Angelia_Abstract

Abstract

As the internet becomes more popular and more readily available everywhere, the importance of a successfully established and managed internet presence is usually self evident. Study shows that the Internet is more productive and has surpassed newspapers, radios, magazines for information and research regarding products and services. This makes internet the most favorite tool for artists to promote and expose their art pieces to the public.

Although the Internet has its strengths, however, there can be many negative aspects of the Internet, such as copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is alive and widespread on the internet today. All artists are concerned when they find out that their art piece has been reproduced or shown without their permission. Whether the art piece appears in print, on television, in film, or on the internet, issues of copyright infringement are more common than ever. To prevent such copyright infringement to occur, there has to be a database system for artist to register their art piece on the internet, whether it is a song, painting, or any other art forms. This would then be linked directly to all search engines available such that when someone tries to claim someone else’s art piece as his or hers by trying to upload the electronic files, the search engine would then first try search through the database to verify that the art piece is not registered to an artist. By doing this, it would definitely cut down art copyright infringement significantly.

Katie Manske; Personal abstract.

Here's my shot at the abstract. Sorry its so late..I hope I got all of the "Internet"s capitalized.

Since the advent of the artistic profession, artists have depended on the distribution of their work, in some for or another, to maintain their lifestyle. Through the ages, those methods of distribution have changed in ways that painters in the 1800s could never have imagined, resulting in a more complicated, more vast, and more difficult world for artists. With the advent of the Internet, copyright and intellectual property laws have faced complicated and controversial makeovers, struggling to maintain a balance between artists' rights and the liabilities of service providers. As a result, freelance, small business and independent artists are finding it more and more difficult to safely use the Internet as the necessary tool it is for fear of losing credit for their work. Creating a living as an artist in the competitive environment that exists today, it is hardly reasonable that an artist should have to compete also with savvy companies, lawyers, and complex laws. It is the fundamental right of an artist to receive credit for one's work. Artists should and must maintain all rights to their work when posting on the Internet, and infringers should be held accountable to the artist for said infringements. To ensure this, measures must be taken to ensure that copyright law can be clearly interpreted and applied to online work in a way that is fair to the artist. All art posted on the Internet should be registered in a new system that legally binds artists to their work, ensuring that due credit is received. In this way, parties seeking to use certain copyrighted material can be well informed, and artists can easily lay claim to work that has been misused.

Dennis Kutsenko's Abstract

Dennis Kutsenko
Group M

With the transformation of copyright laws and orphan works act, artists have been at an ever increasing risk of having their work stolen without much legal action that can be taken. This orphan works act is a bill that is trying to make it simpler for anyone to have access to any copyright image whose owner cannot be found and use these copyright images freely. With this current evolution in copyright, small independent artists will have a tougher time to keep their work from being used without permission. Being a commercial artist in the Art Institute of Seattle I believe us artists should always have a certain control of our work and what becomes of it. The only way to battle such a demeaning law and to control our work is to create a system where an artist can make themselves identifiable within their work. Theoretically if someone created an online based system where anyone could input their artwork into a database and link their association to that image, they would be at a less likely risk of having their work stolen. This new system will be easy to use and free of charge. Its only purpose is to serve artists and to give their work an identity, so that if anyone were to come across their work, they would instantly know where to contact them.

Alex's Abstract

To survive as an artist can be a difficult task, considering there are many others after the same opportunities as oneself. It’s a never ending competition as to who can be the most creative, original, or inspirational in their field. As artists struggle to find their own voice and share it with the rest of the world, they must seek out a way in doing so. The most popular way of becoming known in the world is through the Internet. Artists are able to communicate and interact with others in hopes of getting their name out to the world and becoming recognized for what they have accomplished. However, a big issue has arisen, which are concerning artists everywhere about posting their work online. Throughout human existence, there has always been one form or another of stealing. Stealing was once something done physically, but due to recent technology, it is now even easier to steal digitally. As more artists enter newly to the competitive world, it becomes a common worry of losing ideas or creations without being properly credited. Such occurrences are not only common with amateurs on the Internet, but also with businesses as well. Certain actions have been in debate regarding how to protect an artist’s work. One big example would be the Orphan Works act, in which abandoned licensed material may be used if the creator cannot be found. This has worried many artists because of certain loop holes that can take place, such as a group or individual taking someone’s work without ever attempting to find the creator, then proceeding to use the work for their own personal gain. With the advancements in technology today, a new evolution on the Internet must be done. All art posted on the Internet should be registered in a new system that legally binds artists to their work, ensuring that due credit is received.

ugh.. I don't like it :(

Might try a second attempt lol.

:EDIT:

Attempt #2:

The world has always seen one form or another of thievery, especially with creative works or ideas. Artists today commonly use the Internet for exposure of their work in hopes of becoming known individuals. However, no matter what form a creative work is in, it is always in danger of being stolen. Many occurrences have come about regarding new artists entering the online scene. Many art communities have been established for such people, where they can communicate and share art with others around the world. These communities are just an example of ways an individual’s art can lead to the hands of another and used, without permission, for their personal gain. In the Orphan Works Act, it is stated that any creative work with the intent of being used for financial gain requires a search for the original creator prior to its usage. The Orphan Works Act may be useful in some situations, such as the usage of old licensed work that is no longer receiving any income, but regarding the work for new artists, problems may arise. Groups or individuals may take the work and lie, claiming that they had searched for the original creator, but were not able to find them. With technology continuously growing and the Internet continuously evolving, it may be possible to reduce the thief rate and lower the concerns. All art posted on the Internet should be registered in a new system that legally binds artists to their work, ensuring that due credit is received. Such a system will be able to inter-connect with art communities, and ask the artist to fill out information on the creative work before submitting it. These works would be filed in an archive, which can be accessed at any time if an original creator for a piece needs to be found. The system would work similarly to google’s search engine, except the user would upload the image and in return, wait for a copy to be found, containing the information of the original creator from when that image was first uploaded to the Internet.

Danny Abstract

As artists, it’s important to know what’s happening in the art community as well as the Internet art community. The copyright laws that have been put in place to protect intellectual properties are changing. The Orphan Works bill will change how an artist’s work is used in the world, opening up more possibilities for intellectual property to be stolen. There is a clear split between the people that think the Orphan Works bill is a great opportunity to fix copyright problems and people that think this is just making it easier for people to steal an artist’s work. Big industry giants, such as the MPAA and the RIAA are onboard with the Orphan Works bill. The industry little guys, such as illustrators and photographers however, are not so quick to agree to what this bill proposes. It can sometimes be hard, especially when the Internet is involved, for an artist to receive the credit he/she properly deserves. If passed, the Orphan Works bill could make things more difficult for artists to utilize the Internet to get their work out to a wider audience without the fear of someone stealing it from them. That is why all art posted on the Internet should be registered in a new system that legally binds artists to their work, ensuring that due credit is received.

Links

Here are a few things I've found. The first is a lecture by Lawrence Lessig. I thought it was interesting to see his view of copyright laws. In my research I found that Lawrence Lessig is actually someone that is trying to get the Orphan Works bill pushed through, which is what the second link pertains to. The more I find out about the Orphan Works bill the less it sounds like they are trying to take an artists right to their work away. They seem to make the distinction between flat out ripping someone off and using something that nobody has claimed as theirs.

1. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

2. http://eldred.cc/

3. http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/ow/myths-and-facts

-Danny

Article

http://www.tfaoi.com/articles/andres/aa6.htm

Natalia Markova

Article

http://www.tfaoi.com/articles/andres/aa6.htm

Dennis Kutsenko Test

Works for me

Danny Test

The Blog works for me :)

Angelia Test

Testing the blog

Alex Test

Blog's working for me.

Interesting article/interview.

I'm not really sure WHO these two guys are that are answering the Q&A (and I will find out), but they address some interesting topics on open-source art, and what the internet has done to the art world.

Click here to read the Q&A.


-Katie

Blog creation.

Here's our blog, I'll set it up so everyone can post. Feel free to do so as you research, or just to test. Let me know if you have any trouble with it.

-Katie