Media Exercise 6

From LIS5313

Basic Image Editing: Visual Arguments About Copyright   (Due: Feb. 19)

Task

A possible interpretation of Media Exercise 6—by Andrew Syder, remixing “Air Mo” by moriza.

• The task is to use GIMP to create an image that makes a visual argument about copyright, in the style of the graphic art of Barbara Kruger.
• The exercise is intended to familiarize you with basic image manipulation in GIMP and to challenge you creatively. It is also intended to give you practice in searching for images that are in the public domain or have an appropriate Creative Commons license, and in "remixing" images to make a derivative work.

Guidelines

• You must use, manipulate, and add on to a photo created by someone else. You can incorporate multiple photos in your image if you like, but all of the photos you include should be created by someone else.
• The photo (or photos) you use should either be in the Public Domain or have a Creative Commons "Attribution" or "Attribution-NonCommercial" license (any version number associated with either of these licenses is fine).
• For this exercise, it is not acceptable to use a photo that has a traditional copyright ("all rights reserved") license, even if you have permission to use it from the copyright holder or could make a fair use claim to use it under other circumstances.

Steps to Create Your Image

1. View and examine examples of Barbara Kruger's graphic art work. (Web searches will turn up several examples. You can also review the wikipedia entry on Barbara Kruger).
2. Spend a few minutes brainstorming possible visual arguments you might want to make about copyright. Don't put too much time into this, because your ideas will evolve and develop once you actually find possible images to use. But do spend a few minutes thinking about possibilities. Your ultimate goal will be to combine image and text in a visually evocative way that "says something" about copyright. What you choose to communicate (and how you choose to communicate) will be up to you. For example, you might choose an image and phrase that work together in an ironic way to make people think or question something about copyright, or you might combine image and text in a way that communicates a message in a more explicit, direct, and "hit-you-over-the-head" way. You might choose to convey a more personal reaction or introspective response to copyright. It's up to you.
3. Search for and select a photo (or photos) to use for the project. There are over 5 million photos with Creative Commons "Attribution" licenses that you can find using this Flickr search portal, and over 6 million photos with Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial" licenses that you can find using this Flickr search portal. Of course there are many other ways to find images with Creative Commons licenses or images in the public domain. Use whatever strategies you prefer, but make sure to keep a record of the link(s) and attribution info for the photo(s) that you use.
4. Refer to the GIMP Tutorial to install GIMP, and then familiarize yourself with the interface and menus. At a minimum, you will want to be able to:

• crop the photo
• desaturate the photo (so that it is black and white)
• add text to your image and alter the font style, size, color, and position of text as needed
• add a solid color rectangle behind your text (e.g. typically red), and change its size and position as needed

Note: If you are new to photo manipulation and GIMP, I highly recommend that you watch and refer to the 13:30 minute video posted on Dr. Tripp's blog (a link will be provided), that demonstrates the basic steps needed to complete this exercise in GIMP. For those of you who want to explore the software (and your creativity) a little more, you might consider combining multiple images or adding filters or other effects to the image. A list of help and tutorial resources are provided on our GIMP Tutorial wiki page. Feel free to add to it.

Steps to Create Your Blog Post

1. Save your image in GIMP as a JPG. Go to File > Save As, and make sure that your file extension is .jpg. If it is not, then select the drop down menu, "Select File Type (By Extension)" and scroll down and select "JPEG image." Then click Save.
2. Upload your image to Flickr (or the photo sharing service of your choice). Give your image a name, and include appropriate attribution information in the description field for the image.
3. Create a blog post that contains the following elements:

• Use the title of your image as the title for the blog post.
• Embed your image in the post, using a size of the image that is as large as possible, without being larger than 500 pixels wide. (Refer to the Blogging Tutorials on "Embedding images on the blog" as needed.)
• Directly under your image, provide a Creative Commons License. To do this, follow the instructions at Creative Commons: Choose a License, and copy the html provided by Creative Commons into the "Code" window of your blog post.
• Under your Creative Commons License, include a list of "Credits" that gives attribution information for any image assets you used that were created by someone else. Typically, this information will include a person's name (or username) and the name of their image; it may also include a link to the image.
• Categorize your post under "Media Projects".
• Check your post to make sure it is formatted correctly. Edit the post as necessary.

Submission Instructions

• Submit the assignment in Blackboard by going to Blackboard > Assignments > Media Exercise 6. Click "View/Complete Assignment" and provide the URL to your blog post in the Comments Box.

Resources

• GIMP Tutorial—Steps for downloading GIMP, and links to help and tutorial resources in GIMP.
• Using GIMP in the Style of Barbara Kruger—A short video posted on the blog that goes through the steps needed to do this exercise. (Note: Link will be provided.)