Copyright and the Online Class

We've been talking about copyright and the online class this week. I have always been very interested in copyright and while I worked as a librarian I ended up reading quite a bit on it. In researching for current information and articles, I came across a study done by two faculty members in teacher education who regularly teach the topic of copyright. Using a pre-course survey, these instructors found that many future educators were less than clear on the topic, which led these faculty members to reevaluate and modify their instruction. Read their article here: Repackaging for the 21st Century: Teaching Copyright and Computer Ethics in Teacher Education Courses

One of my favorite authors on the subject is Siva Vaidhyanathan. He has written two books on the topic: Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity and The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System . The first book discusses the history of copyright (which I found to be extremely interesting reading, especially regarding traditional blues and the music industry) and the second book focuses more on the Internet and things that would most likely be covered by the DMCA.

Two excellent resources I found for determining if your intentions constitute fair use are:

• University of Minnesota Libraries, Copyright Information & Education - this is an in-depth site which is packed with info as well as scenarios and a tool to help you decide if what you are doing is fair use.
• Dartmouth College: Web Teaching, Copyright and Web Teaching - this is a more concise tool that gives some excellent guidelines for determining fair use.

And, you can always consult your local librarian for help with copyright questions. It can be confusing at times for all of us, so don't be afraid to ask for help!