As many photographers in the UK or elsewhere have likely already heard, the UK has put extra restrictions on photographers. Photographers are now banned from photographing “sensitive” areas in the city of London, and the legislation may be present in other parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Ironically, when The British Journal of Photography attempted to get a list or definition of what constituted as a “sensitive” area, as well as information regarding how far-reaching this legislation is, the government kept mum. We can take an educated guess, though, that the banned areas are primarily military bases, police and emergency stations and possibly certain other governmental buildings. The question is should photographers obey the law?
Individual photographers will have to make up their minds on that, but the fact is this new law falls well within the UK’s freedom of expression laws. Wikipedia offers a succinct summary:
“Regarded as one of the most important human rights, the courts have stated that there is no difference between the protection offered by the common law, and that guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights[5]. The freedom of expression of Members of Parliament is encouraged and guaranteed by parliamentary privilege.
The right can be restricted where it is justified in the public interest, for example where national security concerns prevail (see the case of Ponting) or where countervailing interests of privacy, public order or religious tolerance must take priority. In addition, the law may also require that in certain situations information is kept confidential or may place a restriction on its dissemination.”—Wiki on Freedom of Expression in the UK
This new restriction on photographers—just one of many in Britain—does not breach the UK’s concepts regarding freedom of expression, as the excuse used for these bans is, of course, national security. (When is it not?)
British photographers would do well to seek stronger press and artistic freedom rights, regardless of whether they intend to knowingly ignore and/or blatantly fight these laws or not. These two recent laws, in particular, which ban areas unknown to the photographer and ban individuals from taking photographs of police, create an interesting and dangerous case for photographic and artistic rights, if not civil liberties on the whole.
- Follow The British Journal of Photography website for the latest news regarding this and other photographic issues of the region.
Anyone who has been in a classroom or board meeting where PowerPoint was present has certainly seen images that were found through probably simple image searches. It’s easy. For many, the need for an image leads to the search, which leads to a download of an image found on the first page of results; credit is sometimes given to image creators, but it is not always known if the credit is going to the right person when it comes to online imagery. The ability to search for images on the web is perhaps taken for granted today, as most any traditional search engine worth mentioning has some sort of image search capability by now. Most image search tools are quite indiscernible, though a couple, like Google’s or Yahoo!‘s, do stand out from the crowd. One way some are standing out now is by bringing the concept of intellectual property to the forefront of image searching. This could very easily change the way people use image search over time.
In May, Yahoo! added Creative Commons filtering to its image search, inheriting this feature from Flickr, which has had this capability since 2006. Google has now not only working to follow suit in its mainstream image search, but also in Picasa Web.
The competition between two search leaders will most likely always lead to good things, but perhaps especially so in the case of the copyright issues Creative Commons seeks to address.
Recognition of Creative Commons
One of the most important results of Google and Yahoo! adding Creative Commons filtering is that it brings CC licenses, or at least their concepts, to the mainstream public. When students and businessmen find themselves in a pinch for an image, the concept, and hopefully the importance, of virtual property ownership will not be so alien to them in time. Yahoo! has done an especially beautiful job at simplifying the CC licenses in its search interface, making the concept usable for those who may have not encountered it before.
Widespread knowledge of Creative Commons, or similar licensing structures, will be positive, hopefully resulting in discussions regarding copyright and intellectual property laws. In time, this knowledge may indeed pose a problem for industries that depend almost solely on people’s lack of knowledge regarding these issues.
The (Slow) Return of Intellectual Property Rights
A problem that easy-to-use image searching has produced is the illusion of there being no creator behind the images. Many image searches bring up one or two results that are exactly the same, but are to be found on different sites. Rarely is there an obvious answer as to whether the image is a stock photo, being inappropriately used by one website or both, or whether both website owners had particular permission from the creator; if credit is even given, it is often buried deep within an about page. Over time, this has become a bane to image creators, and it has given a false security to image searchers who sometimes think that whatever results from their search is theirs to use.
Having a simple Creative Commons structure restores not only the concept of the creator, as a whole, but also what the creator actually wants. The way that Yahoo! takes this a step further by breaking down all the Creative Commons licenses into two simple check boxes is also very helpful. Google will have to work hard to make their Creative Commons filtering as simple and elegant.
I think as tools like these develop, we will see a lot more attribution on everyday websites, which is a very positive outcome for visual artists of all sorts.
The first time I released a portfolio website was in 2004, and the Internet was a different place then. Just to give you an idea of the evolution of this website in particular, I’ve made up a little visual.
There were many trial designs between those above, as well as the occasional printed portfolio, but as you can see there have been a lot of changes over the years. This year especially has many changes in store for LeliaThomas.Com.
Dear Diary: It’s not you. It’s me. I think we need to go our separate ways.
While this is still very much a personal site, in the way of publishing my artwork to the world and expressing my views, this site is no longer about diary-like life stories. I enjoy reading about the daily lives of others, and it was fun to write about my own life over the past four years. Now, though, I feel I need to change the focus of this website, to better direct myself toward my true passions: art, new media and education.
Changing Focus: Promoting art and creativity.
LeliaThomas.Com has never ventured far from the artistic realm, nor will it. My portfolio, while likely much easier to browse now, is not incredibly different from the last time you might have seen it. What’s changed, rather, is my focus to promote art in other people’s lives, instead of just focusing on building it up in my own. That’s why I have released most all of my art and writing under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike license. These pieces are now available, in high quality versions, through torrents, and I will be making them available elsewhere (e.g., Archive.org, SXC) in the near future. Doing this allows the creative community to play around with my work and remix it. It will also give those interested a little insight into how I work; I have even gone so far as to add my Photoshop PSD files in the digital art torrents. For those who work really hard on their remixes and wish to use them commercially, I am more than slightly open to the idea, provided you ask for permission.
This desire to promote creativity is also why I’ve created the remix section, the art resources wiki (note: this wiki will probably change to a different service), the art-related YouTube playlists, and The Artistic Bent (TAB) forum community.
This blog will partially focus on indie art and how Internet tools and a digital air of openness are reintroducing commons. As corporate and lobbying giants like the RIAA and the MPAA have interfered with more people’s lives, are behind the erosion of some of the laws that protect our civil liberties and have continued to eat away at the public domain, I have become increasingly concerned as an artist and citizen. I think one of the only ways to combat what these industries have done to us, our societies and our creativity is to take more control of our own works and dare to share them, whether that results in significant monetary benefit or not.
I don’t intend to shy away from commercial or mainstream artworks in this blog, by any means, but I will be addressing these legal issues on a regular basis, as I believe they not only negatively affect artists, but also whole cultures. The changes in this website are just my little contribution to the fight.
Changing Focus: Studying the wonderful, wild world of new media.
A topic I frequently discussed on previous versions of this site was that of mainstream media, and how many articles and news segments are brazenly illogical, blatantly emotive and sometimes more than just bordering on falsehoods. I could easily dedicate a whole blog to these atrocities, but I fear it’d bore you and might very well give me heart attack. Taking that into consideration, I think I’ll stick to more interesting and typically more positive issues, namely those concerning new media.
I’m not interested in making this site into another techie review blog. There are far too many of those, anyway. I am, however, interested in studying the new technologies that come out, how they might affect our every day lives for the better, and the odd and creative ways in which they can sometimes be used. There is a lot to be studied and a lot of potential for many tools that have already been created, not to mention those that are being thought up as I type this. When I began writing online, there was no Flickr, YouTube or Twitter. The web is bigger, louder and more beautifully designed than in the past. At present, many of these new tools get slapped with the “waste of time” label more often than not, but I think we need to look beyond videos of cute puppies and the stalking of old classmates to see what might be done with them. Innovative technology abounds, and I hope to promote open discussion (and the occasional debate) about what it might mean for our future, particularly when it comes to creativity and education.
Changing Focus: Wanting more out of the learning experience.
If you followed this blog in the past, you’ll know that I feel modern education fails us in numerous ways. Whether it’s ripping us off, failing to keep up with new and helpful technologies, or not allowing individuals to grow into themselves, most educational systems and institutions produce far more unsatisfied or confused customers than people who are interested in going on a lifelong adventure of learning. Rather than just critiquing this ailing industry, I feel those who are interested in education should discuss and promote ways in which we might improve the system. As this website is particularly interested in art and new media, I plan to talk about how we might enhance the learning experience for all ages by utilizing creativity and existing technologies in classrooms and everyday environments.
Open to your ideas, works and links.
One thing I want to stress in this relaunch is that I am interested in hearing from you as a reader. If you know of something that might fall into the three broad topics above, please send it to me either by way of the contact form, by emailing leliathomas@gmail.com or by chatting with me on Twitter.
Hope you enjoy the new site! Please comment!
