Learning the various copyright terms can be confusing for teachers and students. The purpose of my lesson plan is to teach the difference between three different concepts of copyright: Fair Use, Creative Commons, and Free Use. First, the students will be introduced to each concept. Then the students will then be sent on a “copyright scavenger hunt.” In the hunt, the students will be asked to visit websites and will be provided an imagined scenario for the use of each website. The students will then decide which form of copyright fits with that scenario.

The world of copyright in the educational setting is complicated. Students need to learn the terms of: Fair Use, Creative Commons and Free Use. Knowledge of these terms is important because they apply beyond the classroom. These terms occur in business and in everyday life. Knowing these terms applies directly to what students can do with information online while maintaining ethical standards and avoiding possible lawsuits. Since the Internet is where today’s students are and will get their information in the future, this skill is essential. The best methodology to enforce copyright is to educate students in its aspects and proper use.

The lesson will begin with a discussion of the issue of copyright. The students will learn about copyright, what it entails and why it is important in the Internet age. The students will learn why they should respect copyright in using materials from the web and in downloading.

The students will then be introduced the first of three types of copyright: Fair Use. The students will learn fair use as it defined under the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education by The Center For Social Media. The document says of Fair Use:

In reviewing the history of fair use litigation, we find that judges return again and again to two key questions:

Did the unlicensed “use” “transform” the material from the copyrighted work by using it for a different purpose than that of the original, or did it just repeat the work for the same intent and value as the original?”

Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount, considering the nature of the copyrighted work and of the use?

If the answer to these two questions are “yes”, a court is likely to find a use fair (Center For Social Media, 2009).

Therefore, the students will be asked the two questions in evaluating whether each use will be Fair Use: is it used for a different purpose and was the taking and use in appropriate amount? In addition, in Fair Use, permission is given from a legal angle.

The second type of copyright that students will be introduced to is called Creative Commons. Creative Commons is a new type of copyright that occurs in between Fair Use and Free Use. The Creative Commons website provides a definition:

Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work. They do not give you the ability to restrict anything that is otherwise permitted by exceptions or limitations to copyright—including, importantly, fair use or fair dealing—nor do they give you the ability to control anything that is not protected by copyright law, such as facts and ideas (Creative Commons, 2009).

The evaluative criteria for Creative Commons is based on whether the author of the work has given some sort of permission. Where in Fair Use permission is given through legal channels, Creative Commons permission belongs to the owner.

The final area of copyright is the area where there is no real copyright. This area is called Free Use. Free Use works belong to the public. No one owns these works, so in essence, everyone owns them. These are works in which the copyright expired or no copyright existed.

To evaluate whether a use falls under Free Use, students should consider its origination and/or age. For example, if the work is literature from the 1500’s, it is more than likely free use. If it is a government document, it is in public domain. At that point, any use is allowable. However, proper citation should still be followed.

After the students are provided the evaluate criteria for each copyright term, the students will then be provided with an “copyright scavenger hunt.” In the scavenger hunt, the students will be divided into groups and will be provided a list of websites to visit along with a possible use for each website. The students will then determine which use is most appropriate for that site based upon the site and the possible use of that site. For example, a site with a gallery of many old photos would most likely be considered free use. The first group that has the most right answers in the scavenger hunt will be considered the winner.

In this lesson plan, the students will learn to identify three different forms of copyright. The students will learn to evaluate Fair Use (transformation and amount), Creative Commons use (permission of user) and Free Use (age and origin). Then the students will apply these evaluative standards to a “Copyright Scavenger Hunt” in which they will evaluate websites and possible use of those websites.

Resources

Center For Social Media. Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Retrieved from: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/Media_literacy.pdf.

Creative Commons. FAQ Page. Retrieved from: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ#How_does_a_Creative_Commons_license_operate.3F

Jaszi, Peter. “Yes, you can!”-Where you don’t even need ‘fair use.” Retrieved from: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/free_use.pdf.

I noticed Laura Fitton (aka @pistachio) twittering about Flickr and Creative Commons licensing of photos recently.

You can find the photos which I have CC-licensed here on my Flickr stream. This accounts for less than 20% of my total photostream.

I’m a big fan of CC. I use a lot of CC-licensed materials in presentations, for instance. Let me explain the rationale as to how I decide which of my images to make available under Creative Commons.

1. If they are from a social media event, then generally I guess other people might want to blog them.
2. If they are of gadgets or objects, or are quick snapshots, then the likelihood is that I’m going to blog them, and others might want to as well.
3. If someone specifically asks to use an image, I’ll consider whether or not it could / should be CC-licensed. Generally, it’s nice when people want to use one of my images, so I try to oblige.
4. If I find that an image has been used on a blog without the author checking and it is marked All Rights Reserved, and I subsequently decide that the image is generally shareable, then I’ll open it up.
5. If they are family, portraits or landscape shots – i.e. the bulk of my work – then there’s a chance I might want to do something with them commercially in the future, or else there’s a good reason for me not wanting just anyone to use them (plus there may be rights issues outside of my control anyway). In these cases, I generally will not apply a CC license.

The license I most frequently apply is Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. The annoyance is that I seem to find myself having to “police” the use of the images… I have some web search feeds set up which look for references to my Flickr URL, and when I see them used, I’ll take a look at the site. The most frequently-used image seems to be this one of one of my favourite blogging books… but 90% of the time I have to go and ask for the blogger in question to add an attribution or reference back to the original site. I always add a link to the original Flickr page to the bottom of slides, and details of the images used in the notes for any slide deck. It’s part of playing fair.

I like Creative Commons. I just wish that more people understood how to use CC-licensed content.

Update: I just want to emphasise that 99% of the folks I do correspond with on this issue are very polite, helpful, and made the honest mistake of not necessarily knowing the background on CC licensing. The issue is usually fixed without hesitation. In the example I cited in this post, the author did link back to the Flickr page, and the alt text of the img tag very clearly references me – it’s just that many browsers won’t show that even in a tooltip, as the link URL will be shown in preference. A clear credit is usually a better option, in my own opinion.

As reported by Threat Level, a judge has just ruled that copyright holders must consider free and not be allowed to indiscriminately send out take down notices.  You wouldn’t think that people would need a legal ruling to reiterate the basic innocent until proven rule, but there you go.

In a similar rulling this week, a federal judge has thrown out the gag order on a group of MIT students who had prepared a presentation on security vulnerabilities in the Charlie Cards used for the MBTA in Boston.  Sadly this came about far too late for the students to give their planned presentation, but at least future researches can feel a little safer when it comes time to present their unpopular findings.

Time for (Gasp!) an almost sensible post!! Apprently top-notch-web-hippy Jonathan Zittrain has a new book out, all about single use devices and the way they are gonna destry creativity on the series of tubes by enabling increased censorship and corporate program control. As a crazy-ass advocator of haptics n shit, I can’t really see it happening-like, just cos you got an iphone you aint gonna stop using your mac are you? I mean, the porn is much better on a larger screen for starters right? anyhoo, if you’re interested in another round of internet doomsaying then you can get it here soon, (and note the irony of amazon offering a wireless ereader on there front page while doing so)and it’s actually pretty interesting, but probably a bit too pessimistic, and it’s always worth reading his books so you can laugh at his haircut anyway-enjoy!

The past couple of days have been some-kind-of-wonderful in that I’ve realized how important it is to embrace and celebrate freedom. Specifically, I’m talking about the freedom to share pictures (images, photos, whatever you want to call them).  Since the incident in Washington, I’ve thought more about this than I ever imagined I would. The freedom of the photographer is something that is of great value, especially now that we’re able (and expect to) document our lives, the places we go and our thoughts on them.  Lori sent me this recent article from BBC that addresses the issue of the right to take pictures as a citizen.

Jason & Varanrat sent me these “photographer’s rights” links. Jason suggests that if you’re a frequent photo snapper, you should keep a copy of one of these in your pocket at all times. Take a look. 

Photographer’s Right’s 

Legal Rights of Photographer’s by Andrew Kanter

Photograhy & The Law

Ok, in the last link on photojojo there is the line about “Sensitive government buildings (military bases, nuclear facilities) can prohibit photography if it is deemed a threat to national security.” But how are you supposed to know this if they disguise the building to be something other than it is?

Any photographer’s tales to tell?

Here’s to freedom!

Last week my colleague, Lori, called me for 2 reasons. First, she’d read my post about creating Free Use Photos and was intrigued by the idea. Second, in the process of looking into ”Free Use” a bit more, she’d found a group who aim to do just the opposite by making flickr images exclusive,  basically inaccessible legally without obtaining specific (paid) rights.    [While searching just now, I see that one of the group's administrators has changed the very formal and hard-edge statement that was listed last week which was essentially language that spoke of image-poachers and keeping images from free use. The statement now is more about offering "useful information for photographers..."].

Lori put forth the challenge to expand my one “Free Use Photos” set into a flickr group. Yes! Within a few hours the Free Use Group was set up, and has grown in the past couple of days to  have over 30 members and 4 administrators.

You can be a part of the Free Use Movement, too, and join the Free Use Group.

Part 2, Scene 2

This morning I received a call from the FBI. I’m not making this up. It was a follow-up from the photo-taking-spree I conducted during Computers in Libraries in DC.  I explained (again) why one would want to take photos of signs and buildings and such to use in presentations and on blogs. I explained about “Creative Commons” that I had just presented at the conference earlier that morning with Helene Blowers and that I’d posted the images on flickr in a set called “Free Use Photos.” When the interviewer asked me what this flickr thing was and how was it spelled, I resisted the urge to say “well, it’s sort of like The Google.” This “interview” went on for about 10+ minutes. How does one answer questions like “how many pictures did you take of that building?” Which one is “that building?” “Why would you take a picture of a water outlet?” Well, it was interesting and perhaps useful to someone who wants to portray the idea of “letting go of resources.” I have a better question(s): Why did I have to have this conversation in the first place, and does this gentleman have to call every tourist in D.C. who snaps a shot of their reflection in a window or a fire hydrant or an interesting doorway?

I’ll say it again: the “0″ in 2.0 should not have to be a hoop (as in “jump through this hoop before you have access”).

Freedom!

Craig Baldwin presents “Blows Against the Empire” followed by live audio/video performances including I <3 Presets at Enemy 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave. 3rd Fl. – half block southeast of the Damen Blueline stop on Milwaukee on 4/11/08 at 8pm.

more info:

A really good article on Craig Baldwin: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/06/baldwin.html

jonCates (he is introducing the 2nd part of the program): http://systemsapproach.net/

I Love Presets website: http://www.ilovepresets.com/

baldwin flyer 1 (pdf)

baldwin-flyer-2 (pdf)