Copyright in the Age of YouTube
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By Cristina Lopez, with contributions from Wendy Lougee, Dale Mossestad and Gil Rodman
Emerging technologies can create confusion about the use and creation of copyrighted materials in education and research. Panelists from different disciplines will offer insight and clarification on the intersection of copyright, technology, and university life.
Moderators: Wendy Lougee, University Libraries, TC
Panelists: Dale Mossestad, Copyright and Permissions Center, TC • Gilbert Rodman, Communication Studies, TC • Cristina Lopez, OIT, TC
Readings
Fisher, William W. and William McGeveran. “The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material in the Digital Age.” Cambridge, MA: Berkman Center for Internet and Society, 2006. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications (accessed March 1, 2009)
Fisher and McGeveran engaged in a yearlong study with the goal of discovering if and how copyright constrained innovation in educational uses of technology. Scholars, librarians, lawyers and educators participated in an examination of case studies of copyright and educational technologies. The authors identify four copyright-related obstacles to innovative use of technologies: extensive use of digital rights management technology, practical difficulty in obtaining rights, undue caution by gatekeepers, and lack of clarity in the law itself. The authors provide suggestions for reform that balance the interests of creators and users of materials that is protected by copyright.
Greenhow, Christine, J. D. Walker, Dan Donnelly, and Brad Cohen. “Fair Use Education for the Twenty-First Century: A Comparative Study of Students' Use of an Interactive Tool to Guide Decision Making.” Innovate. 4, no. 2 (December 2007/January 2008).
This study investigated the efficacy of the Fair Use Analysis tool, developed by the University of Minnesota Libraries, which is designed to guide faculty, staff and students through a four-factor analysis and “learn about copyright law and make informed decisions about fair use.” The researchers were able to identify in specific terms confusion about copyright law and common difficulties people encounter as they work through the reasoning process involved in making judgments about fair use. While an online, interactive tool can be effective for promoting understanding of complex copyright issues, the authors conclude that “deeper discussion based on thoughtful investigation is needed to move educators, staff, and students beyond the notion that any use of copyrighted material for educational purposes is in compliance with copyright law and fair use policies.”
Hobbs, Renee, Peter Jaszi, Pat Aufderheide. “The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy.” Washington, DC: Center for Social Media, 2007. http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/the_cost_of_copyright_confusion_for_media_literacy/ (accessed March 1, 2009).
In order to promote critical thinking about media and its role in culture and society, media literacy educators must be able to show and work with copyrighted materials. However, as the authors discovered through interviewers with media literacy educators, there is widespread confusion and misunderstanding about copyright and fair use. Confusion and misunderstanding can discourage teachers from asserting fair use of copyrighted materials, which greatly constrains their efforts to teach about media. The authors advocate education within the media literacy education community and development of a code of practice. Some of this work is carried out through the Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use
Letham, Jonathan. “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism.” Harpers Magazine. (February 2007): 59-71.
A rumination on the very ideas of originality and intellectual property, this article invites an examination of common assumptions about copyright, authorship and creativity and offers insight on the potential of gift economies, “the commons” and “undiscovered public knowledge.”
Striphas, Ted and Kembrew McLeod (eds.) "The Politics of Intellectual Properties." Cultural Studies. 20, no. 2/3 (2006).
Cultural studies focuses on culture as ordinary, as everyday life. For cultural studies scholars who focus on mass media, copyright and intellectual property are naturally research topics of interest. Moreover, as the authors note, “intellectual property considerations . . . increasingly bear on, even constrain, the ability of scholars of culture both to carry out and convey consequential intellectual work.” This issue of Cultural Studies, with its focus on intellectual property, is an investigation into the ways in which intellectual property law affects cultural studies scholarship. Authors in this issue also consider how cultural studies might contribute to public and interdisciplinary conversations about the politics of intellectual properties.
