Copyright

Title: Understanding Creative Commons Licenses

Author: Rebecca Scudder

Editor: Michele McDonough

Publisher: Bright Hub

URL: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/publishing/articles/86231.aspx

Abstract:

This article presents how Creative Commons (CC) works and enumerates the different types of copyright licenses that CC offer.  It is important for us to understand the copyright, know how to use the creative works of others, and choose which license is suitable for us. According to Scudder, the main Creative Commons licenses are:

Attribution (CC BY) - licensed materials can be used and modified for non-commercial and commercial purposes as long as you acknowledge the original creation.

Attribution without derivatives (CC BY-ND) – licensed materials can be used for non-commercial and commercial purposes as long as you acknowledge the original creation, but the original creation may not be modified.

Attribution Share Alike (CC BY-SA) - licensed materials can be used and modified for non-commercial and commercial purposes as long as you acknowledge the original creation and the license for the new creation is same with the terms of the original creation.

Attribution Noncommercial  (CC BY-NC) – licensed materials can be used and modified for non-commercial purposes only, you should acknowledge the original creation.

Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA) – licensed materials can be used and modified for non-commercial purposes only, you should acknowledge the original creation and the license for the new creation is same with the terms of the original creation.

Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) – this is the most restrictive CC license among other CC licenses. Licensed materials can be used for non-commercial purposes only, but it cannot be modified in any way and you should acknowledge the original creation.

No Right Reserved (CC0) – the license you assigned to work allows anyone to use the new creation in any purpose and modification they want. This licence not requires you to acknowledge the creator of the original work.

Public Domain - Copyright-Only Dedication* (based on United States law) or Public Domain Certification (Scudder).

Three things I learned from the article:

1. Creative Commons licenses help the creators to share their works with legal protection.

2. There are different kinds of CC licenses which you can use to make sure that all the materials/works that you’ve used is legal and did not violate any copyright laws.

3.  All of us should know who owns the copyright of the work and do not use any copyrighted material without any permission.

Application/Implication of what I've learned to my work/to me as a person:

As one of the users of information and works of others, I should properly acknowledged/cited their works. Also, I should choose what kind of CC licenses is suitable for me when I’m using the works of others and creating my own work too. 

Cloud Computing

Title: The Advantages of Cloud Computing

Author: Arun Kumar

Publisher: Bright Hub

URL:  http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-computing/articles/10026.aspx

Abstract:

The article presents the advantages of cloud computing and its contribution to green computing. Green computing is the energy efficient usage of computing resources. Some of the advantages of cloud computing are: remote accessibility, easy expansion, security, and environmental friendly. Also, the author discussed the different types of cloud services, such as SaaS (Software as a Service), Paas (Platform as a Service), and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

Three things I learned from the article:

1. Cloud computing reduced costs – no need to purchase the infrastructure, server, etc. You only need to pay the resources or services that you’ve needed.

2. It is easy to maintain – no management service involved to the user, you can easily backup your files/data anytime you want and access them too.

3. It saves the environment.

Application/Implication of what I've learned to my work/to me as a person:

As one of the children of our mother earth, I/we should contribute to protect and save our environment. I should utilize the clouds to save and access the resources/files that I’ve needed and encourage others to use it too.

Computer Security

Title: Tips on Correctly Setting Passwords

Author: William Springer

Publisher: Bright Hub

URL: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb-security/articles/98927.aspx

Abstract:

William Springer gave some tips on setting and creating a good computer security codes and passwords to protect and secure the computers and private information. One of the tips that he advised was to choose a password that is not commonly used but meaningful to you. He also discussed the bad example of password. Using default passwords is a bad habit because if someone knows the default password, he can easily track and access you account.  

Three things I learned from the article:

1. Always change the default password for protection.

2. Avoid using dictionary words such as love, lust, money, password, private, qwerty, secret, sex, and snoopy, etc. Using dictionary words, hackers can easily identify your passwords.

3. Another example of bad passwords are zip codes, birthdays, kid’s name, spouse’s birthday, even these examples are easy to remember, hackers can also guess it easily.

Application/Implication of what I've learned to my work/to me as a person:

After reading this article, I’ve realized that I should change some of the passwords that I’ve created to protect my accounts more and use passwords that are meaningful to me but meaningless to others.