SOPA On The Ropes And Making Sound Decisions

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CTRL-ALT-DELiver 15 looks at how public pressure, extended through Social Media can impact corporate and legal decisions. Also, online audio, video, and photo editors
I’d like to congratulate Jeff Thomas for winning the Amazon Gift Card for last month. Jeff dropped us a line and said “Really liked it! (Episode 14)Thanks so much! I really like the professional level of your podcast. Keep up the great work!”

Thank YOU, Jeff.

Let me start out by saying that I don’t consider myself to be a political activist. In fact, for most of my life, I have avoided political discussions as much as I possibly could. More and more over the past few years, though, I find myself getting involved. I am thankful that there seem to be more people that have taken the active participation than I have. It has never been more prevalent than now, with SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act.

A well written article on Big Shiny Robot presents the argument from the comic buyers standpoint. Although I no longer read comics, I grew up learning my multiplication tables for 12 based on the comic book price. Now I would be learning my tables for $1.99 and $2.99. One of the things that Big Shiny Robot also points out is that Marvel Comics is now owned by Disney and that, as part of the larger media corporation, they would naturally support SOPA. But, as the article points out, SOPA will not stop piracy as many of the torrent sites are not in the US and subject to its laws. And the possibility of legitimate sites being shut down, service disrupted for small companies, without the legal process that is required now and chance for rebuttal.

The gaming industry seems to be getting it. Nintendo, Sony, and Electronic Arts have all withdrawn their support for SOPA. (Although the Entertainment Software Association, of which they are all members, has NOT withdrawn their support.)

With the software associations and the music and movie industries, our dollars speak loudly. Not buying the DVD or waiting until the movie is available on Redbox instead of going to the theater would have a strong impact on their decisions. Using Social Media to convey your feelings about their support of SOPA, however, has a much more immediate impact. Just take a look at Verizon’s recent reversal on their $2.00 payment fee. It’s a minor amount of money, but the customers felt that enough is enough. And their collective voices were heard clearly.

It’s time for all of us to express our concerns about SOPA and make sure that this is not passed. Explore alternatives like Keep The Web Open.

I’ll be talking more about Technology this week on Waves of Tech Episode 118.You can hear me, along with Steve and Dave, each week on Waves of Tech at NetcastStudio.com. We record each week on Wednesdays at 7PM PST or 10PM EST

For my website of the week, I wanted to share a site that has aggregated a list of multimedia online editors that you may find very useful. It can be found Hongkiat.com under Tools, but there will be direct link to this article in the shownotes at Netcaststudio.com. This article lists 30+ tools for editing photos, audio, and video. From Adobe’s online version of Photoshop to Aviary’s Phoenix Image Editor, you can find a wide range of sites to do work very similar to what you can do in PhotoShop as a desktop application, without having to buy a product that you may only use 1/10 of its power. If you are an artist, SumoPaint is a great graphic drawing progam. The audio editors include several editors that specialize in creating music loops. Aviary’s Mynah and Soundation Studio look very promising and I will probably be using them in the podcasting class that I will be teaching this quarter. Animoto and Jaycut will allow you to create videos by compiling your videos and images and adding sound and transitions through their online software. Just a sidenote that the EditorOne link no longer works, but in taking you to Ideum’s page, you might want to look at their OpenExhibit SDK.

And now for a new feature on KidLit

Each week I will be featuring a different website or book to spotlight.

This week, I point you towards Mr. Schu at http://mrschureads.blogspot.com/.
His tagline says it all. Watch-Connect -Read. Twice a year at my school, we have a Scholastic Book Fair. (It does, in fact, play a pivotal role in my meeting my wife, but that is a story for another time.) Anyhow, prior to the arrival of the book fair and during its run, they show book trailers, similar to movie previews, to wet your appetite and entice you into a good story. This is Mr. Schu’s approach. As a K-5 Teacher-Librarian, his goal is to connect kids with books that peak their interest to increase their love for reading. On his blog, you will find professionally produced book trailers that really capture the feel for the books. His site was nominated as Best Librarian Site by Edublog and one look through the trailers will show you why. Check him out on Twitter @MrSchuReads

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