High School Drama Students Create Mystery Series For YouTube Channel. When school closures forced drama students at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, CA to cancel their final play, the students decided to create their own multi-part mystery series for YouTube instead. “The opportunity to write and edit, which I really haven’t done much of, has been really, really incredible,” said student Jordyn Holt. The episodes are released Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on JBHS Drama’s YouTube channel, as well as its Instagram page. You can even buy a “virtual ticket” to help support the school’s budget. The students plan to use the ticket proceeds to support the tech crew and production needs for the next school year.
TikTok Surge Providing Income For Performers. As many performers struggle with cancellations during the COVID-19 crisis, the Los Angeles Times reports how TikTok is helping performers in LA earn an income. The story profiles performers like comedian Adam Waheed who is now making millions through social media and his 5.2 million followers on TikTok. According to app market research firm Sensor Tower, TikTok broke a record for the most app downloads in a single quarter in the first three months of 2020 and saw more than 315 million installs in the first quarter of 2020, up 58% from the previous quarter. The Los Angeles Times report that the app is “perhaps the most influential launchpad for new music in America and another way for unknown talent to shine and connect with fans.”
Feeding NYC: Creative Cooking Series. The New York City Department of Sanitation recently launched a cooking series on YouTube to help preserve the city’s food supply chain by providing citizens with resourceful and creative ways to cook during quarantine. The show provides tips for how people can make use of items that they likely already have available in their kitchens. “No New Yorker should go hungry because of this crisis,” wrote the department on its YouTube page.
Re:Create Member Profile CDT. Re:Create has launched a new blog series, Get To Know Our Members, to help others better understand its members and their work in support of balanced copyright policies. The first post features a Q&A with Stan Adams, deputy general counsel & open internet counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). On the importance of the DMCA, Adams tells us: “The DMCA’s liability shield for intermediaries is a fundamental element of an open internet because it allows websites to host user-uploaded content without fear of crippling copyright lawsuits. Without this protection, websites would not offer users the option of sharing their creations and expressions with the world, undermining one of the internet’s core values.”