July 2014 archive

MOOC Copyright for Educators & Librarians Kevin Smith, M.L.S., J.D., Lisa A. Macklin, J.D.,M.L.S., Anne Gilliland, JD, MLS

Copyright for Educators & Librarians

by Kevin Smith, M.L.S., J.D., Lisa A. Macklin, J.D.,M.L.S., Anne Gilliland, JD, MLS

thread Wk 1 – T2: Copyright: Shortened or Lengthened? – PART 1

Follow the money” was mentioned as a way to understand the concept of copyright and copyright law

Copyright lengths should be shortened.  Term lengths like these rarely benefit actual people.  They benefit corporations, be it publishers or things like Disney.

Karen Lightner: I can see the usefulness of bringing the US into line with the Berne Convention, so that we are in line with other nations’ laws. But the additional 20 years we have added for individuals and the incredibly long period for corporations goes against, I believe, what the founding fathers intended when they specified for a limited time.

Edwin A Quist: There are collections of so-called production music issued with licenses to be used for educational videos.  We have at least two sets of these in our music library (in various styles: rock ,classical, world, electronic, etc.) — but don’t expect great art!  Also WikiMedia Commons has some CC licensed music.

Brad Whitehead: I have no quarrel with protecting corporate trademarks — Disney characters or Nike swooshes, etc. — but maintaining monopolies on creative works for such extended periods primarily  enriches publishers with no benefit to the creators.

Nicholas Theo: There are definitely works created where it can be next to impossible to find the owner, or their descendant 20 years after the creation of the work. I have also witnessed when you do track these people down that they want an exorbitant sum of money for permission to use their creation even when there has been absolutely no interest in it. In the end no deal is made. On the other hand I work with two small non profit organizations whose body of work is of value. The material is actively used, and the body of work is a core asset for the organization. What happens to each organization once the copyrights expire? One organization faces this reality in 2015. The Internet permits an environment where decades of work may be used, and in some instances in ways the original material was never intended to be used. For instance, written passages can be misquoted and there will no longer be a legal mechanism to halt this practice.

Karen Case: I would be curious to know if the Youtube video with Mozart would have been removed if the link was made private.

Susan Martel: I think about The Hobbit which was published in 1937.  The author, Tolkien, died in 1973, and I remember his books being popular in the seventies and the eighties.  It was fairly recently that movies were made based on his books.  It seems fair (and I hope that it is the case) that he left a great legacy behind to his family so that they could continue to receive income from his work.  If Tolkien’s works were in the public domain by the time the movies were made, it is just an easy way for those working in the movie industry to become even wealthier without having to pay anything to the author or his beneficiaries.  Not all works have the kind of potential that Tolkien’s did, but without a crystal ball to predict the future it may be difficult to predict accurately what works will have continued success for generations and which will just be a flash in the pan.

Charles N. Norton: There is something called “Good Faith” effort that many archives hold to that tends to be the “standard” when trying to use copyrighted material for educational use, but it really only applies when you know who the copyright holder is and for whatever reason they simply do not respond to your requests. It does not remove the authors rights and, in fact, many times one does end up having to remove shared material after the fact because the copyright holders finally does get around to denying permission.

Lesli Moore: I’m glad to see some discussion about Open Access to works.  Perhaps instead of shortening the term, creators can circumvent the terms by offering open access using Creative Commons.

Jef Gielen: There are pros and cons. Do we find it reasonable that heirs take benefit from a work they did not contribute to at all ? To me, this is not evident. On the other hand, the copyright can be in hand of foundations trying to continue the work of an author – e.g. by means of scholarships. That’s another story ..

Resources:
Here is a complete list of all the suggested readings for the Copyright for Educations and Librarians Course. Click here for a downloadable PDF version of the Suggested Readings that contains the full URL links.

Week 1

 

Week 2

Week 3

Samples:

OPTIONAL – Resources on music copyright:

Sources for examples:

For the history behind the controversy over “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” listen to these three YouTube videos:

  • Linda’s “Mbube” – 1939 (start at 0:21)
  • The Weavers with Pete Seeger “Wimoweh” – 1952 (start at 1:13)
  • Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – 1961 (start at 0:15)

Week 4

Game Design Finds a ‘Sweet Spot’ with Education

Game Design Finds a ‘Sweet Spot’ with Education

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2014/06/game-design-finds-sweet-spot-education

\three areas that generally get neglected in school: architecture, animation and game design.

students create their own games using these concepts. They may choose from several programming platforms, including Beta, Kandu, Flowlab, Unity, Atmosphir, Gamestar Mechanic and Game Maker. Some of these require knowledge of coding; others are almost purely visual.

Game Design Toolkit Available

http://education.mit.edu/blogs/carole/2014/11/05

https://gamestarmechanic.com/

http://gamesandimpact.org/

A brief history of video games (Part I) – Safwat Saleem

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-video-games-part-i-safwat-saleem

How Teachers Can Use Video Games In The Humanities Classroom

How Teachers Can Use Video Games In The Humanities Classroom

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/how-teachers-can-use-video-games-in-the-humanities-classroom

What if teachers used video games as texts? Let’s think about how we might teach kids to think critically about the underlying messages in commercial games and how we might leverage video games for their ability to engage students and provoke conversation.

At the moment, there’s far too little critical examination of video games happening in school. We take it for granted that we should teach our students how to read books interpretively, how to analyze movies, and how to read the newspaper critically. But all too often we overlook video games as a meaningless triviality.

3 Things You Didn’t Know You Can Do on Pinterest

3 Things You Didn’t Know You Can Do on Pinterest

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/node/231631

Tag People in Comments

Pinterest may not be the most popular when it comes to direct communication between consumers and brands, but it is still worth your time to respond to and engage with your audience. When responding to a comment or commenting on a Pin yourself, Pinterest allows you to tag a user (as long as you’re following them). Of course this feature is not new or unique, but on Pinterest it’s not as commonly used.

Use Hashtags for Exclusivity

Pinterest does not support hashtags the way it once did, which means they are still clickable, but search results will include other pins. Those pins will have the same words in their description, link address or file name. To make the most of hashtags on Pinterest, the best approach would be to make one that is unique. Whether it’s for a campaign or exclusive promotion, Pinterest hashtags are best for exclusivity – if you’re more interested in SEO, keywords are the way to go.

Pinterest Source Tool

With Pinterest’s Source Tool, you can easily see what people are pinning from your website and from your competitor’s (or any website for that matter). All you have to do is type in http://www.pinterest.com/source/WEBSITE _DOMAIN_HERE and a list of pins will show up. This tool can help provide some basic insight into popular products and (my note) information

7 Things You Shouldn’t Tweet

7 Things You Shouldn’t Tweet

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/5-things-you-shouldn%E2%80%99t-tweet

1. “What a workout! #exhausted #seeyoutomorrowgym”

New Years Day has come and gone, and like most Americans, my resolution for 2014 about working out is already nonexistent. Now, don’t make me or anyone else feel even worse about it by tweeting about “your extreme Crossfit session” or your “punishing leg day workout.”

Plus, are you really working out that hard if you have time to tweet about it?

2. “Gosh like 3 people today told me I’m beautiful, but I totally don’t think so. #confused #beauty”

Did you read that with a Valley girl tone of voice?

This kind of tweet is an example of the confusingly popular phenomenon that has been coined as humble brag tweeting. Humble bragging is boasting about something, but undercutting with modest humor. While the violation is mostly a Hollywood kind of offense, everyday Tweeters aren’t immune to the annoyance.

Arrogantly bragging about an achievement laced with an “oh my gosh how did that happen,” will not get you any new genuine followers or retweets. It will only get you unwanted eye rolling and unfollows. Say no to humble brag tweeting.

3. “Love is about finding it in unepected places. #anotherglassofwineplease #turndownforwhat”

If your guilty vice is having a few cocktails, or enjoying your favorite bottle of Syrah, so be it. But don’t let all of Twitter know about it, coupled with an inspirational quote about love, success, or how amazing the world is.

If you’re using Twitter to take advantage of its networking and outreach opportunities, tweeting that you’re under the influence isn’t the way to do it.

4. “I’m at ________ 4sq.com/S3a24j”

The dreaded foursquare tweet. Geotagging your Instagram and Facebook photo updates have surged across social media. But unless you’re into the whole stalker thing, don’t tweet out your exact location.

The purpose of this tweet is to invite others to join in, right? But did you know a majority of Twitter users are not in the U.S.? Again, if you like international lurkers, keep on checking into foursquare. But if you’re into privacy like me, keep your geo-tagging tweets to a general, “Hey I’m at Joe Momma’s Coffee.”

5. “RT if you love us plzzzzz”

How to put this lightly? No…one…will…retweet…you. Not only is this kind of tweet spammy and annoying, it screams juvenile. How can any audience take you seriously if they feel like they are following a toddler on Twitter who can’t even spell please?

Okay, I lied. Here are a few more things you shouldn’t tweet.

6. “Thanks for following via ManageFlitter. @i_alexandrarose is now following you.”

Stop reading right now, and go turn off this automated tweet. Nothing screams, “I don’t really even use Twitter, just HootSuite,” more than this nonsense of a tweet.

7. “Thanks for the follow! Now let’s connect on Facebook @i_alexandrarose.”

If I wanted to “like” you on Facebook, I wouldn’t be connecting with you on Twitter. Plus, an invite to your Facebook page sends the message “I’m so important and everything I tweet is so valuable, you shouldn’t miss any of my Facebook selfies.”

Newsflash, no one is that important. Except maybe Neil Diamond.

Sweet Caroline. Bum, bum, bum. Good times never seemed so good.

If you’re at the gym, stay off Twitter. If you’re drunk, stay of Twitter. If you feel like complimenting yourself, do so in the mirror while you’re taking a selfie. Don’t give your Twitter followers any reason to unfollow you. Stick to useful, conversation-fueling tweets, and soon everyone will want to listen to your bird chirping.

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