Ruminations on the other “C” word…

Copyright.  You know that little C in a circle that appears on just about everything and protects creative work from being copied or reproduced?  I wrote an article for the May/June 2003 issue of Handwoven Magazine titled “More on Ethics in Handweaving” on just this subject.  Seven years later, I think we have made great strides in teaching those in the fiber community that you can’t just xerox a project in a magazine and pass it around to all your friends.  And ethically you can’t make a bunch of that same project and sell it at your local guild sale.  That would be sort of unethical.  We have come a long way, but the discussion doesn’t end there.

One of the great things for a teacher is attending conferences, and spending quality time with other teachers.  All jobs have their good points, and their bad points, but being able to commiserate with others in the same boat is very reassuring, and often the collective mind can problem solve and head off potential directions that may hurt us all down the road.  It was during the conference last weekend that I spent some time talking with other teachers, and saw a trend that makes all of us uncomfortable.

First, let me backtrack a couple of years, to a now infamous conference that occurred in Denver sponsored by the HGA, I believe it was 2004.  Previously, conference attendees would happily photograph all of the items in the exhibits, along with instructors work and samples during seminars, and would take the photos home and show them to their fellow guild members or keep them for a remembrance, much like vacation photos.  They usually were very mediocre quality photos, poor lighting, less than adequate display especially for garments, but we all did it, and probably after the first viewing, put them away in a drawer somewhere, and forgot about them.  Fast forward just a couple of years.  After the Vancouver Convergence held two years before the Denver conference, someone took those photos of all the exhibits and posted them across the internet, so all the world could see what others paid a lot of money to view.  And the artists whose work was photographed and posted across the internet, never gave their permission, actually never saw or had any control over the images that were taken, often a poor reflection of their actual work.  I know I encourage people to go to my website and look at and share any of the photos of my work that I post, but the photos are professionally shot, and represent the work as I want it represented.

Anyway, in Denver, at Convergence 2004, a new policy was instituted which caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth; the HGA banned all cameras and photographing of any of the work in any of the exhibits.  The furor of that policy is still being felt today.  Instead, Convergence now provides every conference attendee a CD, at the time of registration, that has all of the works in the exhibits, using the photographs submitted by the artists themselves, and containing the artists’ names and other important information.  OK, so that special little detail that you wanted to remember isn’t shown on that slide, that’s what a sketch book is for, but the overall exhibit and the pieces in them are there on one disk for you to remember.

At the conference last weekend, there were a couple of issues that came up, and I wanted to talk a little bit about them, feel free to comment as the spirit moves, but this whole area is still a sensitive one, and there are plenty of opinions floating around.  First, I overheard many of the organizers tell attendees who inquired (thank you for asking) that photos were allowed in the exhibit areas.  Furthermore, it was explained that every person who entered signed a waiver that allowed the taking of photographs of their piece.  I was actually a bit surprised by that, usually when I sign that waiver, I am under the impression it is for the event to photograph for publicity for the event and not for the general public to have a field day with their cameras.  Obviously I was quite mistaken.  But no matter.  My work is posted on the internet, for everyone to see, and though I would prefer the work be posted in the most professional way, using the images I’ve made available, most who enter the exhibits don’t have professional slides and the images taken at the show are sometimes their only recording of the actual work.

This is largely why I don’t have photos on my post conference blog post from the fashion show this past weekend, I never felt it was right to actually photograph the fashion show, or others work, and post it on my site without the permission of each of the artists, and frankly there wasn’t time to track anyone down.  I was too busy teaching.  I’m hoping CNCH posts the photos, and I’ll provide a link, but I didn’t feel right about doing that on my own.  I’m always careful to ask permission of class attendees, students, peers, other instructors, anyone who appears in my blog in photographic form, I get permission.  Occasionally someone asks that I don’t post a photo, and I respect that.  It is their right.

There is another more troubling trend I am starting to see, which a number of faculty members noticed that has us all a bit worried.  Video taping seminars.  More than one of us noticed that as we were teaching, there were small video cameras or cell phones pointing at us and we realized too late, that our seminars were being recorded.  I’m going to assume that because the equipment is so available, just point a cell phone and press start, that no one actually thinks about the long term ramifications of these actions.  I’m also going to assume, at least I hope this is the case, that those who are recording the seminars, are just trying to remember everything that was said, fine points the teacher made that weren’t in the handout, and that that recording will eventually go by the wayside and never be looked at again.  Trouble is, those recordings will now be downloaded to a computer, and will be available for viewing by anyone anywhere for the rest of all time.  I have no control over the content, how I looked, how I sounded, what I said, and what the total context was.  Those videos could be posted to YouTube, they could be shown in a guild meeting, they could be transcribed and information could be printed in a handout, they could be duplicated and passed around, they could be duplicated and sold.  I know the handweaving community is largely not out there to make money off a teacher’s seminars, but that’s not really the point.

First, understand that as a teacher, this is how I make my living.  I spend months working on a lecture or seminar, and more months polishing it and fine tuning it.  I get paid nothing for this effort.  Once a seminar/lecture/workshop is ready for prime time, so to speak, it is then presented, and as teachers we are paid a modest stipend to present it, certainly not adequate to reimburse the months and months, thousands of hours we have put into the seminar to make it happen.  So for me, I don’t earn a cent unless I get on a plane.  I know a number of conference attendees who have received scholarships from their guilds, so they could attend the conference, with the stipulation that the attendee/scholarship recipient come back to the guild and present a program on what they learned at the conference.  I’ve had a number of these attendees call and ask if they can copy my handout.  It depends on the situation, and I appreciate the call, but the answer is usually no, since I spent months developing it, and then get no further monetary reward for all that work.  And, once a guild has passed around the handout, seen the photos of all the samples, and listened to the video of my seminar, where is the incentive to actually hire me to come out and teach.  This is no different than making twenty copies of the latest sock pattern in Knits magazine, and passing them all around the knitters’ guild.  This is all about protecting those of us who spend our lives providing projects, creating inspiration, and pushing the envelope of what we do all the while trying to eek out a living.  It is about having control of your work, and what happens to it, and videotaping lectures and seminars, even if it is for you to remember techniques, falls into this category.  I will eventually make a video, and then sell it, and I have already invested in the equipment, but it will take time, professional editing, and I will have watched it numerous times looking for mistakes, information that isn’t clear, and I’ll make sure I have a manicure and pedicure before we start shooting!  🙂

I suppose I could just announce before I start each seminar, the same string of words we hear every time we go to a live performance or theatre production.  This isn’t any different.  “The use of  video recording devices  during this performance is strictly prohibited.”  That said, when asked if a student can take photos of my garments during a class, I am usually fine with that, and appreciate the courtesy of asking permission first.  I also let them know, that all of the work is professionally photographed and available on my website.  It is with the assumption that any images they are taking would be for their own use.  A good rule of thumb is to ask first.  Always ask first.  And if the answer is no, don’t hold it against the teacher, and don’t take it personally.  I’d love to have feedback here, what do you think about this whole issue, and hopefully there won’t be any Fatal Error messages.  I’ve gotten two while writing this post, which means all the tweaking we have done in WordPress in the last 24 hours still hasn’t worked.  🙁