Fryer 4 - Copyright and Fair Use

Fryer 4 on Copyright and Fair Use

            Chapter 4 of Wes Fryer’s book Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing looks at copyright, fair use, and intellectual property issues.  It focuses specifically on options available and useful in an educational setting.  The Harry Potter Can Fly mnemonic covers 4 useful options available for teachers: Homegrown, Public domain, Creative commons, and Fair use. 

            Homegrown is digital media that you have created yourself.  Public Domain are media that everyone owns, such as NASA photos or items the copyright has expired on.  Creative Commons media are available for public reuse with the statement “permission has already been granted”, so long as the Creative Commons terms are followed.  The Fair Use guidelines provide guidelines as to how copyright protected material can be used without seeking permission, for certain defined uses such as education, artistic and social commentary, etc.  These are not hard, legal rulings, however, and are open to interpretation by the courts.  Wikipedia attribution is discussed, and best practices in attribution is discussed. 

            As a teacher, I will need to discuss this with students, and proper attribution will need to be emphasized.  Students will have to understand clearly that intellectual property rights is a serious matter with the courts, and that it is also ethically right to respect these rights.