I started out by watching the Copyright on Campus video by the Copyright Clearance Center. I liked the animation, and found the content to be interesting. As I watched, I was reminded of my own experience with regard to attempting to properly use copyrighted material over the years. Then I watched Understanding "Fair Use" in a Digital World by Common Sense Media and the Teaching Channel. I found myself feeling less interested as I do not see myself in a middle school setting. Then I watched Should "Happy Birthday" by Protected by Copyright by the PBS IdeaChannel. I decided to watch it because I had recently heard something about this. I thought that I had heard an announcement about the copyright having expired, but the video states that that has not happened yet, so I must have been mistaken.
Then I watched YouTube Copyright Basics with Glove and Boots. I was trying to watch quietly, listening to the audio through my headphones so as to avoid disturbing anyone around me and found myself fighting back laughter. At first, I chose the video from the list because I though it might be relevant to something that I might do in the near future. I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining the video was. I especially appreciated them calling their own video boring, which I found to be hilarious. While I did appreciate the text that was included in the video, for me, the thing that made it most digestible was the incorporation of humor and I am making a mental note to remind myself to try to include humor in my own work.
When it came to the text resources, I found myself wishing that there was a resource similar to The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), which I frequently refer to for help with formatting my papers. So, when I saw the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center at the top of the list, I was immediately drawn to that. Though I found the site to be a bit dense, I have feeling that I will be referring back to it frequently. Being an "astronomer", I couldn't help but also notice the last entry in the list, "How does copyright work in space?" from the Economist. While I found the article to be interesting, it is not exactly the kind of resource that I was looking for.
As for copyright law in general, I find it to be cumbersome at best. My own personal policy has always been to find explicit mention of permissions at the source of whatever I am trying to use. If I can't find explicit mention, then I contact the source and request permission, in writing. This is what I have done with regard to reproducing content for newsletters, planetarium shows, etc. Now, though, I am not sure if that is proper procedure, not even after having viewed the resources mentioned above. And I am even more concerned about my MMP project. What is okay to post on my website, and what is not? Going forward, I think I will be spending more time on attempting to better understand my rights and the creators' rights, at very least.
Maria, I agree that copyright law is cumbersome. Even after reading a few sites and watching some of the videos, I still have questions as to what is legal. There are so many rules it seems. For example, you can copy a chapter of a book but not the whole book. I understand this as copying an entire book is cheating the author/publisher out of money. But is it really a big deal if I copied two chapters? I guess some people will argue yes and others no. I am concerned about my MMP project as well. Is it okay to post the podcast links? I never gave it a thought until now. I looked around and other AP Stat teachers have the links posted to their class websites so I never thought it would go against copyright laws. I am going to have to investigate this further. Have you been successful in obtaining permission? Do you find that owners of the copyright are willing to grant permission?
ReplyDeleteMaria, I am concerned about my MMP project too. I know that the pictures will be my own creations, but what about the Youtube videos and articles that I have links to? I agree with you that I need to delve a little deeper to investigate my obligations and the rights of the creators of the other items that will appear on my MMP project.
ReplyDeleteThe procedure that you follow seems to be as legal as it could be. What more would you need than permission from the creator? I feel that my question and perspective may be a bit naïve as from these readings and videos, the internet has probably created such a dynamic nature to the laws now that it seems that it's something we have to keep checking on to know if there have been updates or addendums.