboarding, to modelling, to final shot. In some lessons looking at the oceans, and issues of pollution, I've shown clips from the BBC's "Blue Planet" DVD series.
Again - breaking copyright most likely.
Should I now be following the MPAA's instruction and capturing this content with a DV camera, exporting into iMovie, editing into clips, laying off to VHS or playing off the laptop, to playback in class?
I'm confused by this MPAA clip - they want me to degrade their intellectual property, so as to share with a class. What are they seeking to protect - the content? or the delivery mechanism?
I should state that I disagree with those teachers who will just slap a movie into the player at the end of a term - it reduces the job to babysitting, and despite having days like that myself - it's not right. If we, as teachers are to make use of digital content in the classroom, we need to be planning and integrating its use effectively.
At my school we have quite a few resources on VHS, even some film reels lying around. I'd guess that many schools around the country have the same. Should we purchase all of that intellectual property again, in the DVD format? Or should we be able to encode it to a digital format ourselves - with or without the MPAA's approved "point cam at screen" approach.
We're starting to make use of digital audio a lot more - podcasts of audiobooks, Rainbow readers and such.
I'm actually more frustrated at the standard and level of the conversation about copyright issues. I'm no expert on the matter, but NZFACT's education section on their website is IMO a threatening, misguided, deliberately ugly view of the copyright debate.
http://www.nzfact.co.nz/education.html
The page is riddled with silly commentary, including the statements like this:
"Schools and universities today harbor some of the swiftest computer networks in New Zealand, a situation which unfortunately has led some people to download and illegally distribute films and TV programs. "
Yes - it's the school's high-speed networks that are to blame.
I don't see NZFACT attacking Telecom or TelstraClear for providing the network services.
Then there's this gem:
"If you use peer-to-peer file-sharing services, you risk breaking the law, downloading a serious computer virus, sharing your personal data, which can lead to identity theft, and getting exposed to pornographic materials"
Yes - that's right - P2P will lead to identity theft, a very, very serious computer virus, and even boobies. I'm surprised they don't include the line "and blow up your computer!"
The pdf that they sent out to teachers and schools is quite an offensive design, loaded images that show "evil" apparently lurking behind every screen - it's the same graffiti style font that the "Don't download!!!!" video clips before every movie screening has.
http://www.nzfact.co.nz/press_releases/P2P Illegal filesharing.pdf
As I read that, and look at the MPAA's aforementioned link, it strikes me that protecting/preventing delivery channels (revenue streams) from being used by others apart from themselves is NZFACT's main purpose - not protecting content or ideas.
A simpler way of discussing what's copyright/copywrong is as Gever Tulley suggests in his TED speech from 2007 - buying a song off iTunes, burn it to CD, then rip the CD to an mp3 - and play it back on the computer. You're breaking a law - which might frighten or give some students a buzz - but it's a much better place to start the discussion - then NZFACT's stance of ALL P2P is BAD, mmkkaayy....
Sadly, in my view, some students do now subscribe to the view that all downloading is stealing - they've seen the "Don't Download!" ads and believe it. I asked them if copying TV shows to VHS is stealing - they said "No" - so I asked what was the difference between me torrenting a TV episode from the internet. They couldn't tell me.
(Actually I had to change the question and ask if copying to a hard-drive/DVD player was stealing.)
They've never heard of Creative Commons, or fair use. I'd hazard a guess that most teachers haven't either.
I had one student reading the text version of Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother" on the class computer - he'd brought the file in from home, and other students were accosting him and telling him that was illegal. Having read the book myself and knowing that Doctorow has released the entire text in a variety of formats, it was easy to sort the situation, but it's scary when students see all online formats as wrong - because of what they've been told. Introducing Google Books to them was quite an eye-opener - they couldn't understand how so much content could be available to view.
This is not the brave new world - this is where we are now - and rather than have the reactionary example of Sione's Wedding being stolen (physically) and Tem Morrison constantly talking down to the education sector, it'd be good to be discussing the reality.
But I won't hold my breath - this stuff isn't covered in the curriculum - and it takes some serious thinking around what is a complex issue. You can't assess it, so it won't be part of the new national standards.
I hope that answers your query Rob and robbery - I don't pretend to understand all of the legal issues. I do want to use digital content in my classroom lessons, and I want to use all content fairly.
Teachers are constantly using and reusing each others ideas - knowledge in our eyes is not a commodity - it's what we do on a daily basis - we create and share content. We're paid to do just that - to meet our students in the world they're in and help them make connections with that knowledge. We don't charge for the sharing or the knowledge.
That's not to say we don't want to pay for knowledge - but it would be sad if it was easier to not use available knowledge, because of prohibitive legislation, or if the methods of using knowledge was insanely difficult.
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I apologise if this story has been previously added to the thread, but I've not had the time to follow it properly since about page 24.
This was flagged on boingboing, so some may have seen it. As a teacher, who could possibly be in breach of copyright at anytime, from photocopying resources to making use of youtube - I was pretty stunned at the MPAA's suggested solution to using DVD clips.
Basically it involves pointing a camcorder at a TV screen "in the dark" and then editing the resulting footage with VLC.
Apparently it's OK to do cam copies at home - but not in the theatre, coz crappy copies are OK if you're doing it for educational purposes.
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Although I understand Mr. Roughan's job is to provide grits for the masses to chew on - I do take issue with a few of his points.
Point #1:
"It is unmoved by the high standards delivered to all sections of society by mature markets for practically everything else."
'It' being the education sector.
Would these 'high standards' and 'mature markets' include the banking and finance sectors?
Or possibly he refers to the 'high standards' of verbal and written discourse - as shown on Parliament TV, or modelled by local government bodies who text each other judiciously.
If these are examples of the 'high standards' that the education sector is not delivering, I wonder why we're bothering at all.
Point #2:
"The profession lives in abiding fear of the idea that schools should compete to attract students, because that would threaten its control of the system's methods and philosophy, not to mention its members' job security, pay scales and career paths."
Do we? The schools I've worked in have concerns that numbers might drop - because funding drops accordingly. So you strive to ensure numbers are at an optimal number - to fund teachers, resources, library materials and such. But I don't personally compete with other schools - if parents want to take their students off to other schools, we ask why - if there's a major issue - we seek to address it - and if the parents decide to move on, we do as well.
This idea that schools should all be akin to those tailors who accost you in the streets of Bangkok, declaring they will provide you with the best deal on a pair of silk trousers, and a jacket to match - is bizarre.
On a side note, he mentions the profession seeking to protect its career paths. Currently, an increasing number of young teachers are seeing their career path lead out of teaching - but that's a bigger issue, that Mr Roughan probably doesn't care about. Although seeing the average age of a primary teacher is 50 - and most new teachers are only lasting 5-6 years - even he might see the potential gap in actual teachers available to the education sector that is looming, regardless of zoning.
Point #3:
"Competition for pupils would transfer power to parents whose values and priorities may not accord with the profession's educational wisdom, faddish though it is."
I agree - parents often make the best teachers. They do - it's just that a lot of them have other jobs - which are not teaching. I trained to be a teacher, so some of them could do the things they are passionate about. On the other hand, a lot of them teach their kids things that I as a teacher am legally banned from doing.
Mr Roughan's distaste for 'faddish educational wisdom' is a bit odd - seeing the education sector is constantly undertaking professional development, in part to ensure a constant upgrading of those previously mentioned standards. Yes, some of it is faddish - and we're pretty good at laughing at that. But a lot of it is highly rigorous and demands we as teachers are articulate, specific and can verify our work. And I'll be the first to state we, as a profession need to get better at those things.
My main complaint against Mr. Roughan's article - is that he is, like Russell says 'blithe', and almost 'blase' about the reality of teaching. As if zoning is the great ill that plagues our education system. It's not, and much like the quest for national standards, and league tables, there is no link between those touchstones of Tolley and Roughan and the reality of teaching.
Having taught in a decile 2 school and now a decile 10 school - the reality of teaching is that the best teachers want to do the best they can for those students in front of them - every day.
As can be seen in comments above, the best teachers are the ones that cared. And showed that care for their students. Those teachers will not be driven to compete to be in the "best" schools - they'll want to be the best, regardless of what school they're in. And with a little luck, that ethic will pass on to their students.
Apologies, this post is a tad long, and probably a bit off-topic - but it is school holidays after all. :-)
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But where they really work, at least for me, is that you never get the sense that Gaiman is self-consciously writing "for children" -- by that, I mean there's no dumbing down or condescending in the language or the story itself.
Definitely Craig. He has a remarkable way of capturing the clarity of a child's POV - and writing from that POV, while avoiding the obvious "kidspeak" that some books for children succumb too.
I particularly like the way that many of the central figures in the books he's written are girls - or in the case of "Goldfish" the voice of gently sardonic reason. (Without just stating the obvious "I told you so.")
I guess he's writing mainly for his daughters - and it shows - but I know that in my classes the girls really enjoy being able to relate to the main character - a character that's smart, sensible and still very definitely a girl. Not that the boys are alienated by that approach - as there's plenty of action and intrigue, and a need to solve the conflict in the books. And as you say - moments of sheer terror, suspense and emotion.
But never saccharine sweet or thickly laid on. Because in my experience most children don't do over dramatic - unless they're pandered to - or expected to. That is key to Gaiman's work - it never panders to his audience. He's always respectful of his audience.
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Gaiman's books for children are marvellous - I read Coraline most years to my students and the newly issued illustrated version is fantastic also. Unlike Watchmen - I am seriously looking forward to what they do in the movie version. Am also saving up for "The Graveyard".
"The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish" and "The Wolves are in the Walls" are wonderful picture books, which anyone who's read the Sandman series will appreciate - as Dave McKean does the artwork. Great books to share with children.
Bought Mirrormask the other day - written by Gaiman, illustrated by McKean and directed into film version by McKean also. Have not read that yet.
Another picture book, "Big Book of Fears" by an author who I'm really starting to enjoy, Emily Gravett. She creates really detailed visuals, using mixed media, often around a simple idea, that are great fun to explore to children. My idea is to use it as the starting point for students at the start of a year to talk/share some of the things they're afraid of. We'll hopefully be creating their own versions of the book.
The Savage by David Almond and illustrated by McKean is a graphic novel, within a story, about a boy dealing with the death of his father.
Apologies - no great literate works there - but it's good to be getting ready for going back to school.
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@Steve
I'm vaguely optimistic for Watchmen - the movie. The trailers look stunning - but it seems too "shiny" for me. I understand some of the issues over Moore not being credited in any way whatsoever - but it still seems wrong to only have Dave Gibbons in the credits.
On the sheer horror/WTF? tip - not only is Keanu Reeves apparently playing Spike in Cowboy Bebop, but the scriptwriter for Charlies Fricking Angels, John August is working on a script for Preacher - with Sam Mendes attached as director.
Why aren't these sorts of projects being affected/shutdown by the recession?
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He is indeed a generous one that author. :-)
I was stoked to find it actually - not just at that price - but because I enjoyed "Bullshit", which I got from Unity - and because as you say, it's fascinating to read back to see what predictions were made and where we're now headed.
At that price - it was a certain steal - which charity should I be donating too, to ease my conscience?
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Oh yes - purchase of the summer.
Civil War & Other Optimistic Predictions - David Slack.
Found in a basket of books outside the Mercury Bay Library in Whitianga.
For 50 cents.
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Summer reading is the best. A whole day spent on the beach, just reading and remembering to roll over every now and again. Brilliant.
Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
The occasional bout of extra verbiage, that seems to be an Obama trait does not spoil what is a clear, passionate and succinct vision for a nation. Read before the hype and pomp of inauguration day celebrations, it gives me hope that the man will deliver. Possibly not on everything - but the book shows that he knows how to critique and analyse situations before offering a deliberate solution. At the very least he's able to discuss ideas using complete sentences. Which is more than could be said about the other guy.The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross
Hyper-realistic, whip-crack prose. Snappy writing, geek humor, numerology, the occult. Sort of Hell Boy meets the IT Crowd. Loved it.Comics: Fables, Pride of Baghdad - by Brian K. Vaughn, and re-reading Watchmen before the movie obliterates it...
Still to get through before school starts: Mirrormask, Little Brother and Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse