6.10.2019

In today's lesson, Mr. Paterson talked about the importance of understanding copyright when using pictures on our presentation, or any other media tool. Every picture has an owner, and the owner decides the permission rights on their photos, in which websites such as google images is full of pictures that are free and some that don't allow usage. Although its versatility and aesthetics are what attracts us to download directly, there are consequences when it comes to not knowing the rights to that photo. If we do commercially use a google photo, there may be a chance for money to get involved, all because of showing someone else's picture. Though I have used creative commons before, I've only filtered out the photos, so some aspects such as the markings were new to me. From this, I've learned behind the scenes about maintaining and following copyright policies.

Creative Commons search is very useful because it shows the permission rights for photos in websites such as pixabay and flicker. You can also like I said, filter the photos out so that they hide photos in which you can't fully use for free based on all the copyright policies. There are pictures when you can use without having to cite the photographer, but there aren't that many that are good quality and are aesthetically pleasing, so our group should find the photos first before even creating the google slides itself, since we know the 3 main topics we are going to talk about. Perhaps I could download photos from Canva, which provide a selection of good looking free photos, but I'm not sure if it is limited to only Canva creations, or if it is allowed for Google presentations as well, but if the permission rights of the photos are free to use, then I think I am able to. There are other rights as well, in which you are prohibited from applying the photos to commercial use since they can create income from someone else's work. However, we are only presenting to a smaller audience, so we have more freedom to choose our background pictures. People's work should be backed with strict rules such as the signs on creative commons because, in the end, it results in the invasion of people's rights. Copyright policies can prevent people from stealing other people's content, and when it comes to writings on the public, they also have strict rules in which we would have to cite the sources or otherwise, it would be considered as plagiarism. In this case, although there are no such policies when implementing other's essay contexts into yours, the school judges whether or not the student pointed out other's information. From this, I think that rules on inanimate objects are easier to be kept secure, than dealing with actual human rights.

I wanted to connect today's policy lesson to actual human rights and how human inequality is still occurring, whilst inanimate objects have policies that are there to be protected. I agree that products are much simple than an animal because they don't move, and they don't stir up a fire on any occasion.  However, if it was us who created these obligations, then why can't we also earn the rights as well. Last year, the ratifications needed for the ERA (Equality rights Amendment) to pass was nearly qualified, with one more state left to sign. The ERA has been in America since the 1970s when it was first proposed, which states that basic equal rights on gender should not be refuted. This means that the position of women compared to men may start to change place. Before it used to be that women are in the household, but the addition of the ERA can help women gain a better education. Since it is an amendment, it can hold a stronger position since it passes through Congress. For pictures, it's just seeing the permission rights and the logos, but from us living species, it is really complicated to pass a rule that can change the political field. I understand, that we have perspective and that there are opposers who are much more knowledgable about human right's laws, but if we do implement these policies, we are going to benefit from it, just like finding a jackpot picture on creative commons.

Overall, this lesson led me to notice and compare policies between the living and the manufactured and learned the complicatedness of human laws. I will be careful about using photos from the internet, and instead, stick to safer pictures that have their policies inscribed.