I love to make stuff. I wake up thinking about PhotoShop color schemes, I take photos of things that are beautiful because I know there’s a quote out there that would be perfect to go with it. I’ve always made it my goal to share every poster I create here and on Flickr under Creative Commons Licensing. I believe in sharing, in collaborating, and let’s face it, we, as teachers love freebies, and have to get creative to make our classrooms shine.
In my classroom, when my students get a photo from Google Images, I ensure they find the original source. I explain to them that I might “take” their work off the classroom server and make money off it. They always get fired up, telling me how wrong that is. No, I wouldn’t take their work, but I need them to understand that the internet is filled with the work of others. Work that someone took the time and energy to create. Work that we should value. That is, if we value people and their ideas.
This morning I came across a couple of pins on Pinterest. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love Pinterest. I love to share ideas, find ideas, and get inspired by work that others are doing. These pins I came across today? They were personal. They led me a to a page where I see some posters, quite similar to ones I had created, down to exact wording and clipart, were being offered, for money. With no credit. And another to a blog with the posters recreated, down to the same clipart and colors, again… no mention of the original. The naive, optimistic part of me wants to believe that it was a coincidence.
Part of me thinks, I don’t create ANY of this to “get credit” or “make money,” so I should just look the other way. But, the other part of me? I see my students. Would I want my students to do this? No.
I wish I hadn’t seen this side of the internet today. I always knew it was there. It’s just so much more personal now.
