Digital Literacy 101: Copyright and Fair Use
The sixth lesson in our Digital Literacy curriculum explores some of the issues surrounding copyright, educational Fair Use, works in the public domain, and Creative Commons licensing. Although responsibility for teaching and understanding these topics often falls to librarians, it is critical that all students and faculty have a working knowledge of how creative works can and cannot be used in the classroom.
Copyright
In theory, the concept of copyright is simple; people who create “intellectual property” can own, control, and be paid for their efforts. In reality, copyright is a complex and fluid issue that can seem beyond the grasp of those outside the legal profession. In her book Copyright For Schools, Carol Simpson provides a clear explanation of copyright compliance and an extensive list of resources for additional information. For those wanting a less formal overview, this clip from Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University is entertaining and informative:
Two common misconceptions among students (and teachers) are (1) online resources that don’t display a copyright symbol are not protected by copyright (2) any copyrighted resource may be used for any purpose provided the work is cited. Under current law, copyright protection is automatic when intellectual property is created, and portions of copyrighted works can be used for educational purposes under the terms of Fair Use.
Fair Use
Copyright is a law and objective; Fair Use is a guideline and subjective. At a basic level, however, four factors determine if/how copyrighted work can be used under the guise of Fair Use:
- The purpose and character of the use.
- The nature of the copyrighted work.
- The amount of the portion used.
- The effect of the use upon its value.
While all four elements must be considered, the issue of amount is perhaps the most salient for students. We have all seen multimedia projects that included text, images, audio, and/or video that far exceeded the Fair Use limits of quantity and length. Hall Davidson’s Copyright and Fair Use chart provides a straight-forward overview of media guidelines and is a “must read” for anyone in education.
Public Domain
Resources in the public domain are not protected by copyright and may be used without the owner’s permission or consideration of the Fair Use guidelines. The point at which intellectual property enters the public domain varies considerably, but as a general rule, anything published prior to 1923 is public. Beyond that date, conditions and copyright terms largely depend upon when, where, and how the work was published.
Although e-texts are the most common form of public domain media, images and video are also available. This brief list includes several of the more popular public domain repositories:
- Bartleby.com Public domain texts online
- Books on the Internet. E-texts from UT Austin
- Great Books. Ancient classics to 20th century masterpieces.
- Images Listing of public domain images
- Internet Public Library Library for the Internet community
- Moving Image Archive Movies, films, and videos
- Online Books Listing over 30,000 free books on the Web
- Project Gutenberg More than 25,000 free e-books
Creative Commons
Between the “all rights reserved” of copyright and the “no rights reserved” of the public domain is a relatively new option for licensing intellectual property: Creative Commons. A free service, Creative Commons allows content creators to license their work with “some rights reserved.”
There is an enormous amount of Creative Commons material available, and tools like Creative Commons Search, Flickr CC, and Flickr Storm making locating it quick and easy. It is challenging to move students away from Google image search, but the quality and permissibility of Creative Commons content is hard to match. Next week, when we explore image editing with Photoshop, students will go through the process of licensing an original image so they can better appreciate and respect intellectual property.
Compliance Requires Persistance
It is not practical to expect that every teacher and student will have complete familarity with the inner workings of copyright, Fair Use, the public domain, and Creative Commons. It is reasonable, however, to ask that each of us make a concerted effort to abide by the laws and guidelines currently in place. As adults, we can begin by modeling proper behavior and require our students to do the same when using someone else’s media. With persistance and continued education, we can set the standard for thoughtful compliance, and that’s a goal worth achieving.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
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