copyright - M&M's Musings

Hi Folks:

I shared this on the message board for our local photography group and thought I’d post it here as well. I received this link (Yahoo Starts Selling Flickr Usersâ€™ Photos) from a family member the other day, and since it’s likely to kick up a lot of controversy I thought I’d add a few notes here. Sometimes companies try really hard to shoot themselves in the foot, and sometimes they seem to prefer to go for the head shot… Be that as they may.

First of all, Yahoo is not doing anything (technically) illegal, nor have they changed their Terms of Service or anything to get people to give up their copyright. Rather they’re using permissions some people have already given them (and everyone else), perhaps without realizing it. We come back to Copyright vs. Usage Rights. Continue Reading →

She Says…

The month of November introduced much that was new into my – our – life. I took on the challenge of, and exceeded, my own expectations with Nanowrimo (http://nanowrimo.org) writing a 52,885 word novel in a mere 28 days.

During this same time, Mike and I opened up our personal writings to the blogging world through https://www.wolfnowl.com

As a result of the emergence of our skills and talents to the public at large, if you will, the topic of copyright surfaced in our conversations. We, Mike and I, have differing views on the subject. It is because of this difference that we chose to tackle the subject through this newest blog idea:

He Says/She Says.

Please come back each Sunday to read up on whatever topic might have triggered our latest discussions during a given week. Sometimes we’ll have similar views. Other times…well, we’ll let you decide!

In Light & Laughter, Marcia

He Says…

Since everyone has their own perceptions of, well, everything, we thought that once a week we’d post our views on the same topic – two different points of view on the same subject. I thought I’d start with:

The Perception Wheel

Our first understandings of the perception wheel came from the book ‘Seven Arrows‘ by Hyemeyohsts Storm. A shortened version of the story is here:

Imagine a circle with four people around it. We’ll call them A, B, C, D but you may substitute any four names you like. In the middle of this circle we’ll place an arrow.

Perception Wheel Now person A looks at this arrow and, being a reasonably intelligent person, thinks to himself, “That arrow is coming toward me.” Person B looks at that arrow and, being a reasonably intelligent person, thinks to herself, “That arrow is going from left to right.” Person C looks at that arrow and, being a reasonably intelligent person, thinks to himself, “That arrow is going away from me.” And person D looks at that arrow and, being a reasonably intelligent person, thinks to herself, “That arrow is going from right to left.” But they’re all looking at the same arrow. Now if we remove the arrow and replace it with an idea, a concept, a Way of being, an understanding, a religion or a government, and if, instead of four people we have a thousand or six billion, we can see that everyone will see things from their own unique perspective.

There are two ways to deal with this. The first is to say, “Well, this is my circle and my arrow and you have to see the arrow the way I do or I’m going to take my arrow and go home.” That’s possible, happens all the time, but it’s also very limiting in terms of what can be learned from it. The other way is to say, “Well, I don’t see the arrow that way, but I understand that you do. Perhaps if we work together we can reach a new understanding that is common to both or all of us.” Understanding the perception wheel is the foundation for teaching and for sharing.

Mike.

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says on Copyright: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

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December 26, 2009
Update: Read Seth Godin’s view, here.