Copyright: What is it, and why does it matter?

We are in a digital age

Jacober, W. (2011, August 11). Matrix. [Online Image] 

Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/wendelin

jacober/14146317398/in/photolist-ny4zj7-

‘What is copyright’, and ‘why does in matter in an educational setting’ are some of the questions I had asked myself before writing this post, and I would like to share with you some of the answers that I have found! Original, tangible work is protected by copyright which ensures intellectual property rights, or the right to use that work to the creator (Figg, 2013). Rudimentary copyright law dictates that copying, distributing, performing, displaying or adapting digital media is prohibited, unless permission is obtained. However, given the range of multimedia available, and the need for these resources copyright also invokes a ‘fair dealings’ law in Canada which dictates that if these resources are used for private study, research, criticism, review, or news reporting it is not considered an infringement of copyright (Figg, 2013).

So what does this mean for Canadian educators? In a nutshell, you may not show a video without first acquiring public performance rights, or the video must have a Creative Commons (CC) licensing that allows for distribution (Figg, 2013). Nonetheless, we are in the midst of a digital age and the need for access to open educational resources cannot be understated. Resultant from this was ‘Creative Common’s’ founded by the Center for the Public Domain, in order to encourage new copyright licensing that promotes open sharing of all creative works; flickr is an excellent example (Figg, 2013).

Example of Creative Commons Licensing: Google Images

Sankar, S. (2010, October 9). Pumeria Flower 

[Online Image] Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Plumeria#/media/File:Fallen_Plumeria.JPG

In order to avoid copyright infringement we should encourage our students to create their own images and/or videos and apply a creative commons license. If students must use photos from the internet, they can visit either Flickr or Fotopedia which will have images with creative commons or a clear identifiable license (Figg, 2013). Google Images also has the option of finding creative commons licensing photos (as displayed to the left); Jane Lofton provides a great YouTube tutorial for finding images with proper licensing (either no conditions or attribution only which involves citing the image if used) (Figg, 2013). Therefore, although copyright is legally mandated, it is often poorly understood amongst educators. When in doubt, encourage your students to develop creative works of their own; the Clever Sheep has created a comprehensive list of tools/resources for your students to do just that! Good luck and happy creating! :)

References

Figg, C., (2013) Handy4class presents: copyright for tech-enhanced teaching.

Jacober, W. (2011, August 11). Matrix. [Online Image] Retrieved from 

        https://www.flickr.com/photos/wendelinjacober/14146317398/in/photolist-ny4zj7-

Lofton, J. (2014). Finding copyright-friendly images using Google Image Search. In YouTube. 

        Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf0ksrW_Xpo&feature=youtu.be

Lucier, R. (2009). Creative commons chaos. In The Clever Sheep. Leading in New Directions. 

        Retrieved from http://thecleversheep.blogspot.ca/2009/02/creative-commons-chaos.html

Sankar, S. (2010, October 9). Pumeria Flower [Online Image] Retrieved from

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumeria#/media/File:Fallen_Plumeria.JPG