Sunday, February 24, 2013

Copyright and schools--a simple primer.

I attended an excellent presentation/talk by Salem State's (and my former) professor Carol Kelley about copyright and schools.  This has always been a subject that makes my head spin, gives me an upset stomach and gets me all sorts of looks by fellow staff members.
Trying to explain copyright and fair use is like understanding the concept of the mass at my old church in 1970, I was five and the mass was in latin.  Trying to explain to people why they couldn't show the movie "Shrek" in the auditorium, to the entire middle school on the last day before vacation always drove me nuts.  Questions like: "how much of a song can I use in my presentation, class project?" were akin to getting the answer to "what is the meaning of life?"

Thanks to Carol she simplified the explication of this matter to the point that as she was talking, a yellow glow appeared above my head and I fell off the horse like Saul of Tarsus. OK I'll ease up on the religious metaphors, but that's how I felt, it all started to make sense.

She suggested a book; "Copyright for Schools" by the guru of copyright, Carol Simpson, as a starter. Next she explained that most of the "rules" we followed about copyright and fair use were guidelines NOT laws and that no librarian has ever been found guilty or arrested for breaking copyright laws.

Copyright law is very flexible, it is the guidelines that are restrictive. Any work created or compiled is automatically copyrighted. You can have your work dated and notarized to protect it from being stolen.

She asked the question, "do we obey copyright because of the fear that we may get caught or because it is the right thing to do?"  I'm hoping the latter.  She gave us an acronym to help us deal with these issues PANE;  Purpose, Amount, Nature and Effect.
  • What is the PURPOSE for? To teach or to entertain? Can't use to entertain.
  • What is the AMOUNT being copied? You can't copy so much that you end up not needing to purchase it.
  • What is the NATURE of the work?  Is it fictional or factual?  Fair use is less lenient with fictional works than factual works.  Music has two copyrights; the writer and the performer, while common knowledge is not covered under copyright law.
  • What is the EFFECT on sales.
Another aspect that can be added to the above criteria is "the Teach Act (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act passed in 2002."  The importance of the TEACH Act stems from the previous copyright laws that allow educators to copy documents or use copyrighted materials in a face-to-face classroom setting. Because of the growth of distance education that does not contain a face-to-face classroom setting changes in these laws had to be made.  This allows the teacher to post anything on the web for teaching but it must have restricted access and a time limit.  It can't be left up there forever. 

So to decide what does or does not violate copyright use, apply the guidelines above and then YOU must decide using those criteria if you are using it ETHICALLY.

I believe we should teach that; if I use something...

  • I cite it.
  • I ask permission
  • I buy it

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Apply effects on your photos on your Apple device for free.

Ok, maybe I maybe a little slow on the trigger with this one, but it was such an Epiphany, I had to share.  I download Adobe PS (Photoshop) Express from the iTunes App Store and started to play around with some of the effects that came with it.  I tried to "reduce noise" on a picture of mine.  I applied the effect but it didn't allow me to save the picture, I had to purchase the advance App for this to work.  Then it hit me, I got the effect to do what I wanted I just couldn't save it.  So what happen if I just took a screenshot? (hitting the power button and the home button at the same time--you'll see a flash on your screen).  So do you know what happen?  I got a new picture of the picture WITH the effect.  WHO KNEW??