I have been blogging once per day on this site since the beginning of the month, but actually, I have done a dozen posts this week on another site: copyright.psu.edu.
Despite the name, the site is actually a lot broader than just addressing copyright rules. We have two videos that our Digital Commons staff created. The first one involves the improper use of music in a class project. The other involves copying another person's music. Both have consequences and alternatives. They are meant to illustrate, but not get into the particulars of exactly what can and can't be done.
So after getting students' attention, what do they do? That's where the dozen posts come in. I've been collecting some resources related to intellectual property issues for a while now (thank you del.icio.us!). They include things like a web site that the RIAA created to tell students about downloading music, Elizabeth's student cyberplagerism site, and a video of Disney characters explaining copyright and fair use.
In setting up this site, I realized a couple of things. First, I really dislike the preachy tone of a lot of copyright resources for students. You know many of them are going to copy music, I know it too. A "thou shall not" approach is about as successful as telling students not to drink and not to have sex. Instead, I think the best results that we can expect will come from educating students about all sides of the issue and providing them with a variety of alternatives. Again, I don't think that all students will suddenly see the light, but if I can get a few students to explore some Creative Commons resources or use Pandora instead of downloading music, then I'll be pretty happy.
Second, intellectual property issues are political and I have a definite opinion on the matter. I like the idea of fair use. I enjoy watching a well-crafted mashup. I love the idea of Creative Commons. I'm happy to share my own work: my podcasts, my photos, and the faculty videoconferencing guide that I made are examples. They are my babies, but if someone else can benefit from them, take, reuse, mashup, and share them back. I've seen what happens when this process is unleashed with the TLT Symposium and the Learning Design Summer Camp.
None of this sharing threatens my livelihood. In fact, if someone reuses the videoconferencing guide and attributes the original to me, it enhances my reputation. Not everyone is in the same position though. My job is inherently tied to sharing and community, not protecting my own intellectual property.
So with the copyright site, I've tried to make balanced posts and stick to the facts instead of using the site to take a stand. In the end, it would make me very happy to see students use more copyrighted work to enhance their projects, but doing so within legally defensible fair use provisions.
Despite the name, the site is actually a lot broader than just addressing copyright rules. We have two videos that our Digital Commons staff created. The first one involves the improper use of music in a class project. The other involves copying another person's music. Both have consequences and alternatives. They are meant to illustrate, but not get into the particulars of exactly what can and can't be done.
So after getting students' attention, what do they do? That's where the dozen posts come in. I've been collecting some resources related to intellectual property issues for a while now (thank you del.icio.us!). They include things like a web site that the RIAA created to tell students about downloading music, Elizabeth's student cyberplagerism site, and a video of Disney characters explaining copyright and fair use.
In setting up this site, I realized a couple of things. First, I really dislike the preachy tone of a lot of copyright resources for students. You know many of them are going to copy music, I know it too. A "thou shall not" approach is about as successful as telling students not to drink and not to have sex. Instead, I think the best results that we can expect will come from educating students about all sides of the issue and providing them with a variety of alternatives. Again, I don't think that all students will suddenly see the light, but if I can get a few students to explore some Creative Commons resources or use Pandora instead of downloading music, then I'll be pretty happy.
Second, intellectual property issues are political and I have a definite opinion on the matter. I like the idea of fair use. I enjoy watching a well-crafted mashup. I love the idea of Creative Commons. I'm happy to share my own work: my podcasts, my photos, and the faculty videoconferencing guide that I made are examples. They are my babies, but if someone else can benefit from them, take, reuse, mashup, and share them back. I've seen what happens when this process is unleashed with the TLT Symposium and the Learning Design Summer Camp.
None of this sharing threatens my livelihood. In fact, if someone reuses the videoconferencing guide and attributes the original to me, it enhances my reputation. Not everyone is in the same position though. My job is inherently tied to sharing and community, not protecting my own intellectual property.
So with the copyright site, I've tried to make balanced posts and stick to the facts instead of using the site to take a stand. In the end, it would make me very happy to see students use more copyrighted work to enhance their projects, but doing so within legally defensible fair use provisions.
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