Adventures in Technology Enhanced Learning @ UoP

Tag: copyright

Episode 10 – Bartolomeo Meletti from Learning on Screen – Copyright

TelTaleBanner
TelTales Podcast
Episode 10 - Bartolomeo Meletti from Learning on Screen - Copyright
Loading
/

Copyright Resources:

copyrightuser.org

learningonscreen.ac.uk

The Game is On

BoB National

IPKat

1709 Blog

Nowhere Land – Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Copyright for a Digital Age


Copyright is a complex subject. It is also not a particularly exciting subject. It is, however, an important subject. In this post I am going to break it down into three sections that will hopefully get you to understand a little bit about why we all need to worry about copyright material. The three questions are:

  1. Why should I bother with copyright?
  2. What am I really after?
  3. How can I achieve my aims while adhering to the rules?

Firstly, before I answer these questions, I’d like to direct your attention to David Sherren’s article on copyright. David is the University copyright guru and should be able to offer advice and guidance for all specific questions on the subject. So onto the first question.

  1. Why should I bother with copyright?

I can think of at least two good answers. Firstly, how would you like it if someone stole from you and infringed your copyright? Secondly, there’s a chance of suffering financial loss.

A. How would you like it?

Suppose you have worked hard on something (an article, a piece of creative writing or audio/visual project perhaps) or you have simply uploaded a photo onto a social media platform. That piece of work is yours. If someone takes your work and uses it without permission, that would surely strike you as a little unfair. What if they then made money from your source materia

B. Financial loss.

If you take other’s work and use it the original authors might consider themselves entitled to payment for the reproduction of their work. Many times I hear the response “but it’s for educational purposes”. This argument only holds true in a limited number of situations and areas. The problem comes down to the wording of “educational use”. Education use generally allows any image to be used as part of a lecture or seminar; however, if the image is in a PowerPoint presentation that is then placed into Moodle or the web as a file (native or PDF) then this is classed as distribution and is no longer covered by the educational licence. This is a terribly grey area, as the British Library highlight with their explanation of fair use of works.

A statutory definition for fair dealing does not exist; it will always be a matter of fact, degree and interpretation in every fair use case. Nor is there a percentage or quantitative measure to determine fair dealing.”

Essentially, as the user responsible for infringing copyright, would you take the risk of being the person financially liable for infringement?

For further information around real-world copyright cases and why it is important to maintain copyright please refer to the cases listed below.

  1.  German school sued for copyright
  2.  5 Famous copyright infringement cases
  3.  List of copyright cases
  4.  Exceptions to copyright within education
  5.  Further details on fair use of copyright material

2. What am I really after?

When I run my training session on copyright I pose the question of specificity: how specific does your search need to be? If you are really after a particular photo from the Pontiac Correctional Center 1978 riot then you might be unable to find something that is copyright cleared. However, if you really just need a photo to illustrate the police or a prison maybe even the situation following a riot these can all be found using a Creative Commons or royalty free image database.

      3. How can I achieve my aims while adhering to the rules?

This can be a tricky question. I suggest that the first step is just to ask yourself: “Should I really be using this resource?” If you are unsure of the answer then contact myself or, for a more comprehensive answer, David Sherren. We will attempt to clarify if you are able to use the material. It helps if you can provide us with all the information of where, when, and how you acquired the material.

Tips on copyright

  • Keep a Google Drive folder that contains all of the material and as Spreadsheet with all the information needed to demonstrate the nature of the copyright.
  • Use a search facility that provides royalty free and copyright clear material. (Flickr, Unsplash and Creative Commons) Remember to filter Flickr searches to be creative commons otherwise some of the images may not be royalty free and infringing someone else’s work.
  • Linking to material directly rather than downloading it.
  • Refer to the Library materials on copyright.
  • Refer to the Library catalogue for relevant databases of useable material.
  • Find legitimate streaming services for streaming TV programs.
  • Remember, there are a lot of myths that need debunking around copyright.
  • If you have an image that you are trying to find the source for, use something like TinEye.
  • If you are ever unsure – just ask.

Image credit.

Luana Azevedo

Open source repositories

Okay, so this post isn’t really about whether cats are cuter than dogs… rather, it’s about open source repositories, and how they can help you easily access copyright free images and open source content!

We all know that using strong visuals and resources are a really important element in creating engaging paper-based and online course content to enhance the student learning experience.

And we also know that the internet is rich with photos, illustrations, graphic elements, fonts and videos… just a quick Google search and you can find thousands of hits right at your fingertips. But how do we know what is legally allowed to be used without restrictions? It’s fair to say that copyright law can be a bit of a minefield!

So to make life just a little easier, next time you are thinking about revamping old course materials, or creating some new ones, why not take a look at, for example, Wikimedia Commons. The site holds hundreds of thousands of media files, which can be freely used for educational purposes.

Another example of a lesser known repository is NYPL Digital Collections. This site holds a vast array of research collections featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video and much, much more!

The following websites have curated links to dozens of free and open source resources (and offer more than just cute pictures of cats and dogs!), which can be used with either little or no restrictions. You can also find tools that can be used to help deliver course content in a more engaging way.

Guest blogger: David Sherren – Copyright when blogging

David Sherren
Map Librarian – University Library, UoP

Copyright guru – David maintains the Copyright Guidelines at the University and endeavours to answer any copyright questions that come his way which, given the ambiguity of the subject, can be a challenge!

When producing content for a blog post it’s very easy just to ‘borrow’ material from other web sites and blogs. However, it’s important to remember that all web sites, emails, blogs and photographs are protected by copyright. Don’t assume that giving someone credit for material you use means that there is no copyright infringement.

Here are some things that you can do:

  • There is a copyright exception that allows you to quote from someone else’s work, provided that:

(a)  the work has been made available to the public;

(b)  the use of the quotation is fair (so it doesn’t affect the market for the original work);

(c)  the quote is relevant and its extent is no more than is required by the specific purpose for which it is used; and

(d) the quotation is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

Note that copying a photograph is not normally allowed under this exception. 

  • You can use material that is in the public domain.

This public domain image, for example, comes from pixabay.com. You could also search among over a million public domain images released by the British Library and made available on Flickr Commons.

  • Use materials with a Creative Commons (CC) Licence that allows re-use. For example, the most accommodating licence is the Attribution (BY) Licence, which allows you to distribute, remix, tweak and build upon someone else’s work as long as you give the original creator credit. Appropriate images can be found by using http://search.creativecommons.org/, which links to various search services. Alternatively you can find licensed material by using the advanced search option in either Google or Flickr. The image below is available under a CC licence and is shown with its appropriate attribution, which includes the title of the work, the name of the author and a link to the work.

Technology Enhanced Learning This Way by Alan Levine is licensed under CC BY 2.0

There is some basic information about copyright in our Copyright Guidelines.

If you have any questions about copyright issues then please contact: david.sherren@port.ac.uk.

 

© 2024 Tel Tales

Theme by Anders NorénUp ↑