You may have noticed the footer of my website reading, “This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0”. Which, if you’re anything like me, you’ve never seen that statement before. Instead of going for the concrete “All rights reserved” pathway that you see everywhere, I decided that I wanted my writing to be a little more available to remix and share. How I’ve established it, you are able to share and adapt my content as long as you provide me with some credit, and explain what exactly was changed.
How come?
Consider this move one of generosity! (ha)
No, but really, this license under the creative commons seemed pretty straight forward to me. I do not see myself having an overwhelming attachment to the content that I create over here, and I figure that if someone else could gain something by adapting or sharing what I post, then I am happy to contribute.
While there’s a vast amount of great and creative content out there on the internet now, it is part of our responsibility to consider how to ethically share all that amazing stuff. Without giving credit to someone when you share their content publicly, many will believe that you produced it yourself. Many will also agree that’s pretty unethical to do, because everyone should be credited for the work that they did. We don’t exactly have a way to renew time here, so that time people spend on their work should be credited properly!
I am honored that you would feel my work is great enough to share, but please give me a little shout out if you do so
As a participant in a Digitally Intensive course and also a student at the University of Mary Washington, I have learned that online content is not simply text on a screen, but actual intellectual labor. I chose Copyright (All Rights Reserved) for this blog to be an active participant in my own digital footprint and its impact. Often times, in digital spaces, it is easy for work to be scrapped or repurposed. A couple clicks of a button can distort even the most well intentioned material. By selecting a traditional copyright, I have full ownership over all material formed. This ensures that while my work is publicly accessible for reading and citation, it cannot be republished, modified, or (most importantly) monetized without my permission. All of this being said, my threshold for use is very low. I cannot imagine turning down a fellow human from expanding upon my work. After all, forward movement always involves the brain power of many, not few. While this blog remains in use for digitally intensive coursework, I want to retain full ownership and creative control over my academic work and ideas as a student creator.
There is scarcely ever a reason to use others work unethically. What I mean by unethically, is that the material was used without proper consent of the original creator. When a creator respects the digital knowledge of others, trust begins to build with the audience. Transparency itself shows that the author has credibility. Also, citing a particular source may strengthen an argument, especially when referencing a professional. Not using work ethically can be a lot of hassle and cost a lot, in the end. If material has not been properly cited, it can be redacted, taken down, or a fine accrued. It could also bring on a costly lawsuit. Properly tagging or linking to another creator allows others to see where material came from and build upon the knowledge they glean. Content creation takes time, money, and effort. Giving credit ensures creators get the visibility they need to keep putting out awesome content. By respecting a creators content, ideas can spread and build on one another to create material we could only previously dream of. When we all work together, the sky is the limit.
I learned that copyright is the legal protection of a creative work. Even if something is free of copyright, the right thing to do is to give credit. This also helps create good habits for later when you may need to credit someone’s work. I also learned about protected work. A lot of the time, with images or videos, there will be watermarks or low-resolution versions until you pay to access either the image or video. There are also ways to find media that doesn’t have these copyright restrictions, like public domain works, where it is not protected by copyright, so the work is free for anyone to use, but while not necessary still important to give credit where credit is due. Overall, copyright is important because it helps to protect people’s creative work.
My License
For my license, I chose to use “all rights reserved” for my website because I want to have control over the content I produce. This means that others cannot reuse my work without my permission.
Using Other Peoples Work
It’s important to give credit where credit is due, whether it is required or not. Most people assume that everyhing online is free, but that simply isn’t true. You must include attribution to the creator. Attribution implies giving credit to the creator when you use their work. I learned that giving attribution is actually easy. Most of the time, the creator will tell you how they would like their work to be credited, and even if they don’t include specifics, crediting someone’s work is quite easy. I have even included examples below. I now have resources like DKC Free Media Resources to help me find images or videos I can use ethically in the future.
Upon learning about the various Copyright Licenses in my Digital Studies class, I found myself with three main takeaways after reflecting on this specific project. In short, I believe that copyright is a valuable tool that allows ownership, control, and freedom over the work you share in the world.
Image by rupixen from PixabayCopyright gives ownership over the work you create
When people use Copyright on their work, it becomes a safeguard against possible exploitation or theft of their original creations. The work they made stays theirs, and Copyright gives them the protection they need to seek legal action if people use their work inappropriately.
Copyright gives you control over how you choose to share your work
Along with ownership, Copyright also extends certain parameters around the owner’s work. As such, the rights around their work can be modified and changed as they wish. Overall, owners can be strict or lax because Copyright affords them that ability.
Copyright allows for more freedom of speech and freedom of expression/creativity
Finally, Copyright not only gives back responsibility and control of the owner, but it also ensures certain freedoms to the general public. While Copyright restricts certain uses of a work, there is still flexibility for other people to use, distribute, and modify a work to express their own opinions, feelings, or ideas. They can express themselves freely under the parameters of Copyright without being unfairly silenced.
Why I chose the license I did
Additionally, I chose the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license because I wanted the most restrictive adaptation of CC licensing for my work. I wanted to ensure that I held a large amount of control and decision-making over the use and distribution of my work. I do not want anything I produce and show in the public internet space to be used or modified in a way I do not support. However, I still believe in the freedom of expression, so I did not want to use All Rights Reserved. In short, I want to have as much of an opinion on the use of my work without fully preventing people from using it at all.
Finally, I believe that the only way to ethically use other people’s work is by following Copyright licensing. Most importantly, Copyright makes sure that the public uses proper attribution for the work of others. This way, no one can pass off another’s creation as their own without legal action. Additionally, Copyright prevents exploitation or misrepresentation of the owner when other people use their work. Given the various types of Copyright, owners can choose how their work is used and therefore retain the integrity of their creation. Lastly, Copyright spells out clear boundaries for navigating the proper use of other people’s creations. These guidelines are simple, straightforward, and avoid any possible theft or unwanted modifications of someone else’s work.
Before when I thought about copyright, I felt as though it was a nuisance. The reason I felt that way was because I couldn’t do things like use certain music for a YouTube video. I would even witness some content creators unintentionally getting into copyright issues. Over time, however, I started to understand the importance of it and why creators have the right to copyright their work. Through my years in college, I have done a lot of activities in content creation where I show my creativity. Having that experience made me realize how important it is to get your well-deserved credit for you intellectual property.
My CC License
For my CC license, I decided to pick the traditional copyright license which means all rights are reserved to me. My reasons for this is because of the origin of my platform. This is a place where I share my thoughts on my blogs. I just want it to be a platform where people read my thoughts and they can comment on my page to share their thoughts and opinions on my blogs. I don’t mind if it is used for fair use purposes (i.e. video critiquing my blogs), but I don’t feel comfortable with someone taking my blog and reposting it somewhere else or remixing it in anyway.
When using the works of others, it is always important to give them credit. When I think about using others’ work ethically, I think about using it to benefit others. This includes using something from others for educational purposes like using someone else’s research for an essay or educational video while citing them as a source. Another situation is when the work is being used for critique. I support criticism because I feel like is important that certain topics have many different perspectives because it broadens others’ minds and helps avoid narrow thinking. Both of these situations benefit others, so therefore it is ethical in my opinion. Anything that would be under fair use is ethical as long as it is credited to the creator.
Conclusion
In conclusion, learning about copyright was useful, especially for someone like me who is currently creating content in this class. Moving from viewing copyright as restrictive to understanding its importance as a tool to protect my creative work helped me make certain choices for my blog site. By choosing a traditional “All Rights Reserves” license while valuing fair use for critique, I can protect my intellectual property while still giving room for meaningful discussions. Copyright is more than just following rules, it’s also about giving deserved credit to creators as they share their creativity to the world.
When I think of who I am as a person, I would be cutting myself short if I didn’t include my online identity. Every post, every account, and every project is all a representation of me. My entire life I’ve always liked the idea of creating some form of content or entertainment as it’s been something I’ve always admired from other people have that platform Whether it’s a TikTok page, a YouTube channel, or a blog page being able to post something that you’re passionate about or able to communicate well and to have an audience for it is a surreal thing to me. Being able to have my own website gives me a chance to live that out for myself. Projecting my thoughts and creative thinking gives me more control of my identity and who I am.
What Am I Leaving Here?
Part of having a presence online is understanding that everything that you do, is part of your digital footprint. Being a creator gives people the power to influence others from what they create and publish. Increasing that influence requires improving your online presence and staying active through your platform. Learning more about the importance of having digital footprint gives me perspective on improving my online identity. The Pew Research Center helped further my understanding on how what we share can affect how people view us.
The Name Decision
I chose dominiccreatess because it identifies me by my name and gives me a simple yet easy way to also show that I’m creating content. It doesn’t limit my website to do one specific thing I can blog, record, experiment, or make a new form of content that hasn’t been done before. I wanted something that gave me free reign to make whatever I feel is right for me.
What’s Next for Dominiccreatess?
Having a domain gives me a chance to figure out what I can do and who am I on the internet. My identity has been building ever since I first created an account and I’m looking to improve it. The more I learn and create, I can make my website into something recognizable; something that can create legacy at some point. With time and technology continuing to improve, so will my ideas and thoughts of creativity.
Since I want my work to stay fully under my control, “All Rights Reserved” makes the most sense for me. Copyright already gives me ownership the moment I create something, but choosing this license makes it clear that no one can reuse, copy, modify, or distribute my work without my permission. I like that it sets a firm boundary: people can read it, but they can’t take it and run with it.
It also fits how I see my work, something I’ve put real time and effort into, and something I want to protect. Using a more open license would allow others to reuse it more freely, but that’s not what I want for this project. “All Rights Reserved” keeps things simple and straightforward.
When I use someone else’s ideas, I want to be honest about where they came from. Citing sources, giving proper credit, and actually adding my own thinking instead of just rewording theirs are all part of that. It’s also important to pay attention to what’s allowed, like fair use, permissions, and licenses matter. Respecting other people’s work makes my own writing stronger and more credible.
Copyright is an extremely important legal protection that provides exclusive use of an individual work to the creator of said work. An interesting thing about copyright is that there is no registration required. As soon as something is created it is under ownership of the creator. There is such a thing as fair-use which protects those who use a creator’s work for education, criticism, and for the news. However, what if creators want their work to be used regardless of the purpose? Creative Commons allows creators to automatically provide permission to those who would like to use their work.
Why did I choose CC BY-NC-SA 4.0?
I chose a Creative Commons (CC) license rather than a full copyright because I would like my work to be able to be used by others. Why this particular license than any of the other CC ones? I would like my work to be credited to me so that I can stand by it and present it as mine. I don’t want my work to be commercially used because I don’t want others to use my creations for advertising or money-making purposes. Lastly, if my work is used in any way then that new work must be licensed under this same license. The 4.0 simply means that this is the 4th version of the CC license.
Using the work of others ethically
It is important to respect how others want their work to be used. As a creator and a viewer, it is your responsibility to know about copyright and CC licenses. One of the biggest challenges about fair-use is that it is acceptable for someone to use your work for criticism. While this can be frustrating, it is everyone’s right as freedom of expression. Overall, it is necessary for creators to understand their rights.
After completing module 5, I can say I learned much about copyright that I did not previously know. I wasn’t aware that copyright was addressed in the Constitution, for example. I knew that copyright was inherent to most creative works, but wasn’t aware of the alternatives to its traditional form– such as Creative Commons licenses. I had never understood what “CC” meant, and after reading up on it, was intrigued enough to select Creative Commons license for my website. I chose one of the more basic licenses: CC BY 4.0. This license allows for the sharing or adaptation of material in any form as long as attribution is given. I figured I did not need a license with any more restrictions than this, considering nothing on my website is of any significant value to me. The only thing original on the site is my thoughts, and I’m happy to share those with whomever wants to use them. The 4.0 license makes clear that any modifications must be specified, so I’m not worried about anyone changing my words or attributing things I did not say to me.
Attribution and the Ethics of Using What’s Not Yours
Using the work of others ethically is crucial to maintaining the foundation of trust that many creative works are built upon on the web. Attribution is a must in all circumstances– whether legal copyright applies or not. Not crediting people for their work is a violation of the aforementioned trust that a creator puts in the public domain. As a whole, web users should want to incentivize creators to put their work into the public domain/make it free for use, as it benefits all of us. Conducting oneself ethically when sourcing materials, such as media, is a must. For example, using websites such as Pixabay is an easy way to ensure your sources are being used consensually. See below for two copyright-free Pixabay images that demonstrate ethical attribution.
Picture by RebeccasPictures from PixabayPicture by vlaaitje from Pixabay
What is truly real on the internet isn’t the content itself, but the human intent and emotional connection behind it. While the surface is dominated by curated feeds, optimized algorithms, and AI-generated text designed to capture our attention, the digital communities and shared knowledge we build still reflect genuine human experiences.
If you feel like the internet is flooded with rumors and inaccurate info, you are not wrong and it is rarely just an accident. At the end of the day, a lot of it comes down to cash and how apps are built. Social media algorithms are basically designed to keep our eyes glued to the screen, and nothing grabs our attention faster than stuff that makes us angry, shocked, or scared. This has created a whole clickbait economy where drama equals dollars from ad revenue. On top of that, people use fake news as a tool to gain political power, or sometimes everyday folks just share rumors because they want to feel connected to a group. When being fast and dramatic gets rewarded more than being accurate, truth gets pushed to the side.
Use a run-walk progression and build slowly—your goal is to make the running easy enough that you don’t need to stop.
3 days per week, with a rest day between runs:
Week
Workout
1
1 min run / 2 min walk × 10
2
2 min run / 2 min walk × 8
3
3 min run / 90 sec walk × 7
4
5 min run / 2 min walk × 5
5
8 min run / 2 min walk × 4
6
12 min run / 2 min walk × 3
7
20 min continuous run, then 5–10 min easy
8
Run 5K continuously
Tips:
Run slowly enough to speak in short sentences. Starting too fast is the main reason beginners stop.
Warm up with 5 minutes of brisk walking.
Keep your stride short and relaxed.
Add no more than about 10% distance per week.
Take at least one full rest day weekly; strength training once or twice a week helps.
If you feel sharp pain, chest pain, dizziness, or unusual shortness of breath, stop and seek medical advice.
If you already know your current longest nonstop run, I can tailor the plan to you.
what are your sources, Query 2
what are your sources
ONEchat, Response 2
ONEchat
Is this trustworthy?
The sources I got from GPT 5.6 Luna actually felt pretty trustworthy. Right off the bat, it brought up a program I already know well, Couch to 5K. Honestly, that program is incredibly helpful and popular for a good reason. But here is the tricky part. Every single source the AI gave me was just a different piece of that same Couch to 5K routine. It almost makes it look like this is the absolute only way to run a 5K without stopping. This is not true, but because the program is such a massive hit online, it makes sense that the algorithm keeps pulling it up as the ultimate answer.
Reflection
The two different artificial intelligence models provided training advice for running a 5K without stopping, and they gave me the exact same information. Both systems instantly recommended Couch to 5K, demonstrating how AI models naturally mirror the most popular data on the web rather than offering alternative perspectives. I didn’t notice a big difference in intelligence, since both provided the same information.
