In todays workshop we were introduced to a software called Inkscape. The lecture was given by Rob Canning who was very big on open source software and is working as a composer and a network artist.

During the lecture he talked to us about what open source software really is and how to work around finding material online thats copyright, he told us how to find the material we needed that would not only be free to use but also wouldnt be copyright infringement even if we were to change the idea.

Copyleft is what we call the outcome of working around the laws of copyright, with an obvious play on words.

Copyright as we have known to become is a legal concept which most governments use to give either a company or the creator of an original creation exclusive rights to how its used and distributed. This usually results in the person or people who have ownership of the work to earn royalties off of their work for a period of time if somebody else wanted to use it. Along with financially supporting themselves the other added benefits of copyright allow the creator to be credited in someone elses work if they were to use the original and it prevents others from profiting off of it also.

Although initially copyright was intended to promote the ideas of new works it has also limited our capacity to be as creative as we would like, if we were to go out be creative as possible and use other works for inspiration or to modify it, even if it were to be as far as possible from the original idea we still wouldnt be able to profit from it, thus creating a double edged sword where you choose to be creative with whats already out there and not earn any money or create a new idea from scratch which may not be as good as you would hope but you would get money from it. The result of all of this has in time brought copyleft into play.

Copyleft is pretty much the exact opposite of what copyright is meant to be about. It allows peoples work to be freely distributed but also to be changed and remixed without having to pay for any of it. However once youve taken that persons work you are not able to copyright and and must allow for others to use your work and change it also. Copyleft is a way in which creativity can easily flow and that attitude is shared amongst everyone else who supports the copyleft attitude.

In a way the creative commons license although plays a major role in the copyleft movement its almost as if its a middle ground between the copyright and copyleft licensing. It allows for the creator of the work to decide how restrictive their materials will be, they can choose if they want it to be free for the public to use and be in complete favour of copyleft while maintaining ownership and intellectual property or they can go the other way and lock down all rights to the work which is common practice of copyright.

inkscape

Inkscape is one of many open source softwares that are very useful. Its a 2d vector graphics editor that supports all of the standard drawing features which are very similiar to adobe illustrator. It includes tools such as curves, lines, freehand drawing including calligraphy stroke together with geometric figures can be used to create your drawing.

One of the stand out differences between inkscape and adobe illustrator is that because inkscape is an open source software youre able to give your own feedback and input to the programme and if you have the knowledge you can actually be involved in the development and updates of the software by adding in new tools and features to improve the experience. On the other hand we have adobe illustrator where although it may offer you a variety of tools to your disposle you have no say in any of the upgrades unless youre someone who works for adobe. It forces you to work with just the features that are there and youd have to wait a long time for any chance of an upgrade