- On the internet, you constantly run into the issue of censorship. There are plenty of rules that restrict you from creating work. For example, people who have careers on platforms like YouTube largely fear “copyright strikes”. Youtubers are allowed a certain amount of “strikes”, and after they run out of these allowed strikes, they face the possibility of getting their channels deleted off of the entire platform. You can get a strike if you include things like songs of artists. If Youtube picks up a song and recognizes it as a song belonging to an artist, that video gets flagged and causes the creator of the video to get their ad-revenue removed, aka demonetization. This means that people who dedicate their lives to creating content on the platform constantly fear to get a strike because that would ultimately mean they won’t make any money from their video.
- I believe Copyright is working as it should, be I believed it should be modified. I believe it’s completely fair to want credit to remain solely to the creator of the piece, however, I don’t believe thoughts/pieces are completely original. People always bounce off of others’ ideas and make something that a different individual could have possibly done or thought of already. I believe people should be allowed to use work freely and include others’ work in their own work, not to steal credit, but to make different versions of their own and possibly, to promote the original creator’s work.
- I chose to follow a “Copyright” license for my piece because I am not claiming I created any of these images. I did not take any of these images nor made themself. I give all rights to the creators of the characters I incorporated into the image I made.
- Well, first off, I’ve always enjoyed doing my own version of things, which is why I enjoy using apps that allow you to “photoshop” images. I have always enjoyed seeing edits people have made of different things. So, the first thing I did was go into Google Images and filter my image search to those who had uploaded their images onto the web as “free to use”. Google allows you to use this tool in their search bar (Image “#2”). Next, I decided to do a compilation of characters from different cartoons I watched as a child to get that sense of “nostalgia”. I thought it would be fun to think back and remember shows I loved growing up. After finding all my images, I saved them onto my phone. I opened a photoshopping app and began to paste them onto a licensing free image I found on Google of a random subway station. I thought it would be funny to remix these characters into being in one space as we would never be able to see these characters interact in their own separate worlds. It was challenging to search for images that were free to use, however, I do enjoy how the final result turned out. I enjoyed doing this remix activity!
#1 – Open Google Images 
#2 – On Google Images, go to “Tools” > “Usage Rights” > Then, select the type of licensing images that work for you and let the others be filtered out!
All rights belong to the original creators of each image.
Edwin Hernandez 