Week 6, Thing 15

Copyright, Creative Commons, and What's coming down the 2.0 road!

Copyright - the thing that makes you think twice as you xerox ® pages from a book. The thing that makes you think twice when you use the word 'xerox' ® as a verb. Makes me wonder if kleenex® and xerox® qualify as words in Scrabble®! I remember the brouhaha with David Letterman and his 'intellectual property' as he left NBC®.

I understand the need for artists and writers to benefit from their own work, and they deserve recognition and compensation. So with the amazing technologies we have via the internet, these issues are even more present. I was a little confused in this lesson - the cute video, a Fair(y) Tale, leaves me with the impression that copyrighted material is available under the Fair Use laws as early as 14 years. So does that mean you cannot make Fair Use of materials before 14 years? And why 14 years? The good news for educators is that there is a Fair Use clause that allows us to copy many things in the name of educating the next generation, as long as we don't benefit economically from the use of copyrighted material.

Then there is this thing called Creative Commons. "Creative Commons is a copyright license that allows us to choose to share our intellectual property. This course is designed under a Creative Commons license and is an example of how one can take a piece of information or a product and re-work it to make it fit your needs. By acknowledging the original authors, they have given permission for you to share." (Classroom Learning 2.0)

Above was an example of using someone else's words, but again, without a works cited page, I'm not sure how you credit the authors - so I posted the link. But let it be known to the copyright lawyers - the preceeding paragraph was lifted directly from the authors of the Classroom Learning 2.0 program. Thanks authors!

on to wikis!

Classroom Learning 2.0 - the 23 Things