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This article was first published on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010 The beginning of a new year is a time to pause and reflect on things in our lives that need to change. We long to jettison old habits and replace them with new, healthier ones. Most of us, though, [...] 19 January, 2010 | By Sarah Cooper UK cinema admissions are at their highest level since 2002, according to figures released by the UK Film Council today (January 19). Admissions in 2009 rose to 173.5m from 164.2m for the previous year and just behind the 2002 record of 175.9m. The increase was driven by the success of [...] Of course everyone is shocked and saddened at natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti this week. Many of want to use photos of the aftermath in various contexts – to encourage donations, encourage prayer, etc. But the fact that a heart-rending tragedy has taken place does not allow us to use copyrighted pictures. The fact that nobody is likely to object to you using them in church is not the point. You shouldn’t use them without permission. There are plenty of blogs which have taken images from news sites without permission, but that doesn’t mean you should. Blogs should always have attributions for picture sources, which enables you to investigate permissions. If there’s no attribution, you must assume you cannot use the picture, not that you can. Almost all news site photographs are copyright, many from Associated Press, Press Association and Reuters. They’re all very hot on copyright. BUT, Flickr is a great source of pictures which are licensed for use under the Creative Commons scheme. Some, if not all, of the various United Nations organisations put photos on Flickr under a CC licence, which allows you to use their images for free subject to one condition: that you give an attribution of the source. If I have time I add the text (something like © Joe Bloggs; used under a Copyright Commons Licence) to the edge of the photo so it’s there for future use; if I’m in more of a rush I use a text box in Powerpoint or put a slide at the end stating the sources. But it must be there [...]
Happy Christmas from Tony and Jane Watkins Over the last month, I have been anxiously watching developments concerning Authentic Publishing, STL Distribution and Wesley Owen bookshops – all part of Biblica (was IBS-STL). They hit the financial buffers despite having had a good year, largely because of cash-flow problems caused by an extremely problematic new computer system. It’s very sad that this [...] Image courtesy E1 Entertainment © 2007 As we gear up for another round of seasonal warmth and good cheer, it’s time once again to embrace what our culture calls ‘the true spirit of Christmas’. Most people define this as some anodyne wish for peace and goodwill, a result of the pressure to keep any religious content [...] Secondary schools with a religious foundation contribute significantly and substantially more to the promotion of community cohesion and the provision of equality of opportunity for students than other schools, according to the results of an academic study of recent Ofsted inspection data. Analysis of the sample of independent inspection reports suggests that secondary-level ‘faith schools’ (of [...] This free automatic Advent Video Calendar will display a different thought provoking video each day from 1st – 24th December, featuring speakers such as Philip Yancey, Krish Kandiah, Anna Robbins and Nick Pollard (you can preview all the videos before you install this). To install it on your website or blog just use the following code, then it [...] |
Tony Watkins is a writer and speaker on Christian faith and contemporary culture, with a particular interest in film. He is the Managing Editor of Culturewatch. |
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Copyright © Tony Watkins 1994-2010 - All Rights Reserved |
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