About Me
- Sue Parler
- New Jersey, United States
- I'm currently in my 32nd year teaching at DePaul Catholic HS in Wayne, NJ. I teach Game Design, Cryptology, and Spanish -- yes, it's an odd mix -- even I admit it. I am the IT Coordinator at DePaul Catholic as well, which means I manage the network, the student information system, the website, and the 900+ computers in the building. Yep, keeps me busy.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Week 1: Copyright Issues
Prior to watching the video, I thought remixing was cheap - certainly not creative. Apparently I had not been exposed to a good creative remix - OK, so I'm now enlightened. But here's a question one of my students asked just the other day - "If I copy a song, change the tempo, delete perhaps the bass line and add another instrument, is that OK?" I said no. Now - I don't know - what's the remix formula? (He, by the way, was trying to add a soundtrack to a video game he had created. That game was purely for educational purposes and there is no intention to market the game)
It's painful to think that a piece of history may be sacrificed for the sake of copyright law, such as the one in the Dr. MLK video. It is equally painful to think that an artist's work was "stolen". Where is the balance? Again, I don't know.
The whole Fair Use piece has me baffled as well. I can get a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" on DVD from Library Video (http://www.libraryvideo.com/). But am I permitted to show it to my class? It's not like it's essential - it's just such a great supplemental piece. According to the Fair Use video series, I'm beginning to think not. If that's the case -- well, I've been doing that for years - pre-DVD, pre-VHS - gosh, it goes back to 16mm film on my old Eiki!
And finally, is there a line in the sand between plagiarism and copyright? If so, where's that beach - because I'm ready to head out. Oh yes... and I'd love to post an image here, but I'm a little gun-shy at this point to do so.
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2 comments:
Sue-
Like you, I have used various videos in my classroom for years without ever thinking that I could be violating copyright. I think that it is a shame that media that could be used to enhance instruction may be illegal to use. If this is the case, I would think that the education system is the worst offender possible when it comes to breaking copyright. I also think that this is something that is never really going to change because using video, etc. is commonplace in every American classroom. I also ran into copyright issues when my students were creating their various projects this year. I had students that wanted to use a song or a picture but couldn’t because of copyright. Some of my students took this in stride and some just shut down because the project wasn’t going to be what they wanted it to be. This was very frustrating for me because my job is to motivate them. I talked some of my students into sending emails to the artists’ website to see if they could get permission. Most never received a response and the ones that did were full of legal jargon stating that to use that particular song would be a violation of copyright. To me it just seemed ridiculous, but I was able to talk my students into using www.freeplaymusic.com to find music for their projects. The projects were great, but the enthusiasm the students had for them was somewhat diminished.
Sue,
You touched many valid points regarding the copyright issues and Fair Use regulations and I agree the questions are still mounting. Most importantly I love your sense of humor! But in particular it saddens me to think the historical MLK film "Eyes On the Prize" will be held perpetually in the Library of Congress -- and cannot ever be shown on television, DVD including all other legitimate copies being held hostage. The dollar value that Joe Bustillos mentioned in Wimba is virtually like a kidnapper asking a parent to pay a ransom to get their precious child back! When it come to historically relevant events, this is unfair! This is an important piece of history and it should not be silenced and placed on the shelf. Besides, Dr. King left a "footprint" in a neighboring place of worship located in Montclair, NJ, specifically, Union Baptist Church -- many pictures of Dr. King’s visit grace their walls; as well as many other venues in this country. My heart was saddened when I heard this news. I too am baffled and not being a student of law I have not had the privilege to study these laws in-depth. I do know this, however, I went on line today and saw that PBS is still selling “Eyes on the Prize” for $39.95, with tax $44.00. Tell me, has PBS now violated the copyright laws of the federal government and secondly, who gets the $44.00? Yes, there are gray areas, but there seems to be some “green” in this as well.
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