The course's essential questions for this week on the topic of copyright and fair use in education were:
1. What is the purpose of Copyright?
2. What is Fair Use?
3. What's our role as educators in copyright usage in schools?
4. Do we as a global society need to rethink copyright laws?
To answer the first two questions I refer to the course reading "Understanding Copyright". Copyright law is a "bundle of several different rights" conferred upon individuals and their creative work or "intellectual property". Creative work encompasses varied "fixed symbolic forms" of shared ideas and information including "books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, websites, images, videogames, performances, ... and software. "The purpose of copyright is to promote the creation and use of knowledge" by conferring intellectual property rights upon individuals for a limited time (rewarding and recognizing their work) subsequent to which these works are available to other creators (sharing their work) to use and build upon in the expression of new creative works. Copyright law when applied fairly in terms of the rights of the owner and the users of intellectual property leads to the growth of knowledge and innovation in society. (Understanding Copyright p.1)
Fair Use is a doctrine or "right" (Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education p. 16) established to facilitate this growth of knowledge and innovation in society. It allows members of the public at large to make (unauthorized) use of copyrighted works given that the use of the copyrighted work is 'fair' and benefits society more than it hurts the copyright holder. As stated by Chad in our f2f of April 1 and reiterated in the course readings on fair use, a reasonable determination of fair use is made by considering four factors and two overreaching questions:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Q 1. "Was the unlicensed use of the work transformative?" (Understanding Copyright p.2)
Q 2. "Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount, considering the nature of the copyrighted work and of the use?" (Understanding Copyright p.2)
In determining fair use, users (and judges, if need be) must analyze the context and situation of each use as well as the norms within the community of users—their peers or fellow professional and creators. Many communities ("documentary filmmakers, film scholars, and online video creators") have established their own best practices in fair use. Educators can refer to the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education available at the Center for Social Media website. (Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education p. 7)
As for our role as educators in copyright usage in schools, I agree with Wesley A. Fryer, "Teachers at all levels have the responsibility and the legal obligation ... to model appropriate respect for copyright law and educate students about how they can do the same." This modeling of respect for copyright law, and I would add the doctrine of fair use, supported by the code of best practices for educators is complicated for international school teachers by the range of national copyright laws (and school policies) they encounter as they move from country to country and school to school. As international school educators, we need to be aware of such differences and work within the diversity of copyright laws (and school policies) around the world utilizing the doctrine of fair practice such that we are able reach a "level of comfort" in our professional lives by being able to apply and model fair use reasoning with our colleagues, students, administrators and others who encounter our creative works.
What should schools be teaching students, teachers and administrators? Doug Johnson of the blue skunk blog states that schools need to:
* "teach users that the use of copyrighted material in research and projects, if properly cited and if it supplements, rather than supplants the researcher’s product, is perfectly legal. (And to teach how) to cite a source and how to avoid inadvertent plagiarism."
* teach "the concepts and tests of (four factors used to determine) Fair Use."
* "teach that a copyrighted work’s use is considered Fair Use if it is of a “transformative” nature." (two questions used to determine Fair Use)
* inform teachers of all special rights given to them as educators.
* inform teachers of the availability of professional codes of best practice (Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education.)
As for the final question, I do think we need to look at copyright laws, the doctrine of fair use, professional codes of best practice in light of societal changes—culture, technology, education, and others—in order to guarantee that we as citizens (local and global) have the rights and opportunities we need to freely nurture the growth of knowledge, innovation and creativity both locally and globally. Universally agreed upon copyright laws, doctrines of fair use and professional codes of best practice would be ideal in this new global digital age. I also think we need to look at copyright laws, the doctrine of fair use, professional codes of best practice in light of the uncertainty (and even fear) they instill in educators. These laws and doctrines and codes to be clear, accessible, simple and nurturing of the growth of knowledge, innovation and creativity both locally and globally in a way that is fair to the rights of both owners and users of creative works so that we can move beyond the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that prevails in many classrooms (homes and businesses) today. (See quote below)
"As documented in the report The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy
(centerforsocialmedia.org/medialiteracy), educators involved in media literacy feel
uncertain in this new environment of heightened commodification. On the one
hand, they sense that copyrighted material should be available for their activities and
those of their learners, and that such availability has great social and cultural utility.
But on the other, they are aware of the increased vigilance with which copyright
owners are enforcing their rights. And their actual understanding of the subject is
incomplete or even distorted. As a result, there is a climate of increased fear and
confusion about copyright, which detracts from the quality of teaching." (Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education p. 4)
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