Link with Love

 

Hello, and thanks for reading.

Today I have a proposition for all you lovely folks.

I want you to think about all the creative people in your life and what they do with their creativity.  Do they paint, write poetry, take pictures, write music, make crafty things, wooden things, metal things?  Are they a novelist, seamstress, welder, fabricator, designer, artist, poet, musician, toy-maker, clock-maker, a pastry chef, a scrapbooker, or a motivational speaker?

And think.

Do they spread their creative joy via the amazing world wide marketplace called the internet?  Do they expose themselves and their creative work to that big massive world of onlookers and potential customers?  Well, if you know anyone like this (and I am sure you do) or if you yourself are one of these folks, think about this for a second: exposure on the internet is amazing, exciting and HUGE!  But it is also (potentially) corrupt in its unregulated format and when creative folks contribute themselves and their work into that big potluck of creation, things sadly get mish-mashed, mixed up, lose their original sources and (gasp!) even get stolen.  Yes, it is true.   Art work in all its myriad forms gets ripped off daily by either unknowing individuals looking to find beautiful things to collect, or stealthy, unsavory pirates looking to jack your booty for free profit.
So, what do you do with that bit of knowledge?  Do you shrug it off and continue your journey oblivious to the shame or do you act with kindness and respect and learn what you can do to help art and intellectual property stay connected with its original curator online?  Maybe you don't know what to do about it, at all.

Well, I can help you with that.

If you have been following along here you will know that I am mildly obsessed with an artist from Winnipeg called Kal Barteski.  She's amazing, inspirational, dynamic and brilliant.  She is also an artist whose work was stolen and spread around the internet for profit and other really horrific things.  When she uncovered this scandal Kal rose to the occasion and developed an organization called Link with Love.  You may have noticed the badge on the sidebar of this blog.

Link with Love does good work, but it needs more support.  It's main focus is to educate internet users about how to keep creative works found online credited to their original designers, and about why it's important in the first place.  But let's be honest.  Why it's important is a no brainer.  I can think of at least five people in my life that I love dearly who are creative people and who display their work online.  It would be devastating if all their hard work and effort to live their dream was quashed by some pirate looking for free booty.  Seriously.  We all know someone who may eventually, or already does, put their stuff online and what a shame it would be if we knew how to help them keep it safe, but did NOTHING about it.  This is a personal mission for us all.  We live in the digital age and that will not ever go away.  Let's be smart and savvy about how our work gets acknowledged.

Let's do this.

So what I propose to you, my dear readers, is that you educate yourself.  Go to Link with Love's site and read up, check out their face book page and give them your support by liking them.  Start following them on Twitter and get updates about what we can do to make the online marketplace a safer place to do business.  I know you know someone that this would matter to.  Maybe even yourself.  Maybe one day YOU will be selling your wares online.  Wouldn't you want a safety net behind you to know your stuff was safe?

Let's do this.

Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this.  Check out my links and get back to me.  Thanks!