Reflection 2017/04/05

Sometimes we as students are very blasé or even uninformed about a very important matter, that is copyright? Let me briefly explain, Copyright is a protection which is afforded under law for various types of works of people and organisations. In a South African context, the copyright law of South Africa governs copyright and is embodied in the Copyright Act, 1978 and its various amendment acts.

Literature, music, movies and architecture are examples of copyrightable works.  The right to copy, display, perform, distribute and create an imitative version of such work is reserved for the owner of the work. What it means is that individuals, other than the owner may not copy, display, perform, distribute and create an imitative version of such work, unless the individual has the permission to do so from the copyright holder.

Herein lies the problem for many students, especially here at UWC, and I’m also speaking from personal experiences. Most students sometimes copy large portions (more that the allowed 10%) or even the entire book. I think students are largely unaware of the copyright infringements they are guilty of. In their defence, most students are from impoverished backgrounds (on NSFAS) and cannot afford text books as it (books) simply too expensive. But then again one cannot disregard practices that is criminal, maybe the library should put up posters explaining the copyright act and how much an individual is allowed to copy. Also, if the individuals (students) could get permission from the intellectual property owner as to copy the books and explaining the imposition of poverty of many students on campus.

Also, this week we were introduced an exciting app called “TodaysMeet”. The lecturer were posing the class questions via the app and we (class) were responding via the app. While all this was happening, through my mind went “it will be a useful tool to use in my tutorials”. It will empower the socially withdrawn and student lacking confidence to speak in class to give his/her opinion and contribute to discussions. It will also be useful, say if there are any kind of disruptive protest we had over the last two years, we then can have a class online. The class do not have to be confined by the physical boundaries of the walls. The SRC can even use this app for elections, it will remove so much logistical issues. This app (TodaysMeet) gives us so much more options. Please click link to login to  the app so that you may also benefit from it https://todaysmeet.com