August 20, 2009

1.4 Just a few little thoughts on copyright

Yes, my post on Broken experiments has a broken title tag. There is no 1.3 post. I think I'll leave it broken as a sense of the "brokenness" of the post. Nice one.

Anyway, I have been working on my second applique quilt ever and am in a class that completes a four block applique quilt in four weeks (with four appliqued borders) and there are SO many little pieces to trace and cut and glue and sew down. Free time has been consumed in working on that and staying away from the computer.

Speaking of computers and blogs and other things. I don't really know a whole lot about copyright. Here is the question that started me thinking a lot about copyright. Is it violating a copyright if I scan a piece of fabric into the computer and then take the patterns and repeats from that fabric and change it with photoshop to make images for the blog?

Side questions arise: Does it matter how I change it, or how much I change it? Does it matter whose image it is to begin with? Do I have to get permission from the designer before doing so? Can I post the original fabric, or only the modified version, or neither?

Other questions about the public images of NASA and other scientific endeavors. Are the NASA pictures really public images? Do I have to credit their site for images I would like to have on my blog? Are they part of the public domain, as long as I don't sell an item? What about images from college students/professors, are they part of the public domain? Do they belong to the college or the students involved? I could see some of my images coming from wonderful experiments done by college students. Do I have to credit the specific photographer and link to every image that I found? What if there is multiple people involved with a project? Get all of their permissions?

On the quilting side, if I take an image of something I appliqued, doesn't the applique pattern show up in that image? Understand that I am not taking pictures of the pattern itself, but in seeing the completed image, can't one figure out the pattern that was used? I could very well look at someone else's quilted block and create my own pattern from just what I see. Is that illegal to do? Can I see something and be inspired by it for my own and modify it enough just like the fabric image I wondered about initially? Can I post it then? Technically can I post pictures of my progress?

Most people know way more about copyright then I do. I realize this has little to do with science and quilting, and more to do with an individual's right to preserve something he / she has created, but it lies at the core of this blog. I can't always take pictures of the scientific things that I am interested in - there is no way for me to gain access to the equipment.

I would like to be able to take a picture from some website and then also direct people to a link back to the website where I found the picture? I would not like continually having links in my blog - that gets really boring to read without some visual eye candy. I also cannot stage elaborate and sometimes incredibly beautiful work at my own home as much as I would like to be able to do so.

For example: On my computer desktop is an incredible shot of a high speed camera and colored milk drops that are amazing, and inspiring in the crafty sense, but show so much the beauty of science, which is the core of this blog. I downloaded the picture long ago and cannot find the original website, so I cannot post it. Or at least, I should not post it.

Just a few thoughts.

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