Reading Wk#1- Post#1 -Susan O'Day
In watching the videos for the reading this week, I found that at certain times I was in complete agreement and at other times I was actually upset by all of the limitations of copyright law. I am an 8th grade Reading teacher, so I often use video and audio recordings in my classroom. I never really thought of copyright before coming to Full Sail University. I never worried about it because it was not like I was planning to sell anything...I was just using it to give my students the best education possible.
I was very upset by the idea that Fair Use only applies if I cannot teach the lesson without that particular media. If I am using it to enhance an already effective lesson or to engage my students than Fair Use doesn't apply. I do not agree with this at all. It is like telling the education system that you cannot use something that would give your students the best education possible because someone wants to get paid. I also have an issue with copyright when it comes to my students being able to use certain media while creating projects for the classroom. My students often have to struggle to find pictures, music, etc. for their projects and finding copyright free material that is free and fits with what we are studying is not always very easy. I think that if a student is using the material for a legitimate educational purpose in which there will be no commercial gain than they should have the right to use copyrighted material. I think that they should have to cite all of their resources, but I do not think that they should have to risk criminal or civil action to complete a school project.
I think that artists should receive compensation for their work. I do not agree with piracy or shareware programs that, in essence, steal others work. I think that these types of theft should be illegal and involve consequences mainly because these people or companies are doing this for a profit. I also think that copyright law needs to have some limitations. From the perspective of literature, stories are passed down through generations. Each new generation makes additions or alters the original stories to fit with the current period of time. Copyright that lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years seriously limits this creativity. Past generations were able to consistently update their stories. This is the reason why folk literature especially is so diverse. Under current copyright law entire generations are going to lose out on this creative, cultural experience. This is just one of the reasons that I support Creative Commons. This system allows for the creator to have rights over their creation, but it also allows future generations to utilize these creations in their drive to carve out their own bit of history.
Remixes and sampling also presented an interesting grey area when it comes copyright issues. I understand why it is technically not allowed, but I question that if a piece of music is altered than should it really belong to the original creator or the new creator? Technically the new creator has created new music.
I was very upset by the idea that Fair Use only applies if I cannot teach the lesson without that particular media. If I am using it to enhance an already effective lesson or to engage my students than Fair Use doesn't apply. I do not agree with this at all. It is like telling the education system that you cannot use something that would give your students the best education possible because someone wants to get paid. I also have an issue with copyright when it comes to my students being able to use certain media while creating projects for the classroom. My students often have to struggle to find pictures, music, etc. for their projects and finding copyright free material that is free and fits with what we are studying is not always very easy. I think that if a student is using the material for a legitimate educational purpose in which there will be no commercial gain than they should have the right to use copyrighted material. I think that they should have to cite all of their resources, but I do not think that they should have to risk criminal or civil action to complete a school project.
I think that artists should receive compensation for their work. I do not agree with piracy or shareware programs that, in essence, steal others work. I think that these types of theft should be illegal and involve consequences mainly because these people or companies are doing this for a profit. I also think that copyright law needs to have some limitations. From the perspective of literature, stories are passed down through generations. Each new generation makes additions or alters the original stories to fit with the current period of time. Copyright that lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years seriously limits this creativity. Past generations were able to consistently update their stories. This is the reason why folk literature especially is so diverse. Under current copyright law entire generations are going to lose out on this creative, cultural experience. This is just one of the reasons that I support Creative Commons. This system allows for the creator to have rights over their creation, but it also allows future generations to utilize these creations in their drive to carve out their own bit of history.
Remixes and sampling also presented an interesting grey area when it comes copyright issues. I understand why it is technically not allowed, but I question that if a piece of music is altered than should it really belong to the original creator or the new creator? Technically the new creator has created new music.
1 comments:
- Cherie Hellenbrand said...
- Susan, I agree with many of your thoughts posted on your blog in regards to copyright issues. It should be legal when using the material for educational purposes with no intentions to profit, but to give students the best education possible. It is very ambiguous to state it can only be used under fair use unless you cannot teach the lesson without it. When it comes to my students using copyright materials in their class presentations I try to educate, but don’t really enforce. To educate my students, I explain many of the copyright issues and provide them examples of recent lawsuits. But like you said, I don’t want them to spend so much time finding different media to use that is copyright free, because class time is already so limited as it is.
- May 8, 2011 6:38 AM
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