The Center for Social Media has created a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Right at the start, the video addresses a misconception I’ve heard on my campus: “you can get in trouble for using videos in the classroom.” The principles listed in the report itself clearly state guidelines for when it’s (likely) alright to use copyrighted material in (and preparing for) class. While rights holders may dispute this, I hope these clear statements are the type that any educational institution could get behind.
I recently gave a brief talk on copyright for a Digital Storytelling workshop. I promised to share the materials, the slides and a quick summary of what I said for each slide are after the break.
Slide 2:
If you are using copyrighted materials in your course, you are in part relying on the doctrine of “fair use.” Fair use looks at how you are using the copyrighted work to see if you are doing so permissibly. This overview glosses over a lot of details, but you get the general idea.
If you are not making money off of your use (i.e. what you’re doing is not commercial), the use is more fair.
If you are copying someone’s creative expression, such as the framing of a photo or a turn of the phrase, your use is less fair than copying facts.
If you are taking a great deal or the “best part” of a copyrighted work, your use is less fair. A small part, like a single image from a movie, is more fair.
If someone might avoid purchasing a copyrighted work because of how you used it, your use is less fair.
As with most things in law, someone can still sue you no matter how fair you believe your use to be.
Slide 3:
A few rules of thumb for working with copyrighted works.
“Schoolhouse-Rock†style music videos help students learn about copyright and fair use
http://www.youtube.com/user/MediaEdLab
Users’ Rights, Section 107 uses catchy lyrics and clever visuals to help people understand how “context and situation determine how fair use applies” to the use of copyrighted materials. What’s Copyright? explains that copyright is not just an owner’s right—the purpose of copyright law is to promote creativity and the spread of knowledge. The videos are also available on the Media Education Lab’s You Tube channel.
Created by graduate student Mike RobbGrieco (songwriter, producer) of Temple University and animator Geoff Beatty of Germantown Studios, the music videos bring an element of entertainment to lesson plans and classroom activities that help ameliorate copyright confusion among educators and students in both high school and college.
The release of two animated music videos completes the Copyright and Fair Use Curriculum Guide, developed by the Media Education Lab as a component of a two year research project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which included the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education, released in November at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.
For more information, contact Renee Hobbs at renee.hobbs@temple.edu