Thursday 28 July 2011

The hare and the snail

Okay, so I have only just worked out that I can save my post and publish it later, doh, which will save me feeling like I have to have enough time get it right before I publish and can more easily add stuff as I go along.

I have been one of those people who has refrained from using images for fear of breaching copyright - feeling I would have no defense given that my job involves a degree of copyright knowledge. So, it was great for me to see more about how to use images for free and I love the idea that people are sharing all this stuff. I feel a bit embarassed to say that I had heard of creative commons but never made use of it. I have been really impressed by seeing how images can be used to liven up presentations, specifically in Emily's Law for the Terrified session and feel a bit sheepish about using so much text in our Digitisation presentation earlier in the year. Though a quick flickr search made me think we'd have to be really imaginative to find ways of illustrating digitisation... but I guess that is the point, to get into a more creative headspace about what could be a dry issue.

So I had a go at finding more interesting images, as it just seemed easier to begin with. My search for monsters made out of ceramics and wool didn't bring up much so I searched for a related group and found quite an interesting one containing sculptures of monster/fantasy creatures by artists. However, the images were are 'all rights reserved'. Found this one under creative commons though. This 'monster inside' somehow reminds me of how my little shrunken brain sometimes feels when I'm attempting these 23 things!

The Monster Inside - part of Contemplation
image courtesy of gydnew

I found it rather tricky inserting these images. Though I tried several images I was not able to insert a link either long or short to the image using the icon in blogger. I had to get help and copy and paste the html, which seemed to work, but wasn't the intuitive route I expected to be able to use.

I think the issue of intellectual copyright is actually really interesting and have often wondered how far you can actually copyright an idea... given that it's possible for others to have the same idea independently. Who owns ideas any way and what about collective consciousness? However, when it comes to pictures that someone has taken time and effort to create I think it's right that they should have some ownership, so I think it's great now that people are able to share stuff and have some say about how it's used if they want to. 

I am finding it a bit of a challenge to keep up with several new things each week even working at getting one week's things done in two weeks, so was relieved that this week was relatively light on things. No chance of me getting caught up in the catch up week though. I will just smooch along as all you hares leave me in a cloud of dust... ah I have remembered the parable incorrectly, it's the hare and the tortoise not the hare and the snail. Oh well.

snail
Courtesy of tamburix

2 comments:

  1. I think because we know more about copyright we tend to be even more cautious about doing something wrong, so it's great you've had a chance to think about flickr more.
    Very interesting image! Unfortuantely art works are more liekly to be copyrightes I suppose. Plus some of the tagging is dreadful, so often you get bizzaro returns for your search.
    Not sure what the problem was with adding the image - were you in firefox or IE?

    Oh and svaing posts for later, well err, um, that's what the Team is doing in terms of getting all the info ready for each weeks posts!

    Rowena 23 Things team

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  2. Yes too right! My posts always have about 23 drafts at least...really nerve-warcking having lots of people you know have to read your posts;-) Like the way you've used the images in this post, they look really striking. Thanks for your comment re my session too - you have to liven up law somehow!

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