For those like myself, who are fresh to the world of blogging, i believe there are a lot of things we don’t even begin to consider about what responsibilities come with the title of ‘blogger.’ One week in to my Network Media course at RMIT, this is my first train of thought on the practice.

What caught my interest the most was the slippery slope that is copyright. I believe that these days it is a common belief that whatever we find on the internet we can grab, copy, paste, repost and use to express ourselves as freely as possible because its just so damn easy. However, after watching a multitude of videos set by the course coordinator, it has become apparent to me that i must be a lot more cautious in my use of the web and respectful of the work of others.

It didn’t cross my mind that as soon as i or anyone creates something and puts it out there for the world to see, copyright is automatically placed upon that work. So, we have to go through a certain procedure called Creative Commons Licensing if we would like to allow others to freely use our material for their own purposes (usually at least on the agreement that they acknowledge you when using your work). There are multitude of levels of licences that we can place such as allowing others to use but not alter of edit the work, or not use the work for any commercial purposes or to make money etc.

I could go on for hours about the ins and outs of copyright now however i believe that to be a little too in depth for what i am trying to achieve here. And all that is to express my newfound awareness of this world which i have somehow managed to ignore up until now and i believe it is important that people are taught the importance of respecting other’s work.

Image by Gaelx on Flickr.