Week 1 Comment on Tricia Slechta’s copyright post

Tricia,

I totally sympathized with the sentiment you shared in the beginning of your post, the sense of living in fear that you might either violate copyright yourself, or pass along incorrect information to your students! I’m afraid of someone in the English department at my school showing up to tell me that I’ve misinformed the students on some fine point of MLA formatting or citations.

Your argument with your fellow teacher-librarian sounds as though it would have been fun to watch! It sounds like you agreed with Larry Lessig’s conclusion, that by completely restricting “remix culture,” the government effectively forces people to live their lives against the law, and that this phenomenon is fundamentally corrosive and corrupting to our youth. It’s an interesting way of looking at the issue.

I agreed also with your assessment of the Jesus clip! Though I wish there had been a disclaimer before that video, as I watched it at my Catholic high school! 

BTW - Atlas Shrugged is a great read for high school students   :)

-Kim

Tricia’s post

Copyright issues are very confusing and very controversial.  As a teacher-librarian, it is an issue that I deal with daily. Perhaps it is a little strong to say that I live in fear of 1) violating copyright or 2) teaching students the wrong way to use information.  Even though this may be an exaggeration,  I do worry about it a lot.  I am constantly reading material, asking questions, and attending conference sessions about copyright, creative commons, and fair use.  I remember one discussion that I had at a school library conference with a fellow teacher-librarian concerning fair use:  I was arguing for students on behalf of fair use, their use of media in productions as long as the students changed it, mashed it up, made it their own, and give credit to the owner -- then all was good. The other teacher-librarian was arguing that unless they had permission from the owner of the material they could not use it.  At one point during our discussion she was looking at me as if I had three heads!  I was probably looking at her with pity for her poor students who are probably creatively frustrated.  After watching Larry Lessig’s Ted Talk I felt like we were the chicken farmers arguing against the supreme court concerning trespassing.  In this case I was the Supreme court that says “common sense should prevail,” instead of totally restricting use of materials we need to let them use materials; but understand the 11 flavors of creative commons.  Students need to respect the rights of the owner. Owners of different media need to let their material be used freely  thus allowing it to be changed and therefore allowing creative growth of our youth.

My take away from watching several hours of copyright movies is this:

1.     I am glad that I could watch movies regarding copyright rather than reading about copyright.  I am hitting that age that when I read legal information it seems I have to read the material about 20 times before I actually grasp the content.  The videos provide visual examples that help with comprehension. For example, what isn’t copyrighted the sock puppets and a song or a dance that has never been recorded in some way. As you stated in the intro video of copyright issues,  Part 1 copyright is a gigantic topic! And I would rather watch videos about the topic then read about the topic.

2.      The Good copy/Bad copy was entertaining, confusing at times (with the language and subtitles), informative in the sense that it was good to view perspectives from different parts of the world.  I feel that the take away of this movie is that the material is there for the taking, and it is going to be taken so are we on the cusp of copyright revolution? Should we be on the cusp of copyright revolution?

3.     Copyright Issues Part 2 were an eye opener for me in regard to the Martin Luther King film.  I thought that documentary producers would always have access and use of historical footage without cost because it was for educational purposes, pretty naïve huh?  I could see why film producers, especially documentary film producers, would jump for joy when Fair Use was defined and put into practice.  Since documentaries are not a high profit industry, purchasing rights would make it difficult for them to produce their documentaries.

4.     Copyright Issues Part 3 was by far my favorite for two reasons:

1.     The eleven flavors of creative commons were totally new to me.  Again I am going to show my ignorance, but in all of my reading and pursuit of copyright knowledge I was never aware of what all those symbols meant!  If artists would make more of their materials available and use the different creative commons symbols and students were taught how to recognize those symbols and to use materials responsibly, wouldn’t this be a perfect world!

2.     Larry Lessig’s samples were awesome!  I laughed over and over at the "Jesus Christ Survivor" clip!  And it is those samples that he provided in his presentation that is my biggest take away! 

Larry Lessig’s samples reinforce my philosophy on copyright law.  As I stated in my opening, I feel that students should be able to take available media and mash it up and create something that is brand new.  That is the strength of this generation of youth is creative regeneration, rather than calling them pirates. I say we embrace and enjoy the end products.  Remember fair use is not a right but a defense.