FILCOLS at the Accessible Books Creation Training in Quezon City Public Library

FILCOLS at the Accessible Books Creation Training in Quezon City Public Library

 

“Your creations are protected by copyright automatically," said Regina Reyna “Reg” V. Pastor before participants of the Accessible Books Creation (ABC) training held at the Quezon City Public Library on September 30.

“Copyright is basically your right to put your name on your work and your right to earn something if the work is sold,” Pastor added.

“Copyright is a bundle of rights and its two main components are moral rights and economic rights. Every time an author puts his or her name on a work, he or she exercises moral rights; and whenever we see a book, film, music, or painting displayed for sale, we know that the creators of these works are exercising their economic rights.”

Reg Pastor explaining the purpose of a collective management organization like FILCOLS.
Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

The rest of copyright law revolves around the scope of moral rights and economic rights of authors; and the rights of the users to access these works.

Pastor was speaking before an audience made up of authors, publishers, and members of the visually impaired and blind.

The training session aims to equip participants with knowledge and skills on how to produce books and other works accessible to the visually impaired and blind community.

Allan Mesoga conducted the training on how to produce books accessible to the visually impaired and blind readers.
 Photo by Shai Gondra.

Bookshare Ambassador Allan Mesoga conducted the ABC Training. He is also a Senior Education Program Specialist at the Department of Education – Bureau of Learning Development.

FILCOLS trustee and Kahel Press officer Wowie Catabijan explains why publishers should support the creation of "born accessible" books. Photo by Shai Gondra.

The event was organized by Kahel Press main officer Wowie Catabijan, who is also a FILCOLS trustee. Aside from FILCOLS, other organizations involved in the event were Bookshare Philippines, the Quezon City Public Library, and the QC Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO QC).

 

To know more about the ABC Training, please click the link below to the FB page of Kahel Press:

https://www.facebook.com/kahelpress/posts/pfbid0ripmfFF6vMkeKeTgLuih6XPnsZeKfGzn3s7j38QrxENhFALSAHaycyvoYqewd2Vrl

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Shai Gondra and Wowie Catabijan. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

 

  

FILCOLS Talks about IP, Social Media, and AI at the 20th PASADO National Seminar

 

FILCOLS Talks about IP, Social Media, and AI at the 20^th PASADO National Seminar

Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) membership officer Regina Reyna “Reg” V. Pastor explained the importance of copyright at the 20^th PASADO National Seminar held at the National Teachers College, Manila on September 22.

Pastor presented the report prepared by FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura before Pampelikulang Samahan ng mga Dalubguro members. This is an organization of teachers and other professionals who advocate for the effective use of film in teaching and acquiring knowledge.

“Respect for copyright is respect for the human rights of authors,” Pastor said quoting Buenaventura. We must remember that real people are behind the texts, images, music, and videos we consume offline and online. Copyright and intellectual property rights extend even to the internet.

Located in Quiapo, Manila, the National Teachers College was established in 1928.
Photo by the NTC Career Placement Office.

Public access is not the same as the public domain. Due to the developments in technology, the public can access a lot of work online. The fact that they are publicly available does not mean we can disregard IPRs.

The public domain is a law-created world for works with expired copyright and those not given copyright protection like government works. In the Philippines, the duration of copyright is the lifetime of the author plus 50 years after death. Works in the public domain are free for the public to use in whatever way they want.

Just because we can access many works online does not mean these are already part of the public domain. They may be publicly available but are not necessarily in the public domain. Many of these works are protected by copyright.

Reg Pastor before participants at the 20th PASADO National Summit. 
Photo by Shai Gondra. 

Unless the author expressly indicated that the work may be used freely, our default assumption is it is under copyright thus we need to attribute properly and seek permission if we wish to use them, especially for large-scale uses.

Not everything posted and shared on social media is under the public domain. The same default assumption should prevail if we want to use the works of others on a large scale.

The rise of Generative AI

The rise of generative AI like ChatGPT and DALLE means the creation of works is no longer the sole turf of humans. As of now, humans still need to use prompts to coax the AI to produce texts, images, music, and videos. But the exponential speed of development in hardware and software means AI will eventually do it without human prompts.

As educators, we need to be vigilant and not be afraid to engage with social media and AI. We need to update a lot of things like the definition of plagiarism which points to a human source.

The classic definition of plagiarism is passing off another person’s work as your own. How can we accuse a student of plagiarism if the work submitted was produced by AI?

We need to update school policies

The student handbook and other school policies need to be updated in the face of the rapid developments in AI.

There was a time when schools allowed students to have their smartphones inside the classroom. This changed when teachers discovered that students were cheating in their exams using smartphones. 

Now all schools ban the use of smartphones, especially during exams. The same rule is applied to professional exams like the bar for prospective lawyers.

After the presentation, a number of participants shared their own experiences both as creators of works and users of the works of others.

Experts from various universities

With the theme “Rebolusyong Industriyal 4.: Eksplorasyon at Perspektiba sa Wika, Pelikula, at Panitikan” (Industrial Revolution 4: Exploration and Perspectives on Language, Film, and Literature), the national summit brought presenters from other higher education institutions like Sherwin C. Teves, Polytechnic University of the Philippines; Sara Mae S. Robin, Far Eastern University - Manila; Louise Vincent B. Amante, University of Asia and the Pacific; and Andrea P. Aligue, Ph.D., Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology.

Award-winning author and ABS-CBN screenwriter Jerry B. Gracio opened the summit as the first speaker. He discussed his experiences in crafting teleseryes (TV series) for the largest network in the country.

Actor Allen Dizon was a special guest and led the ribbon cutting at the 25^th Gawad PASADO exhibit at the NTC lobby in the presence of guests and officials of NTC and PASADO. Dizon, a multi-awarded actor, is also a member of PASADO.

Actor Allen Dizon and Reg Pastor at the opening of the 25th Gawad PASADO Exhibit.
Photo by Shai Gondra.

FILCOLS expresses deep gratitude to Dr. Monreal “Mic” N. Camba, the summit director, and Bebang Siy, for allowing us to present at the national summit. Both are long-standing members of FILCOLS.

FILCOLS staff Shai Gondra accompanied Pastor to assist during the presentation.

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Shai Gondra and Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Shai Gondra and the NTC CPO. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

FILCOLS and CCP Collab: Empower KADIPAN members with Reading Materials, Information on Copyright and AI at the TALAB 2023 in PNU

 

FILCOLS and CCP Collab: Empower KADIPAN members with Reading Materials, Information on Copyright and AI at the TALAB 2023 in PNU

Despite the threat of Tropical Storm Chedeng, the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) displayed remarkable determination. They met on June 7 at the Philippine Normal University in Manila, undeterred by the adverse weather, to celebrate TALAB 2023 alongside the PNU’s Kapisang Diwa at Panitik (KADIPAN) members.

Bebang Siy made a presentation on the free learning resources available online which were created by government cultural agencies.

“Learning resources like stories, articles, drawings, images, and videos are free to download to supplement the materials being used by educational institutions like the Philippine Normal University,” Siy said.

Siy is an officer at the CCP and a member of the board of FILCOLS.

FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura made a presentation via recorded video on copyright, artificial intelligence, and the work of a collective management organization (CMO) like FILCOLS.

“Authors are strongly encouraged to join FILCOLS so that we can protect their reproduction rights,” Buenaventura said. “Institutions that reuse copyrighted works via photocopying and digital copying on a large scale should get a license from FILCOLS to legalize their use. In turn, the remuneration we collect is distributed to our member authors and publishers.”

He explained the rise of AI especially generative AI which produces text, images, and videos. And that students should use them responsibly.

During the open forum, Buenaventura answered some of the questions through the Messenger communications app.

CCP, FILCOLS, and PNU-KADIPAN. Photo by Shai Gondra.

After the presentations, Siy formally turned over to PNU KADIPAN the reading materials collected by the CCP. Reg Pastor and Shai Gondra represented FILCOLS at the event. They turned over to the officers of KADIPAN the reading materials donated through the efforts of FILCOLS.

Established in 1966, the CCP is the leading government institution for arts and culture in the Philippines. FILCOLS is the only CMO organized in 2008 to support the book publishing industry.

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photo by Shai Gondra. Text and photo may be re-posted as long as the authors are acknowledged.

Visit the CCP FB to read the article written by Rajah Mekah Navarro

https://www.facebook.com/CCPIntertextualDivision/posts/567799685527355?ref=embed_post