Flashback: New Zealand in 1949

The video above is the most recent uploaded by Archives New Zealand, “Weekly Review No. 384 (1949)”. It’s been a long time since I’ve shared one of these archival films, and this one caught my eye for a personal connection.

The third segment, “H.M.N.Z.S. 'TAMAKI'.... YOUNG SAILORS” is about training for the New Zealand Navy. I’ve had many relatives in my New Zealand family who have been through that training, though the most recent had more modern training methods and technologies, of course. Still, it’s interesting to see how it used to be done.

I also noticed that these films are being released under a “Creative Commons Attribution licence (reuse allowed)” license, a change I'd missed, and at the very end the video says, “Please Comment on, Share and Remix this film.” When Archives NZ first started posting videos to their YouTube Channel, the films carried a “Standard YouTube Licence” which doesn’t expressly permit reuse. There was also no request to remix their films. They began releasing under the Creative Commons license about a year ago, the invitation to remix began sometime after that.

Two and a half years ago, Google announced that it was allowing Creative Commons licensing as an option, but no one was required to do so, of course. The licensing allows more creativity as people make videos using CC-licensed footage (some of it simply stock footage).

I think this is a great thing. I abandoned a video project that used free stock footage because of the increasing amount of false copyright claims being made. Having ready access to Creative Commons film—especially when shared within YouTube itself—will make it easier to defend against false claims, and that’s a really great thing.