This week we learned about copyright issues.  As the  The Chronicle mentioned, I have not paid enough attention to copyright issues, and I don’t think I have experienced it before. One thing the article The Chronicle raised that  I never thought about is the ownership of copyright, as I thought I didn’t own any copyrights before I read this article, but now I should really think again. As we work in the field of research, and publications are a major part of our work, we should know more about the copyright ownership, and also know our rights and how to negotiate about our rights.

I also have never  used Creative Commons before, and I think it’s a great idea and resources for everyone. I used to only rely on google and other search tools to find images and music for my work, but now I know there are more other resources available.

I feel it would be great to make my own work freely available to others,  I would like to share my work results and products with others as long as they use them for non-profit purpose. For instance, for educating students, or helping people in need, as I am in the field of gerontology and my research interest is about dementia care, I am very glad to share my knowledge and my research findings with my students, people with dementia, and their caregivers. I think”open source” options as opposed to copyrighted options are more useful and helpful both in helping others and moving human knowledge and technology forward. I think this also depends on the various research field, I think it might not be the same for people who are in the technology or engineering field, as the technology develops fast, and often the research findings are converted to profitable products.