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According to dictionary.com, a myth
is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or
event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation,
especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some
practice, rite or phenomenon of nature. In
the School Library Media environment there are many myths about fair use for
Media Education. Personally, I enjoy
myths, folktales and even fairy tales.
They tend to make the stories more interesting and exciting however that’s
what they’re more than likely meant to do.
“Copyright law has several features that permit quotations from
copyrighted works without permission or payment, under certain conditions. Fair use is the most important of these
features. It has been an important part
of copyright law for more than 170 years.
Where it applies, fair use is a user’s right. In fact, as the Supreme Court has pointed
out, fair use keeps copyright from violating the First Amendment” (“Code of
Best Practices, Para 3. p. 5).
The first myth about Fair Use,
I’d like to address is: Educators can
rely on “Rules of Thumb” for fair use guidance.
Well as much as we’d like to have a cut and dry number to say this or
that is right or wrong, there really is no set number that can justify the
use. It’s just a guideline I think to
make sure that you don’t go too far.
When researching copyright and fair use, I was confronted with all sorts
of numbers, percentages and verbiage about what I could use legally to make my
case. To me, fair use is like having
access to eat a whole cake knowing it’s not good for you so you only have the
one slice or serving size you’re suppose too.
You’ll feel better for having not eaten the whole cake and your stomach
and waistline will appreciate it also.
Just because it’s there for the taking, doesn't mean you can and or will
take it all. Only sample what you need
and be satisfied that you didn't do anything wrong. It’s good to know that this is a myth when it
comes to educating our students, because at times we do need a little extra to
get our points across to the students.
So not having to recreate the wheel
is awesome, which brings me to the next myth I’d like to address: School system rules are the last word of Fair
Use by Educators. Unfortunately, in our
school district there isn't any unlimited use of Fair Use. The Media Specialist that I have come in
contact with, take this very seriously and try extremely hard to make sure the
staff and students understand as well.
There is a fine line between violating it and being sued. To do their best work the video states that
teachers should be allowed to use fair use without penalty. That’s where the code of best practices comes
into play. It’s the guide that should be
used in education. Copyrighted materials
are all over our Library media centers and in the classrooms. Just knowing what your rights are and how to
use it effectively is very important for successful instruction.
The last myth I’d like to
discuss is: Fair use could get me
sued. It’s likely you can get sued for
almost anything these days, but fair use apparently isn't one of them that will
take your life savings and put you in the poor house. Nonetheless, it’s not good practice to just
use information freely on a consistent basis just because the owner doesn't have time to pursue a lawsuit for infringes your educational facility may have
violated. The law, I think, is there to
protect everyone involved. It’s not
meant to be ignored because you won’t be sued, it’s meant to protect those who
have already created it and have gotten recognition and payment. It’s not yours to claim, so don’t do anything
that will make your system look back. “Educators
need to be leaders, not followers, in establishing best practices in fair use”
according to the code of best practices in fair use for Media Literacy
education.
References
Code of best practices in fair use for media literacy
education retrieved February 19, 2015 from (http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education-0
Dictionary.com retrieved February 21, 2015
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Page’s response to Blog 5 / Team 4 / Student 4:
ReplyDeleteInteresting way to approach this subject – myth or reality. That got me thinking about stories I’ve heard about teachers and districts who were supposedly sued by Disney for showing movies. So I started looking.
The first place I went was snopes.com, and while this is not a movie per se, it does involve intellectual property and schools. At www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp they describe how Disney threatened a daycare center for painting a mural with their characters on it. Of course, the center painted over it, and so, no court case. And Universal Studios and Hanna-Barbera Productions stepped in and allowed them to use their characters. so it turned out alright for them in the end.
So then I went looking for more information about copyright and companies like Disney, and it led me to a great site for educators: http://www.teachwithmovies.org/index.html . They provide a wealth of information for teaching with movies, including lesson plans, permission slips, and the requirements and restrictions involved. There’s a very lengthy narrative about the use of movie as it relates to copyright and fair use on the bottom of the site: COPYRIGHT FOR USING MOVIES IN THE CLASSROOM . This is definitely a site that I will use and recommend to educators.
But all in all, what my searching showed me is that you can indeed get into trouble for breaking copyright laws. It may not happen often, and it may not always result in legal action -- but who wants to ever get to the point of finding out first hand just what can actually happen?
Thanks for the great articles and blogs on copyright. I too also thought about the struggle our media specialist had back in 2005 with teachers and the Disney thing and we could not show any Disney movies because of this. Had the librarian or I or anyone else for that matter thought about searching snopes they would have saw that it was not the movies that was the problem. I like the site Catherine posted and plan on using it. It has everything there. Movies are not shown much anymore there is too much other technology but there are still some good ones out there. I was surprised to see that Walll.E was actually a bronze status movie our school could use to watch about saving the plant and recycling for standards. As more information is placed out there students and teachers need to be aware how to site and what to site. I don't think students should be given the right to know about fair use until later in the game such as high school. I think while they are in middle school and elementary school everything needs to be cited so they will learn the process. It should be taught MLA or APA and not allow them to use easybib.com. This will help it stick more in their minds and a learning experience will take place.
ReplyDeleteWendy,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your thoughts on the number of myths that exist within the SLMC regarding copyright and fair use. I have asked a number of other media specialists about these topics and have gotten completely different answers from each of them. It does appear that these laws have a very wide gray area that is open to our own interpretation. I feel that to be 100% comfortable with these topics I will need to do my own extensive research that I will be able to reference for any concerned parents or administrators. Media Specialists are the go to people at the school for these concerns. It might also be wise to consult other SLMS within the district to determine the typical use within the district that you work. I think copyright and fair use law will be something that I will need to put a lot of time into understanding.
Thank you,
Meghen Bassel
Wendy makes a really good point and I really like the whole cake analogy as well as the graphics! I had believed this myth as true, there does seem to be some grey areas in concern to fair use and the “rules of thumb” for guidance. As an ungrad student, I always heard, it’s ok to use this or that as long as you are doing so for ‘educational purposes’, this area seems to be ‘grey’ or ‘flexible’ as well. According to the code of best practices in fair use article, as long as the item occurs within an educational setting, if it were to be challenged they would be more likely to receive special considerations. I believe one of the most important considerations is to ask, why is this item being used? What extend and what for? Just as the article discusses the “four factors”.
ReplyDelete“(judges refer to four types of considerations mentioned in the law: the nature of the use, the nature of the work used, the extent of the use, and its economic effect…”
Which in turn, does still leave plenty of room for considerations, analysis and varying interpretations.
Below, I am sharing my school district’s copyright policy says that relates to copyright.
Policy Descriptor Code: IFBC
Media Programs
The Implementation of a unified media program throughout the school system shall be based on procedures implemented by the Superintendent in accordance with State Board of Education rules and regulations.
The procedures implemented by the Superintendent shall contain provisions to ensure that:
1. A media committee is established at the system level to be responsible for the development of media procedures for the school system, including:
a. Selecting media and instructional materials,
b. Handling requests for reconsideration of materials,
c. Considering gifts of instructional resources,
d. Complying with copyright law.
Also under the Internet Acceptable Use policy, there is a sentence stating that ‘violating copyright law’ is an unacceptable use of the employee policy for JCS District’s technology. It is also mentioned under the Student Acceptable use policy as unacceptable use as well.