Copyright vs Creative Commons in Education

SuperNova - Smithsonian  No known copyright restrictions [?]

Copyright

Copyright was created to protect artists' work from being stolen or used without permission/compensation. This worked well for the pre-Internet days, but the Internet has expanded the opportunity for sharing content. Under the existing copyright rules, you could either release your work to public domain or leave it  completely protected from anyone else to use.

Just because something is on the web, it doesn't mean that you can use it. EVERYTHING that is captured in some sort of media is copyrighted. Even the notes you are writing - they are copyrighted as soon as you write or type them.

Review the Basics of Copyright from the Copyright.gov website.

The Library of Congress has provided a set of videos to Take the Mystery Out of Copyright. These are animated so that you can share them with your students as well.

Looking for notes on copyright that you can share with your students (and colleagues)? Use these Briefnotes: Copyright for Students.

Creative Commons
Creative Commons was designed to provide the artists with control of their work. It allows them to give permission for others to use their work just so they identify who created it.



Creative Commons allows the creator to grant permission to:

• Copy and use the work as long as the creator is identified;
• Make derivative works;
• Distribute the work under your designated license; or
• Profit from the work.

How important is licensing in your realm? Do you think that many of your teachers (colleagues or teachers) fully understand Copyright/Creative Commons?  Do they follow the rules?  Do they think that the rules are important?

50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story

Looking for a way to tell a digital story online? Alan Levine's posting 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to tell a Story on his wiki, CogDogRoo , can help.

This site is full of tools, but most importantly, Alan shares a process for creating a story. Instead of just telling you to rush off and use a cool Web 2.0 tool to create a multimedia extravaganza, he reminds you that it's a process. "As Easy as 1-2-3"

1) Outline a Story Idea. It's important to get your ideas organized before you begin creating. This page is designed to help you structure your thoughts. It is filled with writing prompts. There are thematic links to Flickr to provide you with inspirational visuals. Multiple links are suggested to additional storytelling sites on the web.

Now you have your idea, it is time to get some media.

2) Find Some Media. Gotta have multimedia but the problem is that you have to worry about licensing and copyright if you want to share it on the web. That's where you use this page. It contains multiple multiple-media sources. Take your pick: Images, Audio, Visual . . . it's all there. He says that they are all "licensed or shared with permission to re-use." This is important so you should check the sites for their specific use policies just in case they have recently decided to change their policies so that they can make money on their products. =-/

Now . . . Let's Do IT!

3) Pick a Tool to Build Your Story - This is a goldmine! This is where he is keeping
a running list of presentation websites. These tools are divided into groups including Slideshows, Timeline Creators, Mixers, Comics, Collage, Mappers, Flickr Tools, Audio Tools, Video Tools, and Presentation Tools. This is a phenomonal collection showing everything from BubbleShare to OurStory to VoiceThread to Toondoo to Prezi. It is a plethora of possibilities.

The best part about Alan's work is that this is not just a list. He has used each of the tools to create the same story about his dog, Dominoe, so that you can compare the final products.

This wiki is a great resource for those of us who want to be creative. Since it's a wiki, he wants us to use the site to share our efforts in digital storytelling that we make using these Web 2.0 tools.

Thanks, Alan!

Z

Readers: Have you used these tools? What did you do?

Are Screen Captures Copyrighted?

Image via Wikipedia

One of my students asked me a copyright question about screen captures recently that I couldn't answer.

After teaching them about how to make a screen capture and suggesting that this would be a great thing to use when creating tutorials. An educator could take screen shots of software while progressing through the software and then write accompanying instructions.

Here's the question "Aren't those screen captures copyrighted?" I didn't know the answer.

I would imagine that under fair-use guidelines, an educator could include screen captures that are used in the classroom.

The question lies in whether or not such a tutorial could be posted on the web for free distribution. At another level, what about selling the tutorial to others? Do you need to pay a copyright royalty to Microsoft if you use screen captures of Microsoft Word in a tutorial book?

What do you think?