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Resolutions Package: Tournament 3 Impromptu motions on the theme: Media and Technology How to Use this Resolutions Package: A resolutions package is like an introduction to a topic: it may give you some ideas for arguments, and even some useful statistics. You should use the resolutions package to give yourself a basic idea of what some of the issues might be in the round. However, a resolutions package should not be used as the only resource. In fact, if all the teams rely solely on the resolutions package, all of your arguments and facts will be the same, which leads to debates which are not very good. A resolutions package is never intended to do the research for you. However, it is intended to give you an idea of what you might want to research further. The resolutions package should make you think critically, also: don’t just take what it says at face value. Pursue the issues further. Can you verify the numbers? Are there other people making the same claims? Could the authors have any ulterior motives for taking the side that they do, and how would that change how you read the article? It is important to do your own research beyond the resolutions package so that you:

• learn how to use what you know to find out more • develop your ability to question and challenge what you read • come up with better analysis than your peers • discover what constitutes a “good” or reputable resource

We encourage you to use this resolutions package as a jumping off point for further discovery:

Helpful Hint: Use multi-coloured highlighters to go through the resolutions package: selectively highlight or underline arguments for Proposition in one colour, and Opposition with a different colour. Remember that when you highlight a document, you should only ever highlight the most important information!

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• Who is involved, or who could be involved? (ie who are the actors?) • What are the values at stake? • Are their belief systems in tension with one another?

Be sure to use other resources available to you:

• Search for words or terms that are unfamiliar to you: don’t use them in a debate unless you understand them.

• Ask your teachers, coaches, or parents for help when you need it. BUT, do not ask them to write your speeches for you: ask them to listen to your ideas, and ask you questions to deepen your thoughts, without telling you what they would say if they were debating. Your parents and coaches (and older siblings and teachers and so on!) may even offer to help write your speech: kindly thank them, but tell them you wish to do it on your own. (If they want to debate sometime, SEDA is happy to consider hosting a parents’ & coaches’ debate; just let us know! *hint hint*)

And finally, here is a list of some reputable news sources to get you started on your search:

• The Economist • Al Jazeera – English • BBC • The Guardian • The Atlantic

Preparing for an Impromptu Tournament: Predicting Motions The first way to prepare for an impromptu tournament is to try predicting the motions. If the motions that you end up predicting were incorrect, this is useful for you: you can see where you need practice, and you can provide that as feedback. If SEDA’s themes are too broad or too vague for you to be reasonably close to guessing the motions, then we need to change the way we frame our materials! That said, impromptu motions are meant to surprise you a little bit, so it is good to be prepared simply by getting used to the surprise. Go to debate.org and find their list of Top 100 motions: practice taking 15 minutes to come up with a case for your partner. Do them in blocks of an hour: the goal is to become comfortable with coming up with arguments quickly and efficiently. For now, though, let’s focus on the steps we might take to predict the motions of an impromptu tournament.

So how would we go about predicting the motions?

First, let’s think about some potential sub-themes underneath “Media and Technology”:

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Here’s what I came up with:

- Journalism - Television - News sources - Advertising - Marketing - Video games - Virtual reality - Spyware - Cell phones

- Internet - Censorship vs

Free Speech - Publication bans

and limits - Copyright - Digital Rights

Management - Online Streaming

Guess your own sub- themes:

- ___________ - ___________ - ___________ - ___________

You can see already that “Media and Technology” could mean many different things; try narrowing down the list by considering if any of these themes correlate with current events or news stories. What are some case studies that you could pull from the news that might indicate what a potential motion might be? What are some issues you have discussed in school or with your parents?

Finally, use your list of themes to guess motions. Research past motions from the web that fit under the themes: past tournaments at all levels of debate often post their resolutions online.

What are some of the motions you have predicted?

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*

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Even if you are unable to successfully predict the motions that are used, often you will come across the same issues repeated across several motions: preparing for four or five of the wrong motions will still prepare you for the right ones, because many of the arguments should be transferable. You will feel more confident by practicing preparing for any and all motions.

Preparing to Prepare: The prep period is very important time which should not be wasted, especially in Impromptu: you only get 30 minutes of time to create a case for your side. You must have a method to strategize best with your time.

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1) DO have a method for taking notes ready beforehand. How you record your own arguments during prep period – as well as your opponents’ speeches during the round – can save you lots of time.

2) DO write in jot notes or short hand: you do not have enough time to write out the full speech. In your practice time before the tournament, practice writing a single word or phrase which – usually the title of your argument – to use as a trigger for your brain.

a. Eg: In a debate about censoring the internet, I might use the phrase “freedom of speech – education – exposure – take on the burden of that which is offensive” on the page to remind me of an entire argument that goes like this:

• “The internet should not be censored because of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech has three sub-points, including the freedom of speech, the importance of education, and the necessity of being exposed to information that you disagree with. Firstly, we believe that freedom of speech is an unalienable right because, as a society, we believe that the fabric of our working government and society relies on the ability of all people to say and publish whatever they like (with only the restriction that they do not incite hatred). We think it’s important to assign this right to others because it’s what we would want for ourselves, and this is an important tenet of rights in general. Secondly, we believe that censoring the internet impairs proper education: you cannot be educated without knowing many aspects of an issue, and we think that “cleaning up” an issue means that you cannot properly learn about it. This leads into our third point, which is that you cannot fully learn about or understand any issue when you are only exposed to your own echo chamber: you must understand alternate opinions – even if they are legally or morally “incorrect” – AND be able to understand that point of view in order to effectively discuss an issue. We think even if the information or ideas are potentially offensive or disturbing, that this is a good thing: we’ll take on that burden, because we think you learn more in the long run. Censoring the internet prevents you from engaging with people you disagree with; a censored internet prevents you from seeing all aspects of an issue, effectively isolating you from the world around you; a censored internet disrupts your freedom of speech rights both because you are unable to share your own thoughts AND you are not able to find others of like-minded opinions, which are both limitations on freedom of speech.”

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b. You can see from this example that I used just a few words and phrases and placed them on the page: the text above is the speech that I would give, guided by the words. Instead of writing the entire speech as I did above, it’s much more effective to write down just a few things. You’ll have better eye contact, and eventually, impromptu will be easier.

Table of Contents:

Page 6: “The Islamic State’s Use of Online Social Media”

Page 8: Definition: Digital Piracy

Page 9: “Google to point extremist searches towards anti-radicalisation websites”

Page 10: Definition: Digital Rights Management

Page 11: “Sexism in advertising…”

Page 14: “How Canadian law views online streaming video”

Page 15: Definition: Peer-to-peer Network

Page 16: “Why Copyright protection is so important?”

Page 18: “Why kids shouldn’t take their cell phones to school”

Page 20: “Schools Should Be Open to Cell Phones in Class”

Page 22: “12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom…”

Page 26: “The 'post-truth' president flattens fact-obsessed media”

Page 29: Suggestions for Further Reading

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The Islamic State’s Use of Online Social Media LISA BLAKER, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

1. INTRODUCTION

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has made great use of the Internet and online social media sites to spread its message and encourage others, particularly young people, to support the organization, to travel to the Middle East to engage in combat—fighting side-by-side with other jihadists, or to join the group by playing a supporting role—which is often the role carved out for young women who are persuaded to join ISIS. The terrorist group has even directed sympathizers to commit acts of violence wherever they are when traveling to the Middle East isn’t possible. ISIS propaganda is now more frequently aimed at Westerners and more specifically aimed at the “Millennial generation.”

Clearly, social media has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for the terrorist organization and is perfectly suited for the very audience it’s intending to target. According to Pew Research Center’s Social Networking Fact Sheet, 89% of adults aged 18 - 29 use social media” 1 Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and even YouTube, allow ISIS propaganda to reach across the globe in real time. Increasingly, ISIS’ posts to Internet sites include sophisticated, production-quality video and images that incorporate visual effects. What messages from jihadists induce young Westerners to become involved with the terrorist group? What convinces young people from Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States—many who are technically runaways, still in their teens—to leave their homelands to join ISIS on the battlefield? What risks does a home country face when its nationals communicate and establish relationships with members of ISIS? Can the jihadist social network propaganda machine be shut down, and weighing all factors, is stopping ISIS rhetoric on the Internet the best course of action? This paper explores these and other questions related to terrorist groups’ utilization of social media.

2. A PERVASIVE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

Just this past February, former National Security Council staffer Hillary Mann Leverett said that each day, 90,000 pro-ISIS messages were posted on social media. Reporting for the Tampa Bay Times, Jon Greenberg did further research on that figure—90,000—wondering how exactly that number was arrived at and concluded it was probably not unreasonable. While the exact source of that figure is a bit unclear, one independent researcher has data that point to a much higher number. There could be as many as 200,000 proISIS tweets a day. That includes re-tweets and some generated by computer programs.

Recently the CEO of Twitter and other Twitter employees reported receiving death threats from ISIS. These threats resulted from Twitter revoking accounts that were used by the terrorist organization to spread their views and encourage violence against

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Westerners. Because these threats were publicized just this past fall, Twitter’s efforts to thwart ISIS by taking down accounts may seem like a fairly recent development. Actually, though, Twitter had been shutting down accounts tied to terrorists for more than a year. In September 2013, at least 4 militants of Al-Shabaab, a Somalia al-Qaeda ally, attacked an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi. Shortly after the gunmen stormed the mall—shooting civilians and reportedly using grenades—the terrorists began “live-tweeting the carnage” from within the mall. Twitter quickly shut down that account, but almost immediately another Twitter account opened which purportedly was also operated by the militants. This happened repeatedly for days—with a new Twitter account being opened by the group (or someone posing as their spokesperson) as soon as the one before was shut down. At the time, Twitter declined to discuss its specific reasoning for deactivating the Twitter accounts. While committed to providing a forum for free speech, Twitter Rules currently include the following restrictions:

• Violence and Threats: You may not publish or post threats of violence against others or promote violence against others.

• Unlawful Use: You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities.

International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content. Clearly terrorist activity violates these terms. Even if Twitter itself didn’t take down accounts associated with ISIS and other terrorist organizations, it’s possible that Anonymous, the loosely organized hacking group, would. In February of 2015, Anonymous took credit for shutting down 800 ISIS accounts on Twitter and Facebook. Though Anonymous took credit, when the supposed hacked accounts were accessed, a message was displayed indicating that they were suspended or unavailable. It’s possible that Anonymous reported the noncompliant content to Twitter and Facebook, and the social media sites took action to deactivate the accounts on their own. “They often rely on complaints from others...” Some speculate that Twitter’s going public in November 2013 put additional pressure on the firm to remove accounts of suspected terrorist organizations because, as a publicly traded company, it must answer to its shareholders.

3. MASTERFUL SELF-PROMOTION

The ISIS propaganda wing, al-Hayat, continues to mass-produce slick videos that mimic Hollywood action films and music videos and are obviously targeted to young Westerners. The videos often include music with lyrics translated into English and a number of European languages. More recent videos feature English-speaking jihadists. Notes Sean Heuston, a professor of English and film studies at The Citadel who has written about extremist video propaganda, “It's actually surprising how contemporary and hip-looking some of these things are, especially considering the fact that the messages that they are promoting are essentially medieval.” It’s quite evident that the audiences these images are intended to appeal to are Millennials from the West. Some

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believe that a German national and former rapper, Denis Cuspert, is a main contributor to the production of these videos as he would have been exposed to high-end production techniques during his music career as rapper, Deso Dogg. Leaving his music career after converting to Islam, Cuspert joined ISIS in 2012. The U.S. State Department declared Cuspert to be an international terrorist, “…Cuspert is ‘emblematic of the type of foreign recruit’ ISIS seeks, has been a ‘willing pitchman’ for the organization's ‘atrocities’ and as such been officially designated as a ‘foreign terrorist fighter and operative’…” Some Twitter postings may seem at first glance to be nonthreatening and perhaps could even be considered constructive. For example, one Twitter posting announced the opening of schools in the city of Raqqa, Syria (considered the capital of the Islamic State) for English speaking children; these schools promised education for both boys and girls. Opportunities for full- and part-time teachers were available at the schools as well. The ISIS flag prominently pictured on the announcement along with the heading “ATTENTION ENGLISH SPEAKING MUHAJIROON!” however, make the message far more ominous. For school children 6 to 14 years old, "…lessons taught in English are Aqeedah, Hadith, Seerah, Fiqh, Thabiyyah, Jihadiyyah, Maths and English Language.”

This is an abridged selection from the following source:

Blaker, Lisa (2015) "The Islamic State’s Use of Online Social Media," Military Cyber Affairs: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 4. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/2378-0789.1.1.1004 Available at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/mca/vol1/iss1/4

Definition: (Digital) Piracy Software piracy is the illegal copying, distribution, or use of software.

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Google to point extremist searches towards anti-radicalisation websites Extremist-related searches via Google are to be shown anti-radicalisation links.

Ben Quin. www.theguardian.com

Users of Google who put extremist-related entries into the search engine are to be shown anti-radicalisation links under a pilot programme, MPs have been told by an executive for the company. The initiative, aimed at countering the online influence of groups such as Islamic State, is running alongside another pilot scheme designed to make counter-radicalisation videos easier to find

The schemes were mentioned by Anthony House, senior manager for public policy and communications at Google, who was appearing alongside counterparts from Twitter and Facebook at a home affairs select committee hearing on countering extremism. “We should get the bad stuff down, but it’s also extremely important that people are able to find good information, that when people are feeling isolated, that when they go online, they find a community of hope, not a community of harm,” he said.

Referring to the use of online counter radicalisation initiatives, House said: “This year…. we are running two pilot programmes. One is to make sure that these types of videos are more discoverable on YouTube. The other one is to make sure when people put potentially damaging search terms into our search engine.. they also find this counter narrative.”

Google has said that House was referring to a pilot scheme to enable NGOs to place counter-radicalisation adverts against search queries of their choosing.

A spokesperson said: “The free Google AdWords Grant program is starting a pilot for a handful of eligible non-profits organizations to run ads against terrorism-related search queries of their choosing.”

All three representatives from Google, Twitter and Facebook were challenged by MPs about the extent of their companies’ roles in combating the use of social media by groups such as Isis for propaganda and recruitment purposes.

Committee chairman Keith Vaz asked how many people are in the sites’ “hit squads” that monitor content. He was told Twitter, which has 320 million users worldwide, has “more than 100” staff. The Facebook and Google executives did not give a number.

Simon Milner, Facebook’s policy director for UK and Ireland, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said that the site has become a “hostile place” for Isis: “Keeping people safe is our number one priority. Isis is part of that, but it’s absolutely not the only extremist organisation or behaviour that we care about.” He added that Facebook recognised from research that people did not typically get radicalised exclusively online – rather, it

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was a combination of real-world and online contact – and was working as a result with groups in society such as Imams.

The three were also questioned about the thresholds they apply on notifying authorities about terrorist material identified by staff or users. Labour MP Chuka Umunna asked: “What is the threshold beyond which you decide ... that you must proactively notify the law enforcement agencies?”

House and Milner said their threshold was “threat to life”, while Nick Pickles, UK public policy manager at Twitter, told the MPs: “We don’t proactively notify. Because Twitter’s public, that content is available, so often it’s been seen already.”

Pickles also stressed that decisions on whether to notify account holders that they were under investigation were “context specific” and insisted that Twitter worked with authorities to ensure that they do not disrupt investigations.

Definition:

Digital Rights Management (DRM) Margaret Rouse

Digital rights management (DRM) is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital media and restrict the ways consumers can copy content they've purchased. DRM products were developed in response to the rapid increase in online piracy of commercially marketed material, which proliferated through the widespread use of peer-to-peer file exchange programs. Typically, DRM is implemented by embedding code that prevents copying, specifies a time period in which the content can be accessed or limits the number of devices the media can be installed on.

Although digital content is protected by copyright laws, policing the Web and catching law-breakers is very difficult. DRM technology focuses on making it impossible to steal content in the first place, a more efficient approach to the problem than the hit-and-miss strategies aimed at apprehending online poachers after the fact.

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Sexism in advertising: What Canadian men and women find unacceptable Susan Krashinsky, www.theglobeandmail.com

For advertisers, job number one is to sell, not to tackle social issues. But recently, some ads are doing both: betting on their ability to win over consumers by being progressive, as well as persuasive.

Brands have won attention for championing young girls' confidence; tackling the stereotypes applied to women in the workplace; and eschewing photo retouching that helps to create unrealistic body images. And it doesn't just apply to women: Marketers have also won applause for declaring that beefy machismo is not a singular ideal by which to judge men; and for showing fathers as loving and competent contributors to the household rather than laughable doofuses. But while some are doing better, less than half of Canadians feel that advertising is less sexist than it was a decade ago, according to a new survey conducted by research firm the Gandalf Group on behalf of Advertising Standards Canada, the industry's self-regulatory organization. The annual study measures consumers' attitudes toward advertising – but this year it did so with a particular focus on portrayals of men and women in ads. "We are always looking at consumer attitudes toward advertising, and this is one area that we thought wasn't explored fully," said Peter White, senior vice-president of operations at ASC.

Of 1,564 people surveyed, 62 per cent said at least some of the ads they see are sexist toward women, and 41 per cent said they see ads that are sexist toward men.

Those mean different things for each gender. These are the most-cited examples of unfair treatment of each gender in ads, according to the survey.

Unfair percentage

Depicted as stupid-dumb-unreliable 32

Unrealistic body image 26

Bad-uncaring-lazy fathers 16

Macho or brutish personality 11

In a stereotypical male role 10

Depicted as perfect 6

HOW MEN ARE TREATED UNFAIRLY IN ADVERTISING ×

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Unfair percentage

Unrealistic body image 39

Oversexualized-objectified 28

Depicted only in traditional roles 16

Depicted as stupid-incompetent-lesser than men 14

General sexist or stereotyped roles 8

HOW WOMEN ARE TREATED UNFAIRLY IN ADVERTISING

And men and women feel differently about sexism in ads: Women are far more likely to find it unacceptable to see sexist content in ads, or partial nudity, than men. (One notable exception was that men were more likely than women to find unrealistic male body images unacceptable in ads.)

×

Element Female Male

Sexist depictions of men 3 13

Sexist depictions of women 2 11

Sexual themes-images-innuendo 10 30

Partial female nudity 14 40

Partial male nudity 19 35

Body images that are unrealistic for normal women 4 18

Body images that are unrealistic for normal men 20 12

WHAT VIEWERS FIND ACCEPTABLE, BY GENDER

Sexist depictions of both women and men are among the advertising content that a vast majority of Canadians find unacceptable. Demeaning portrayals of people with disabilities, mistreatment of animals, racism, bullying, ageism and violence topped the list as most unacceptable. But while consumers say that sexism is unacceptable, the survey also raises questions about whether there is a compelling commercial reason for advertisers to paint a more progressive picture in their ads. For those that objectify women through a sex-sells strategy, put either gender in outdated roles, or depict unrealistic body ideals for men or women – is there a price to pay?

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Asked how they feel when they see sexist ads, most of those surveyed said they feel annoyed (46 per cent) while a further 15 per cent feel resigned. Only 9 per cent feel angry or outraged.

"The biggest surprise is the fact that consumers aren't that angry," Mr. White said.

In fact, less than 40 per cent said they were much less likely to buy an advertiser's product if its ads are sexist. More than half said it either had no impact, or made them only "somewhat" less likely to buy the product.

likelihood Percentage

Much less likely 38

Somewhat less 29

No impact 27

Somewhat more likely 2

Much more likely 1

Don't know 3

VOTING WITH THEIR WALLETS

Who to blame percentage

The company selling the product 31

Society at large 26

The ad agency behind the ad 25

Consumers 6

The media running the ad 5

All of the above 3

WHO'S TO BLAME FOR SEXIST ADS

Still, while outrage may not be the dominant reaction, the research does point to a feeling that such gender portrayals are unacceptable – and an opportunity for advertisers to better reflect consumers' own attitudes in ads, by changing those portrayals.

"Advertisers need to understand that some of their audience is affected by this stuff," Mr. White said. "… There is a risk to not paying attention."

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How Canadian law views online streaming video

The decline in downloaded file-sharing largely reflects a shift toward streaming video, which is now the dominant use of network traffic. Netflix alone comprises almost 35 per cent of such network traffic in North America during peak periods. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Michael Geist

The misuse of Canada’s new copyright notice-and-notice system has attracted considerable media and political attention over the past week. With revelations that some rights holders are requiring Internet providers to send notifications that misstate the law in an effort to extract payments based on unproven infringement allegations, the government has acknowledged that the notices are misleading and promised to contact providers and rights holders to stop the practice.

While the launch of the copyright system has proven to be an embarrassment for Industry Minister James Moore, many Canadians are still left wondering whether the law applies to Internet video streaming, which has emerged as the most popular way to access online video.

In recent years, the use of BitTorrent and similar technologies to engage in unauthorized copying has not disappeared, but network usage indicates its importance is rapidly diminishing. Waterloo-based Sandvine recently reported that BitTorrent now comprises only 5 per cent of Internet traffic during peak periods in North America (file sharing as a whole takes up 7 per cent). That represents a massive decline since 2008, when file sharing constituted nearly one-third of all peak period network traffic.

The decline largely reflects a shift toward streaming video, which is now the dominant use of network traffic. Netflix alone comprises almost 35 per cent of download network traffic in North America during peak periods with the other top sources of online streaming video — YouTube, Facebook, Amazon Prime, and Hulu — pushing the total to nearly 60 per cent.

The emergence of streaming video raises some interesting legal questions, particularly for users wondering whether the notice-and-notice system might apply to their streaming habits. The answer is complicated by myriad online video sources that raise different issues.

The most important sources are the authorized online video services operating in Canada such as Netflix, Shomi, CraveTV, YouTube, and streaming video that comes directly from broadcasters or content creators. These popular services, which may be subscription-based or advertiser-supported, raise few legal concerns since the

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streaming site has obtained permission to make the content available or made it easy for rights holders to remove it.

Closely related are authorized online video services that do not currently serve the Canadian market. These would include Hulu or Amazon Prime, along with the U.S. version of Netflix. Subscribers can often circumvent geographic blocks by using a “virtual private network” that makes it appear as if they are located in the U.S. Accessing the service may violate the terms of service, but would not result in a legal notification from the rights holder.

The most controversial sources are unauthorized streaming websites that offer free content without permission of the rights holder. Canadian copyright law is well-equipped to stop such unauthorized services if they are located in Canada since the law features provisions that can be used to shut down websites that “enable” infringement.

Those accessing the streams are unlikely to be infringing copyright, however. The law exempts temporary reproductions of copyrighted works if completed for technical reasons. Since most streaming video does not actually involve downloading a copy of the work (it merely creates a temporary copy that cannot be permanently copied), users can legitimately argue that merely watching a non-downloaded stream does not run afoul of the law.

Not only does the law give the viewer some comfort, but enforcement against individuals would in any event be exceptionally difficult. Unlike peer-to-peer downloading, in which users’ Internet addresses are publicly visible, only the online streaming site knows the address of the streaming viewer. That means that rights holders simply do not know who is watching an unauthorized stream and are therefore unable to forward notifications.

While some might see that as an invitation to stream from unauthorized sites, the data suggests that services such as Netflix constitute the overwhelming majority of online streaming activity. Should unauthorized streaming services continue to grow, however, rights holders will likely become more aggressive in targeting the sites themselves using another feature of the 2012 Canadian copyright reform package.

Definition: Peer-to-Peer Networks A peer-to-peer (P2P) network is a communications model in which each computing device on the network can function as either a server or a client.

In a P2P network, computing devices use software to connect with each other over a private network, such as a home local area network (LAN) or a public network, such as the Internet. This direct connection allows each device to share files without requiring the assistance of a remote server. The device that supplies the file plays the role of the server and the device that requests the file plays the role of the client. The roles simply reverse when necessary.

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Why Copyright protection is so important? www.copyrightsworld.com

Let’s face it, in today’s fast-paced and technologically advanced society, we find ourselves in what can very easily be deemed a “sue-happy culture”. Everywhere you look you are constantly reading or watching someone getting sued, or suing over something, and now more than ever, especially for business-owners and entrepreneurs, it is invaluably important to cover all aspects of your business, particularly something that is so often easily overlooked, copyrighting.

History of Copyright

To start, let us briefly look back to the historical roots and foundations of copyrighting. The history of copyright law in America dates back to 1787, during the ratification process of the United States Constitution. Congress was given the power to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing limited Times to Authors and Discoveries”, and our nation’s founding fathers greatly encouraged new ideas, inventions and accumulation, where the creator of the idea and the idea itself was strongly protected by law. Therefore, in 1790 the very first copyright law was signed into effect by President George Washington, and today the Copyright Office remains under the jurisdiction of the Library of Congress, as it has for over 100 years.

While I am quite sure that most everyone has heard the term “copyright”, but I think that far fewer people can actually grasp what it truly is, and what purpose makes it so very foundational in terms of business and business development. The easiest, and possibly most accurate, definition is described by the World Intellectual Property Organization, as “a legal term describing rights given to the creators for their literary and artistic works”. In other words, the works of which someone who created something is given the exclusive rights and ownerships to perform, record, reproduce, translate or broadcast, legally if bound under a copyright law, and no one else can use that work unless granted permission by the owner.

So, why is copyrighting so important?

First, and foremost it is your legal right to protect your work. Imagine writing a poem, putting it on your blog, with no copyright, and a few months later you find that someone has published your poem under their own name and received a tremendous financial gain for your work. There is virtually nothing you could do about it, there is no proof as to sole ownership, that however could have been avoided entirely if you had taken preliminary action in gaining a copyright on your poem… and this sort of thing happens all the time.

This brings us to the next reason copyright is so important. It can make you money. Under copyright laws you are able to allow others to use your works for a fee, or you can sell your copyright to others for a larger fee, by using a copyright license. If

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someone chooses to infringe upon your copyrighted works, you are granted the right to seek legal action and providing you have necessary legal evidence (this is where the benefits of copyright registration can become a highly valuable asset) that you are in fact, sole copyright owner you will more than likely be awarded financial compensation. Copyrights are incredibly valuable for companies in terms of intangible assets that can be transferred, valued or traded, as well. Whether an individual or a large company, these assets are key components that can be greatly significant in terms of financial value for particular organizations, based upon their balance sheet or assets and liability statements.

Something also to take into consideration is that copyrights can last up to fifty years (in the United States, this number however can vary in other countries) after the death of the original copyright owner. It is important to note, that copyrights can be passed down to a family member, which in turn leaves a lasting legacy to pass down to different generations as a valuable (and memorable) estate in your memory well after you are gone.

So, now that we know what exactly copyrighting is, and why it is so very important in terms of your work created, there are particular things that in fact, cannot be copyrighted. For instance, names and phrases cannot be copyrighted, although slogans can be trademarked, they cannot be copyrighted. Facts, also cannot be copyrighted, while using a fact to support one of your ideas, you may copyright your final outcome, however the particular fact you used to accompany your idea or opinion, cannot be copyrighted. Procedures and methods, also cannot be copyrighted, although you may be able to protect the way these things are expressed. Any works that are created by the United States Government additionally cannot be copyrighted, for instance photos from NASA’s website can freely, and legally be shared, as well as laws as statutes. Fashion, also cannot be copyrighted, it is interesting however that while the designs of fashion cannot be copyrighted, architectural and even boat and ship designs can in fact be copyrighted. And finally, and this is important to note as many people often argue over copyrighting in regards to the internet, public domains may not be copyrighted, while your ideas and writing within the domain itself can be copyrighted, the actual domain-name cannot be. This is a very short list, but it can give you a good idea of certain things that cannot be copyrighted, there are also a great deal of “loopholes” in terms of what can and cannot be copyrighted.

There is a great deal to learn and understand in terms of copyright and copyright law, and if it is something that you are trying to determine if it should or can apply to yourself or your business it is best to consider doing a great amount of research to ensure that you will be covered if the need should ever arise where someone may attempt to infringe upon your copyright. It is a good idea to provide necessary caution in terms of protecting both yourself, and your ideas in regards to your creative works. You work hard to express yourself and boast your creativity, please make sure that you take proper precautions in protecting them as well.

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Why kids shouldn’t take their cell phones to school Katherine Martinko Parents claim that a cell phone keeps their kid safe, but I'd argue it rather disconnects and distracts. Here's why kids should leave their phones at home. With a new school year beginning, many children are heading off to school with cell phones in their pockets. I hear about these phones from my young, technology-deprived children, who come home wondering why they can’t also have an iPhone with cool games on it.

My reasons don’t change; in fact, I become more certain and committed to my anti-phones-for-young-kids beliefs the more I read and hear. I tell my kids, who are seven and four, that they can have a cell phone when they’re old enough to buy it and pay for a monthly plan themselves. That will be a while yet.

Why do my husband and I insist on such an old-fashioned, unpopular approach to cell phones?

First of all, I don’t think that young kids (I'm talking about those in elementary school) possess the self-control not to engage with their cell phones while attending school. School is the all-important purpose of their lives right now, so why would I give them any device that would make it harder than it already is to learn? No matter how mature a child may be, the temptation of technology is hard to resist; we Millennial adults should know that better than anyone else. It’s easier not to place that burden on my kid at all, rather than expect him to know how to handle it. Says Canadian non-profit research group, Media Smarts, “Even if a student does not own a phone themselves their presence in the classroom may cause distraction.” Second, teachers don’t need more distractions in the classroom. Their job is hard enough. A 2015 research paper by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics found that student test scores improve by 6.4 percent when cell phones are banned at schools and that there are no significant academic gains when the ban is ignored. Third, some people argue that allowing cell phones in schools equalizes the playing field, but I disagree. The Mayor of New York is one such person, having lifted a ten-year ban on cell phones in schools in March 2015, with the noble intent of “reducing inequality.” The Centre for Economic Performance has found this reasoning to be flawed:

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“Low-achieving students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones, while high achievers can focus in the classroom regardless of the mobile phone policy. This also implies that any negative externalities from phone use do not impact on the high achieving students. Schools could significantly reduce the education achievement gap by prohibiting mobile phone use in schools, and so by allowing phones in schools, New York may unintentionally increase the inequalities of outcome.”

Finally, why would I give them something that makes it more difficult to connect with other students? Go to any public place and you’ll see the majority of people huddled over their miniature screens, lost in a private online world. I want something different for my kids. I want them to be forced to interact with fellow students, to make new friends, to engage in conversation, to play physically, to learn how to read facial expressions. I also want my kids to be able to approach adults, even strangers, and ask for assistance if they need it – without relying on a cell phone and me to get them out of a bind.

Media Smarts found that 20 percent of grade 4 students and half of grade 11 students sleep with their phones in case they receive a message in the night. Even 35 percent of students worry that they spend too much time online, which should be setting off parents’ alarm bells right now. A big part of teaching digital literacy should be teaching our children when and how to turn off their phones, put them away, and leave them at home -- or not even giving them to our young kids, which is my preferred approach.

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Schools Should be Open to Cell Phones in Class Parents who've fought a valiant battle to keep their cellphone-savvy kids focused on school may soon have to face a new reality in Ontario: classrooms where students are actively encouraged to use the ubiquitous hand-held devices. Schools should be open to the idea of allowing students to use cellphones in class, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday. "Telephones and BlackBerrys and the like are conduits for information today, and one of the things we want our students to do is to be well-informed," Mr. McGuinty said. "And it's something that we should be looking at in our schools." They can be a major distraction, but there is a "right way" to use them in school, he insists. "If the teacher says, 'Alright, we're all going to go online right now. We're going to access this information right now.' That's different than this gentleman who's completely ignoring me here and doing his own thing," Mr. McGuinty added, gesturing towards a texting cameraman. The Toronto District School Board - one of the largest in Canada - is considering a rethink of its cellphone ban. Students are still required to shut off their phones in school, but the board said it's exploring ways to incorporate them in the classroom. It's part of a broader discussion about what could be considered acceptable use of technology, from laptops to interactive white boards and projectors, said Andre Patterson, the board's co-ordinating principal of information communications technology. "The parents may not see a place for, particularly, hand-held devices in the classroom," he said. "But once we do some research and look really deeply into it, we're going to come up with practical ways so that we can communicate to the public and the parents, teachers as well as students what we want to accomplish." Other schools have stumbled on new ways to stop students from using their phones in class. Pope John Paul II Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener, Ont., discovered it had created a cellphone dead zone when it installed new windows.

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The school was going green and put in windows that provide better insulation, said John Shewchuk, a spokesman for the Waterloo-Catholic District School Board. The windows not only blocked ultraviolet rays, but cellphone and BlackBerry signals too. It was a "happy coincidence" in their battle to keep kids off their phones, he said. "They start earlier and earlier and earlier," Mr. Shewchuk said in a recent interview. "It's really quite remarkable how many elementary school kids are walking around with cellphones now. Of course, with the texting and all that kind of stuff that's going on, they're a definite distraction." Cellphones, Facebook and Twitter aren't going away, and educators need to figure out a way to deal with them, said Annie Kidder, executive director of the parent-led group People for Education. "We have a public health nurse who does sex ed in schools and she uses cellphones all the time, because she says cellphones are how kids access information," she said. "So there's lots of potential there for the use of technology. And the most important thing we can be doing is teaching kids to use it wisely and using it with them, instead of trying to keep them from it." But in Ontario, where motorists and even ministers around the cabinet table are banned from using the devices, Mr. McGuinty's comments have raised a few eyebrows. Two years ago, the self-described "education premier" even advised parents to limit their children's use of cellphones over concerns about the long-term effects of kids' exposure to radio frequency waves. "This sounds like another example of Dalton McGuinty backtracking," sniffed Opposition Leader Tim Hudak. "He wanted to pull cellphones out of cars and now he wants to allow them in the classrooms. I just don't see any consistency in that thinking." The premier's comments also had NDP Leader Andrea Horwath scratching her head. "I have a son and he's distracted enough already," she said. "When he's in the classroom, he should be learning. He should be focusing and concentrating on his schoolwork. Not texting, not surfing, not doing any of that stuff."

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12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom, Even for Technophobic Teachers Kim Haynes, www.teachhub.com

Everyone wants teachers to use technology in the classroom. But you're busy -- meeting standards, prepping students for tests -- and maybe you’re not too fond of computers, anyway. Never fear – there are easy ways to bring your classroom up-to-date, technologically.

Do you have a iPad in your classroom for your use? How about iPads for students to use? Could you get a classroom iPad?

What kind of Internet access is available at your school? What are school policies on student use of the Internet?

What do you have to do to get Ipads for your students?

Also try to find a technology “mentor” on campus – the computer teacher or just another teacher who uses technology more than you do. It helps to know there’s someone who can guide you and help you incorporate technology in the classroom if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Perfect Ed Tech Activities for Beginners

Do a PowerPoint “Game Show Review”

Many tech-savvy teachers have used Microsoft PowerPoint to create review games based on famous game shows, including “Jeopardy!,” “The Weakest Link,” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” These templates are available online for teachers to download and revise, including their own content. Check out this template or search “powerpoint game show template” online. A fun way to practice using a projector and get your students to review important material!

Have students complete a written classroom activity as if it was online.

Ever have your students write a diary from the perspective of a character or famous person? Why not have them create a blog instead? Take a look at various blog sites (Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular) and create a template for your students to fill in.

Want students to summarize information? Ask them to tweet the lesson – that is, have them write summaries of 140 characters or less, as if they were writing on Twitter. Or create a template for a web page and ask students to use it to design a webpage about the content they are studying. While these activities don’t actually use technology, they

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familiarize you – and your students – with the Web 2.0 world, which can be a great first step.

Try a Webquest

A webquest guides students to search the Internet for specific information. For example, students are asked to serve as curators of a museum on a particular topic. They must search the Internet to determine what artifacts belong in their museum and explain their choices.

There are tons of already-constructed webquests out there, a perfect way to teachers to begin integrating Internet searches into their curriculum.

Good Ed Tech Activities for All Skill Levels

Use technology as a topic for a writing assignment

For younger students, have them write a “how-to” piece about using technology in the classroom. It’s a natural fit, as young people usually have a higher comfort level with technology than many adults. Tell kids to write a piece instructing someone – maybe a grandparent? – on how to send an email, set up an Ipod, or play a video game. For older kids, have them research the impact technology has had on a particular time in history or science or include a unit on science fiction and technology in your Language Arts curriculum.

Create a class webpage

A class webpage can be anything from a basic site where you post announcements (think “online bulletin board”) to a much more elaborate one that includes class photos, a class blog, downloadable materials, and your own domain name. Those of you with a little more experience may enjoy Webs.com (http://www.webs.com/), which offers both free and premium service packages.

Use an online grading system

While some schools are mandating the shift to web-based gradebooks, you don’t have to wait to try one out. Sites like MyGradebook.com (http://www.mygradebook.com) offer the opportunity to track grades, record attendance and seating charts, and compile reports on student progress. You can also email students and parents directly to allow them to view their updated grades. Never worry again about bringing home your gradebook – you can access it from any computer.

Do an email exchange

When we were kids, some teachers had class penpals or had you practice your penmanship by writing a letter to an author. Try the 21st-century version of that by

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instituting an email exchange. Have your students exchange emails with students in another school, city, state, or country – especially valuable if both sets of students are studying the same material. Or arrange for a group of experts to accept emails from your students on a particular topic. Students who fail to see the “real world implications” of math or science may develop new interest if you can put them in touch with a video game designer, astronaut, or engineer who uses those skills every day. And for adults who might want to volunteer but feel pressed for time, email can be a great way to help out, since they can respond on their own schedule.

Give multimedia presentations – or have your students give them

Liven up a traditional lecture by using a PowerPoint presentation that incorporates photographs, diagrams, sound effects, music, or video clips. For high school teachers, consider having your students develop presentations as a review tool before semester exams. Their work may be so good that you will want to use it in future classes!

Supplement your lessons

When you’ve taught the same material for awhile, you – and your students – may find it less-than-exciting. A quick Internet search may help you identify ways to supplement your lessons with interesting new material. Make a habit of searching before you begin each new unit. You may find photographs, sound clips, video clips, and more that can bring your lessons to life. Many museums now offer online “virtual tours” and teachers are constantly developing new presentations and webquests, which are posted online. Add these in to keep your lessons fresh.

Advanced Ed Tech Activities

Create a class blog or wiki

Take appropriate precautions for Internet safety, but a class blog or wiki can be a great way to integrate technology in the classroom and develop student knowledge. Some teachers use blogs to drive outside-of-class discussion – particularly helpful for AP/IB students who are motivated but short on class time.

A wiki is a website that uses software which allows many different people to edit it (think Wikipedia). Have your students work together to create a wiki on a topic they are studying. They will need to correct each other’s work and collaborate in order to make it a success.

Listen to – or create – a Podcast.

There are thousands of podcasts available on the Web. Search for ones that meet your students’ needs. Some colleges are offering professors’ lectures via podcast, which can be great for advanced students. In other cases, you may be able to find an interview with the author of a book your students are reading, or other supplemental material.

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Make arrangements to download it and play it for your students. For the really ambitious, have students create their own podcasts to document their progress through the year or discuss their ideas on a variety of issues pertaining to the course.

“Publish” your students’ work

Tools exist today to allow your students to create really professional looking work using a desktop computer. Have students create a short film, run an ongoing class website that features student work and opinions, or – if they’re really ambitious – raise the money to have their work professionally published by a self-publishing company like iUniverse or Lulu.

No matter what your skill level, integrating technology in the classroom offers the chance to increase student interest and teach valuable professional skills – and have some fun!

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The 'post-truth' president flattens fact-obsessed media Trump brilliantly recognized post-truthism long ago, while others were still stupidly issuing fact-checks By Neil Macdonald, CBC News

Somewhat haplessly, the Washington Post's superb fact-checking department awarded president-elect Donald Trump four "Pinocchios" for his claim that millions of people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton, and that he in fact won the popular vote, or, as Trump now prefers to call it, "the so-called popular vote."

The Post's main headline called it a "baseless claim." The New York Times used classic Times-speak: "Trump Claims 'Millions' Voted Illegally, Citing No Evidence."

All of this is rather quaint, if admirable. Both newspapers, like other firmaments in the fussy, old-fashioned world of the mainstream media, continue to behave as though citing evidence, or making claims based in fact, actually still matters.

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally

2:30 PM - 27 Nov 2016

Talk about left behind. A massive segment of the U.S. population has happily said farewell to all that, sailing off into the new era of "post-truth."

To them, the real deal is to be found on websites like Infowars.com, which helped start the rumour that millions of non-citizens criminally voted for the criminal Clinton. In their minds, it just confirms Trump's warning that the system is rigged, and illegal aliens conspire en masse to thwart the will of real Americans at the polls.

Trump Nation The very fact that institutions like the Post and the Times would report there is absolutely no evidence of massive voter fraud only makes Trump Nation all the more certain it happened.

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Furthermore, they see no conflict at all in believing on the one hand that systemic fraud took place, and at the same time loudly rejecting, as Trump is asking them to, any recounts in battleground states.

If Trump Nation had to put it all in a tweet, it would read something like this:

"YEAH! Ha! Fraud! Lock her up! But, uhh, NO RECOUNT. Because, FRAUD. Lock her up!"

A second tweet might follow: "Don't you lefties get it? YOU LOST!"

Probably, when Infowars.com claimed no one was actually killed in the Sandy Hook public school massacre in 2012, they nodded and showed that post to friends as further "proof" of President Barack Obama's effort to have all guns in the U.S. seized by a new, classified government department.

And without question, many in Trump Nation still believe Obama was born in Africa — a profoundly racist notion pushed by the incoming U.S. president, who even after the White House released definitive proof Obama was born in Honolulu (a nearly insane thing for a White House to have to do), continued to express skepticism, retreating only a few months ago, after the idea had been so firmly entrenched in the public mind that it could no longer be uprooted.

"Post-truth" was just voted 2016's word of the year by Oxford English Dictionary, which defines it as "circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."

Trump brilliantly recognized and owned post-truthism long ago, while other politicians were still stupidly issuing concocted fact-checks against each other, trying to get out ahead of organizations like the Post, or the Annenberg Foundation's Factcheck.org, or Punditfact or even the urban-legend debunkers at Snopes.

Bumper-sticker culture As if any of those fact warriors really matter anymore. Their efforts to set the record straight (which they apply as severely to liberal politicians as conservatives), can now be dismissed with devastating ease in another tweet.

Something like: "Note to lying MSM 'fact-checkers:' YOU LOST! Get used to it! Sad!"

Trump also realized the crucial value in a bumper-sticker culture of keeping his fact-free blurts to 140 characters, neatly avoiding pesky questions from reporters.

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Say what you will about Trump, he's not one of those generals who can't help re-fighting the last war. But you can say that about the mainstream media, which was not just caught flat-footed by post-truthism, but flattened by it.

Mainstream journalists were simply not prepared for a movement that, faced with a fact, simply announces it's not true, and moves on, clamouring joyously for more of what they want to hear, as opposed to, let's call it, "pre-truth."

[…]

But really, we should have seen all this coming. Radical thinkers on the far left have been pushing post-truthism for decades.

People like Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida became heroes to the activist left – another group addicted to what it wants to hear – by theorizing that there are no facts, only "constructs."

As The Onion's genius headline for Derrida's obituary put it: Jacques Derrida "Dies."

Truth is relative Deconstructionists, as they styled themselves, learned never to answer a question, but to question the frame of the question itself. As in: "Excuse me, but I do not accept that the sun rose in the East today. What is East, anyway, but an artificial concept?"

Well, they got what they wanted, didn't they? Truth is now utterly relative.

And as anyone who's made it through the first year of a liberal arts education knows, the two far ends of the political spectrum eventually bend toward one another, joining. Which they have.

Trump and his legions believe the system is utterly rigged. So do Noam Chomsky and his legions. Trump Nation believes trade deals are a conspiracy against the common worker. Bernie Sanders's followers (and, in Canada, Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians) believe exactly the same thing. Far left and far right are suspicious of central banks, and corporatist media, and they seem for some reason to agree that Russian President Vladimir Putin is misunderstood and smeared.

In any event, here's a fact: the right won. The truth, for the foreseeable future, belongs to them. Get used to it.

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Further Reading on Post-Truth Politics: 1) http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21706498-dishonesty-politics-nothing-

new-manner-which-some-politicians-now-lie-and 2) http://www.nature.com/news/post-truth-a-guide-for-the-perplexed-1.21054 3) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/25/left-wails-happily-indulges-post-

truth-politics/

Further Reading on Sexism in Media: 1) Women in Business: The Glass Cliff: https://hbr.org/2011/01/how-women-end-

up-on-the-glass-cliff 2) Women in Video games: http://time.com/4290455/heres-what-sexist-video-

games-do-to-boys-brains/ 3) Women in Films: The Bechdel Test (***Content Warning for minor language):

https://feministfrequency.com/video/the-bechdel-test-for-women-in-movies/