Drape’s Takes: The Educator’s Guide to the Creative Commons

The Kindle is only one direction. Give every student a laptop, or let them use their own if they have one, and provide digital content is another option. Of course, file sharing and copyrights become an even more important issue for the book publishers if all of the material was available in digital format. This sort of reminds me of the transition from vinyl to compact disk way back when I worked in a record store in the mid 80’s. Short-sidedness on the part of the recording industry hasn’t done them any favors. We’ll have to wait and see what happens to the text book publishing industry as the world rapidly goes digital around them.

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/08/25/rumored-textbook-plans-for-kindle

Presentation outline:
*Landscape
*Fundamentals
*Exemptions
*Synthesis & Application

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Landscape
Copyright as censorship. Early English Law. Designed to protect the rights of the printing press owners. Also allowed for vetting process on the part of the ruling class. Statute of Anne (1710) Right to copy is limited to 14 years after which the work is placed in the public domain. Constitutional Statement on Copyright – Article 1, Section 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause

With changes in technology, copyright has increased the scope, subject matter, and duration.
Text (1800)
Work (1900)
Tools (2000)

—————–

Fundamentals
Duration is complex and covered by multiple laws. Started with 14 years with one 14 year extension. This was double to 28+28, then changed to Life of author +50 years (1976), then changed to life+70 (1998).

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
*Update copyright law for the digital environment
*Deals with Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies

Copyright belongs to the creator unless the creator gives it away. Exceptions include material created as part of employment, commissioned works, and any terms of publishing.
Rights include: reproduction, distribution, preparation of derivative works, public performance, public display.

Aspects of Copyright
*Expression, not idea
*Original and fixed

Public Domain
Belongs to everyone and no one
Anyone can exercise rights of copyright holder
Also includes:
-facts
-Works of US Government
-State Governments vary

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Exemptions
Teaching exemptions – TEACH Act
Fair Use
Library circulation
Library archives

TEACH Act 2002 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEACH_Act
*Allows public performance and display of copyright works in digital form
*Specific list of accepted uses = limited scope
*Requirement PRIOR to use
Face to face
-non-profit teaching institution
-legal copy
-teaching objective linked to the presentation
Digital Transmission
-legal copy
-accredited
-mediated instructional activities
-dramatic literary works – limited
-enrolled students only
Additionally institutions must have:
-copyright policies
-copyright best practices for teachers and students
-inform students of copyrighted materials
Technology protection measures: prevents retention of work accessible after the class, unauthorized further dissemination – may not manipulate existing encryption (like watermarks, passwords, etc.)

Fair Use
Purpose – Amount – Nature – Effect on market
Fair Use checklist http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/checklist.htm
Fair Use is a legal way to infringe on copyright

Guidelines
Alternatives to Fair Use
Broadly used as policy by school districts
10%, etc.
Not law – rests on congressional intent – does not protect from litigation or liability
Face-to-face teaching exemption – teacher or instructor is present – only students – connection to course content – using legitimate content
Audience is considered, as is context, access, and attribution

RISK activity using examples in small discussion groups

Copyright and Fair Use are indicators of risk, but as educators we have an obligation to present the moral and ethical issues involved with our students and in our professional behavior.

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Bibliographical Center for Research http://www.bcr.org/

Heather Clark’s bio http://www.bcr.org/training/schedule/profile.php?contactid=1

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/187 

the new tracker peer obfuscation technique is especially designed to be a workaround for throttling devices

http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-devs-introduce-comcast-busting-encryption-080215/ 

Steve Borsch (Connecting the Dots) expresses some of what I’m trying to say in a much clearer way than I can.  In his post ‘What if all human knowledge was free and accessible?’ he draws a parallel between the current trend of “Internet-centric knowledge repositories” and the distribution of food.  What was once complicated and difficult has become (in the case of food) simple.  That simplicity allows us to focus on something more important. 

NOW imagine a world where “content and knowledge calories” are cheap and you can access baseline knowledge for some given subject or topic while having easy, shrink-wrapped-like access to the high value knowledge, presented in an easy to use and learn way.

I’m not completely sold on the idea that information and calories provide us with a good analogy (at one point Steve points out how we’re all getting fat — what does that look like for information?) but I do agree that Web 2.0 trends are simplifying access and use of information.  Mashups and widgets are good examples of early Web 2.0 end-user tool building.  I doubt that the person who first started using a wheel envisioned our global system of roads and rails for transportation. 

Recognize that the Internet is making the inefficient, efficient and that’s the primary reason an initiative like an open education resource vision will get traction. Supply chains, processes, methods, collaboration, communication and a multitude of other key areas are being poked-n-prodded with new startups or approaches as people try to figure out how to leverage the Internet to get rid of the inefficient and allow us all to jump to the next level of creativity, innovation and human cognition.

What will be the end result of “Internet-centric” tools of today?  What are the implications for the classroom?

We are on the cusp of a global revolution in teaching and learning. Educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all to use. These educators are creating a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge. They are also planting the seeds of a new pedagogy where educators and learners create, shape and evolve knowledge together, deepening their skills and understanding as they go.

Educating the world’s children is the right thing to do and is key to enabling and assisting them to achieve self sustaining status. But it also ensures that we have a hope the world’s knowledge will achieve equilibrium and thus higher standards of living, creativity and innovation will emerge everywhere.

Connecting the Dots: What if all human knowledge was free and accessible?

Blogged with Flock

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/recut_reframe_recycle

Integrity matters in our community.  When you cheat intentionally, you lose the respect of people who care about you and want to see you succeed.  You may also lose the respect of your peers. We set in place a policy to define all of our responsibilities in creating a culture based on integrity. 

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1500018150.html?nid=3714 

The report recommends a two-pronged solution to the problem: First, teachers should learn more about the “clear and unambiguous rights” they already enjoy under copyright law; and second, the education community should develop and disseminate a “code of practice” for the fair use of copyrighted materials by educators.

The article also includes a link to the report itself.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryRSS.cfm?ArticleID=7430