While delivering a briefing on copyright recently I realised that copyright had not featured on my Blog. The danger when talking to staff about copyright issues associated with digital resources is that in effect you cannot copy and paste anything from the Internet without breaching copyright law. Case closed - and that's not what staff want to hear!
Our approach here at the RSC however is to focus on how you can find resources that you are at liberty to use. Creative Commons (CC) is a not for profit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with 
Google (for websites) and Flickr (for images) now have advance search tools which allow you to filter your search to resources which have a Creative Commons licence already assigned. You should click on the CC icon and read the licence but really all 4 licences do tend to cover use in the mainstream, non-commercial education sectors with just a simple attribution note.
Advanced search in Google:click advanced search / enter your search term / expand date and usage rights section / choose one of the 4 appropriate usage terms that suits you needs. All 4 reflect the CC licences.
Advanced search in Flickr: enter your search term / click search / then choose advance search / check box that says "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content".
The returns you get using either of these techniques will provide you with materials that you can use without breaching the copyright legislation but you should check out the CC license terms for every resource you find.
It is worth noting that you may not be in a position to assign a creative commons licence the work you develop yourself for your students as the intellectual property rights are likely to rest with your employer. Check it out
JISC Legal Webcast on “Digital Copyright with Confidence”
1 comment:
Joan, nice article.
A few observations...
1. You said "...the work is copyright as soon as it is published to the web."
Actually, in the US (and many others), a work is entitled to copyright protection the second it is in tangible, fixed format... as in, your computer hard drive. Publishing anywhere is not required, nor is it a contributing factor.
2. In case some people are confused... CC licensing does not absolve or remove the copyright of a work... at all.
CC licensing, is simply a license, like any other type of license. It has terms, restrictions, conditions and contractual consideration.
It's a contract. And, if someone were to violate the terms of the agreement, they would likely be infringing someone's copyright.
Basically, people should be aware that seeing "CC" on something, doesn't give them the right to do anything they want. They will still have to read the terms, and make sure they adhere to the license.
Just a few thoughts to ponder on a Saturday morning.
G.C. Hutson
CEO for Sadien Intellectual Property
http://www.sadien.com
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