Group Project Critique

For the group project critique, I chose to examine the Copyright project, the “Official Site of the ‘GMU Copyright Education’ Team.”

I thought this project was extremely well done. I really like the main page of the website that the group created; it’s simple, clean design makes it easy for users to navigate, and the white copyright logo is featured prominently on the site as it contrasts with the black background, again clearly stating to viewers the purpose of the site. The site is broken up into four other pages—Information, History, Modern, and Interviews. Each of the site’s pages is just as sleek and navigable as the main page—users are able to readily identify important content and locate information.

The information and history sections of the site are useful as they provide contextual information through which to frame the site. The mission statement manifesto adds humor to the issue, but clearly indicates the complexities and stipulations of copyright. The history section that the authors have provided is useful, as it is important to know the origins of copyright to understand its complexities and affect on consumers in today’s society. The site creators have also provided information on copyright in modern society. The addition of the screenshot with the broken YouTube video is perfect—so often we visit YouTube expecting to watch a video only to find that the content has been removed for one reason or another. This is often a sobering experience, reminding us all of the reality of copyright claims. The inclusion of this was a well-planned move on the part of the site creators. The final interviews section ties the site together and makes site users aware of peoples’ knowledge of copyright. It is always interesting to see whether the average person really understands what copyright is and means for them.

This project is well-designed and the site provides plenty of useful information about the subject of copyright law and infringement. The website design is excellent and humor is well-used as it makes a difficult subject such as this easier to handle.