Farmers Or Celebrities? Livestreaming Changes Country Life In China. Livestreaming is transforming some Chinese farmers into celebrities, reported NPR. Liu Jin Yin is a 26-year-old farmer who earns far greater income from livestreaming videos of his daily life in rural Sichuan Province to nearly 200,000 subscribers. “When I started livestreaming, my neighbors saw me talking to myself and thought I had gone crazy,” Liu told NPR. “Then I saw that it was possible to make money doing this…I’m also now able to stay at home to take care of my parents. Everyone’s happy. This has changed me.” This trend is part of a larger online culture in China, where over 360 million people tune into livestream videos, supporting a $3 billion industry.
ReCreate Takes Part In Copyright Week. January 15-19 marks Copyright Week. Organized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Copyright Week features diverse groups promoting principles guiding copyright policy. The intent of the week is to highlight different aspects of how copyright law should encourage innovation and promote creativity.
Social Media Influencers Recognized For Their Artform And Cultural Impact. This year, the NAACP Image Awards introduced the category of YouTuber of the Year in partnership with Google, reported Bustle. Beauty vlogger Jackie Aina was named the 2018 YouTuber of the Year, an award which recognizes the cultural impact of online creators and social media influencers. This week, the 10th annual Shorty Awards announced the nominees for its social media-driven awards, such as Meme of the Year, Creator of the Decade and YouTuber of the Year, according to Deadline.
Copyright Week 2018 Kicks Off With “Public Domain And Creativity” Theme. As part of Copyright Week, Copybuzz’s Glyn Moody penned a column explaining how copyright term extensions restrict access to the public domain. “In other words, today’s artists can only draw on works created by their long-dead predecessors, unless an artist opts for a more generous licensing approach such as those offered by the Creative Commons organisation,” wrote Moody. “For the digital age, where ordinary people have routinely become new kinds of creators, and frequently post text, sounds and images online, that’s a huge loss of potential source material.”
(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Repair). iFixit’s Kay-Kay Clapp wrote a blog post about the importance of digital right to repair, and how consumers should have the right to modify software on products they own. While consumers may own the device itself, they do not own the software underneath it, and therefore, are barred from being able to modify or repair it freely. Clapp argues: “When you buy something, you should own it. You should have the right to repair it yourself…There’s enough broken stuff to go around so everyone can get their fix—including our broken copyright laws.”
YouTube Is More Than Just Viral Videos. YouTube’s head of culture and trends Kevin Allocca joined CBS News to talk about how viral videos are shaping society and changing the way people live. Allocca also discussed how YouTube has grown into a diverse community of videos on every topic imaginable, and why it is more than just a platform for viral videos. “There are so many genres that exist on YouTube…viral videos represent only one slice of what is a much larger ecosystem,” said Allocca.