Monday, November 4, 2013
Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright and Fair Use Myth: If I’m not making money off it, it’s fair use. (And if I am making money off it, it’s not)
As a teacher for 11 years, I always believed this concerning copyright and fair use. Even though this applies to all materials, I believe the biggest problem for fair use concerns materials we as educators get from the internet. What harm can really be done by copying and pasting a picture you find on the internet and quickly posting it on your power point? Do you really need permission? Using the “noncommercial” argument can work some of the time, for example sharing work in a small or closed group, however this is not fair use in every situation therefore it is better to be safe and research what constitutes as fair use. In my school, we do have a fair use and copyright poster in the media center from the United States Copyright Office, but do our teachers even know it exists. When it comes to copyright, teachers are either uneducated in it or they believe practicing fair use is just too much trouble. I have been guilty of them both. We have many resources such as ancillaries that can be reproduce, so I guess teachers just assume same goes for information on the internet. What we do not realize is we have not paid for rights to that material. As media specialists, we need to become experts on fair use and educate our staff through professional developments and trainings, even handing out policy cheat sheets. Awareness can take away all the myths surrounding fair use and copyright.
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I think that the old saying "ignorance is bliss" is how many people see copyright law: they think they understand it, but they really don't, so they just go with it and hope for the best. If anyone says anything to them (which, in my experience, is unlikely), then they can claim their own misinterpretation of the rules. Because copyright, especially "fair use" can be so complex, I can't say I don't blame them for being so confused.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the ease in which information can be accessed through the internet has created the feeling that its content is free from copyright restrictions. The digital age has allowed us access to such vast content that sometimes we don't even think twice about copyright when we use something from a web page or even a basic image search. Your proposed solution of more training and the use of cheat sheets are great ideas that I feel would definitely benefit teachers. I also think it is important to make teachers aware that if they ever have a question about copyright, that they can come to the media specialist and ask for advice. I notice that this happens a good bit at the school where I volunteer and it seems to help the teachers understand a bit better when they can hash it out with the media specialist.
I think that many times people just don't realize that when they use someone else's material without attribute that they are doing something wrong. Yes, fair use covers many instances and we can claim ignorance, but I think the best thing that we, as media specialists, can do is educate, educate, educate! And, as Katherine said, make the information available in the form of handouts, posters, in or weekly newsletters, etc. Every opportunity we get, we should talk to students about citing their sources, whether a written work, music, image, or internet content. I know our English teachers are great about educating students and they have assignments turned in through 'TurnItIn'. However, not all other departments see the importance of teaching copyright and fair use. As it happens, one of the subjects in our professional development this week will copyright and fair use. I don't think we need to be the copyright police for the building, but I do think that we need to be knowledgeable in the area and offer resources to help all staff and students.
ReplyDeleteAs an educator, often times, there is material in a textbook that needs to be in a tangible format. So, teachers will copy that page or those pages so that students may manipulate the information as necessary so that the content is memorable and comprehensible. Nowadays, textbook companies give purchasers free reign to print or copy as needed as long as a specific number of books are bought during a textbook adoption.
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