To Use or Not to Use? That is the Question.....
As Media Specialists, we are charged with educating our teachers, staff and students about copyright and fair use- Not always the most welcome topic to many. In our tech filled world, it is so easy to find images, quotes, videos, music and other people's ideas with just a few clicks of the mouse and insert them into our projects, reports, and displays. We sometimes forget what the boundaries are, or in many cases, the boundaries are not simply black and white but a nice shade of gray. When theses situations arise, we must step back and think about the foundations of copyright and see if what we are using is infringing on some one's intellectual, artistic or personal rights. Yes, as educators, we can play the fair use card in many situations, but you still have to respect the law and stay within certain guidelines.What is protected by copyright?
oLiterary
works
oMusic
and lyrics
oDramatic
works and music
oPantomimes
and choreographic works
oPhotographs,
graphics, paintings and sculptural works
oMotion
pictures and other audiovisual works
oVideo
games and computer software
oAudio
recordings
oArchitectural
works
What is Fair Use?
Fair
use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment
under some circumstances—especially when the cultural or social benefits of the
use are predominant. It is a general right that applies even in situations
where the law provides no specific authorization for the use in question—as it
does for certain narrowly defined classroom activities. Taken verbatim from “Teaching Copyright”
Fair
use does not apply to Creative Commons or Public Domain materials because those
materials are free to use with appropriate attribution.
Fair
Use Myths Busted
Fair
use is too hard to understand so I should not use copyrighted material.
Fact-”Fair use is a part of the law that
belongs to everyone—especially to working educators.”
Fair use sets limits on how much material can be copied from copyrighted material such as text, music, quotes and pictures.
Fact- Fair use does not have a “rule of
thumb’ to go by. Each case should be considered individually for its
educational benefit in relation to the amount of material used.
Using copyrighted material is absolutely forbidden.
Fact-Fair use helps to generate creativity and new ideas. It actually supports the 1st Amendment’s Freedom of Speech Right.
I could get sued for citing fair use of copyrighted materials.
Fact-If you use good reason when using
the materials and can show the educational purpose, you most likely will be
within the law.
As long as I am not making money off of the copyrighted materials, I can claim fair use and not get in trouble.
Fact- You must use good reason and be
able to show educational purpose to be within the law.
I must contact the person for permission to use his material or fill out forms for permission.
Fact-No, you do not.
If I properly give attribution to my source of materials, I will not infringe on copyright laws.
If
in Doubt…
Consider
how you are using the copyrighted material. Here are some questions to help you:
- How big is the audience that will view it?
- Are you putting it on your website or blog where anyone can download the material and make copies?
- Are you using it for commercial, non commercial or personal use?
- Did you use more of the material than you really needed to convey the educational value?
- Did you use the material exactly as found or did you transform it into something else?
- Is it factual material or creative material?
- Are you acting in good faith using good reason and best practices?
- Will you benefit monetarily from the use of the material?
- Will your use of the material affect the creator’s market or intended use?
Remember:
The
courts treat each case of copyright infringement individually based on its
policies of fair use. If you are acting
in good faith and as an educational steward conveying knowledge to your
students, your use of copyrighted materials will probably be considered fair
use.
Websites
and Resources for Educators
References:
Copyright
and Fair
Use Guidelines for Teachers. (2015). Retrieved from Tech Learning.com: http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/events/techforum/tx05/t eachercopyright_chart.pdf
Fair Use. (2015). Retrieved from Copyright.gov: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Teaching Copyright. (2015). Retrieved from Teaching Copyright.org: http://www.teachingcopyright.org/
The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. (2015). Retrieved from Center of Media and Social Impact: http://www.cmsimpact.org/fair- use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy- education
Burt, R. (2012, February 9). The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons. Retrieved from The Edublogger.com: http://theedublogger.com/2012/02/09/the-educators-guide-to-copyright- fair-use-and-creative-commons/
I really enjoyed and got a lot from your article. Yes Fair use is hard to understand. I think I understand it better now since this class and using some of the article that our professors post on line for us to read. I have taught my students about fair use because everything to them is fair and free in technology world. I think it is important to teach them how to site whether using MLA or APA at an early age of 3rd grade. The gifted kids should learn in 2nd grade when they do reports on animals. I have taught my students to cite using MLA and to cite everything they read or use in a essay they are writing about or a report. I think and feel that if it is started young enough it will be good practice to continue with as they grow into middle and high school and eventually college. Plagiarism is a hard concept. I remember as a group we had to create our very own book my Senior year in school. We were never taught to cite what we used or much less what plagiarism was. One of my group mates used a popular article from a magazine about a boy and a girl in a car wreck. We had to create poems, stories, etc for this book. I was the team leader and my teacher came to me to tell me what a great book it was but that one of my team mates had plagiarized and I should ask her to remove the article. I didn't know what plagiarized was so I really was sure why it was wrong. I think that is where my Asperger's kicked in or the fact I just really didn't understand what the teacher was tell me because I had never been taught to cite things. So I didn't ask the team leader to take it out. for that project we got a C - and it could have been and easy A+. This is another reason to teach them young to cite their work and not teach them about fair use till in high school or college. They kids will just think everything is free when you get it off the internet anyway so why cite. I also think it is important to teach them the different aspects of it. How to cite step by step in text and out of text on the reference page. using Perdue Owl or a editing reference book not an online citing monster. Then take them toward the end of the year if in high school and show them how to use cite sources like easybib.com. Had the teacher of my senior year class taught us how to cite and what it meant to use something unfairly, I would have went to this group member because I wanted our book to be the best!!!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI really liked your when in doubt self-assessment questions. I would like to incorporate this with my teachers at the school because it provides a quick opportunity to assess the situation to determine if something falls under fair use. I particularly found the second question interesting. Many teachers and media specialists use websites to communicate information, so this is an important question to take into consideration. I also think the last question brings up an interesting discussion to determine whether or not the material used alters the creator’s original intention our purpose. With the internet, anything can be misconstrued. I think copyright and fair use simply comes down to a lack of awareness both from teachers and from students. In the digital age we live, immediate access is taken for granted and we assume we can use before we really take a second look. This instant digital information has certainly made us impatient, both student and faculty. I really enjoyed your blog post. Thank you for the bullet points for quick facts and the self-assessment questions.
Here are some Free Use questions I have if anyone can provide any advice:
ReplyDelete1 - If I want to have Winnie the Pooh, Cat in the Hat, Pete the Cat, or Junie B. Jones painted on the library wall would that be copyright infringement?
2 - What if I wanted to play a song off the radio during morning announcements. Could I just download it from iTunes and that make it legal?
3 - I pay and download an App for the 25 iPads in the mobile iPad cart. Do I need to pay 25 times or is one time enough?
These are issues I've come across and don't really know the answer so at our school we just do nothing. After reading your post and asking myself the questions I think #1 and #2 would fall under Fair Use but I'm not sure about #3. The App would be for educational purposes but it might be stretching it for 25 students to use the App with only buying it once. For now we only use free Apps.
Laurie, I was under the impression that any "copyrighted" images could not be painted on any wall (even a school) without purchasing the rights to said image. Maybe it is an urban legend, but I have heard of 'cease and desist' letters coming from Disney to well meaning preschool and daycare centers that used their images. :)
Delete"The materials on copyright for the educational community tend to overstate the risk
ReplyDeleteof educators being sued for copyright infringement—and in some cases convey
outright misinformation about the subject. In effect, they interfere with genuine
understanding of the purpose of copyright—to promote the advancement of
knowledge through balancing the rights of owners and users.
In fact, this is an area in which educators themselves should be leaders rather than
followers. Often, they can assert their own rights under fair use to make these decisions on their own, without approval. In rare cases where doing so would bring them into conflict with misguided institutional policies, they should assert their rights and seek to have those policies changed. More generally, educators should share their knowledge of fair use rights with library and media specialists, technology specialists, and other school leaders to assure that their fair use rights are put into institutional practice."
Center for Social Media. (n.d.) Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Retrieved from http://mediaeducationlab.com/sites/mediaeducationlab.com/files/CodeofBestPracticesinFairUse_0.pdf
I am relying heavily on this quote to convey the point that copyright and fair use isn't about how much of the content was used (i.e. 10% or 400 copies etc). As educators we have a lot of liberties provided by the Fair Use laws. Some of these might be thwarted by our own school or district policies. Also as educators we should be 'educating' others on this subject. We should not be relying on previously published strict 'by the numbers' guidelines.
Being a first year media specialist and a former teacher that went through the very brief explanation of copy right laws and fair use policies at the beginning of the school year, your blog was very eye opening for me. Now that I have had the first year to get my feet wet in this new position I see that I need to take over the responsibility from my principal of sharing these laws and policies with the staff at our school. I can bet that if I shared the “What is protected by copyright?” portion of your blog with our faculty they would quickly be taken back and probably even go to education jail for a very long time. :-) Some of the teachers would probably play the fair use card as well without fully understanding how the policies are to be applied. I can see that some ground work would first need to be laid with the faculty at my school due to the fact that this area has been vaguely discussed in the 13 years I have been here. As I stated in another blog, my next goal would be to create a training or workshop of some sort to teach and enlighten my staff on these very important laws and policies. I plan to use the websites you suggested as well to do this. Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie! You provided a lot of great information on copyright! I have run into a lot of issues when it comes down to displaying movies. In our media center, there is a broadcast cart that we use to do the morning news or display approved content to classrooms throughout the school. Last year, I had a teacher to become furious with me because I wouldn't broadcast a Disney movie to the entire 7th grade team. What she failed to realize is that, anyone can tune in to any school channel within our district and see what's being displayed. I informed her that because we did not own the license for that film, we wouldn't be able to show it because it would violate the copyright policy. Of course she didn't care about any of that. She made a point to go to the Principal and report me. Thankfully, my Principal was well aware of the policy and she backed me 100%. I must admit, learning the ins and outs of copyright and fair use policy can be quite confusing. So, I made it a point to distribute literature to faculty and staff as well as display posters throughout the media center and workrooms so that they are always mindful.Do you know how we would even go about purchasing licenses for movies?
ReplyDeleteOops! I mean Jennifer! my bad! 😊
DeleteYour post was very informative and the information was presented in a way that was easy to follow and understand. Many issues involving Copyright and Fair Use can be complex and confusing at times. I agree with you that it is the job of the Media Specialist to inform the teachers, students and staff of the laws regarding these two issues and to make sure they are following them. I like how you gave examples of what is protected by copyright and defined Fair Use. I particularly liked the questions you provided that should be asked by anyone who has copyright doubt. The websites and resources you provided for educators were also very helpful. Thank you sharing this information.
ReplyDeleteThe information on copyright laws and fair use is one which we all must be thoroughly versed. We as educators use alot of information found on the internet and other sources in our daily planning. The blog which you have posted helps clear up some of the questions which may be asked by teachers and students. We have a responsibility to make sure we have followed all rules and with your blog I feel that I am better equipped to address these laws in my educational workplace.
ReplyDeleteJennifer -
ReplyDeleteWow! What an informative post about copyright and fair use! It is, as you said, not always a welcome subject, but one of which we're obligated to make sure our coworkers and students have a working knowledge. I had a situation similar to Chasady's and have a teacher who still won't speak to me because of it. This teacher has a friend who bootlegs movies that are not yet released to the public for purchase or rent. I think he/she must film them in the theatre. She wanted me to play this disc on the school's broadcast system for all of 8th grade to watch and was very angry when I refused. So, not only would I have been playing an illegally recorded movie, but I would also have been violating copyright law had I agreed to play it. She went over my head and one of the administrators came and asked me to play the movie anyway. I told him no (my heart pounding and my hands sweating the entire time), so he said he respected my "opinion," and he set it up to play. It's very difficult to be the voice of reason and lawfulness when our coworkers are ill-informed or just blatantly disregard the laws, but we must press on with our efforts to educate them. I did a PD during pre-planning and found a handout on fair use that I copied, laminated, and put in everyone's boxes, encouraging them to post it in their rooms. The information is posted over the copiers and I do a lesson on it for all the classes every year. I admit it's one of my least favorite aspects of being a media specialist....
Jennifer
ReplyDeleteThank you for this informative post! I particularly found helpful the “If in Doubt” section. I always like to have a measurement to use when making decisions and this is a great series of questions that I could ask myself to gauge where I am standing as I think about using copyrighted materials. These questions will also be helpful to pass along to other teachers when I am a media specialists, as this is their available “expert” on copyright and fair use.
I appreciate you also outlining what is actually protected by copyright. As a teacher, I build content to deliver to my students that often utilize audiovisual materials, photographs, graphics and literary works. I often think of copyright when I am making a actual copy of material for distribution, but do not always think of it when building presentations for my students. I do try to pull my AV material from Discovery Education and many of my images from Britannica Images (offered as a resource from my school). Not only do I need to be mindful of citing my sources on a final slide, I need to show this slide to my students and teach them the importance of giving credit to the appropriate source of information