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

Need to find a place to recycle old equipment?

Check this App of the week.

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??

Edit .pdf files in Word 2013.

Was reading a little about the new Office 2013 and this feature got me all warm and fuzzy:
Until now, you could not edit PDF files in Word without first converting them to the .doc or .docx format.  With the new Word 2013, however you can now open PDF files, edit them there, and then save them as either .docx files or PDFs.  Even when opened in Word, the file retains the structure of the PDF file, including that of elements such as tables.  So now you can just open a PDF file and get straight to work.


Here is what to expect in terms of pricing…
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57564342-75/office-2013-pricing-what-to-expect/

How to make Follett Destiny Library software play nice with Google Chrome.

I received a question this past week posing this question:  

"My library uses Follett Destiny for our library maintenance/circulation program.  We also use Google Chrome, my principal wants us to migrate us entirely from Internet Explorer/Firefox to Chrome. The problem is when I check in a series of books in Destiny while using Google Chrome, I have to manually put the cursor back in the box each time.  It's so frustrating!  Have any of you solved this problem? I talked to a Follett rep today and he seems to think there isn't a solution, but I did find this discussion thread:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chrome/hNPy98VrhPk/WumDjccf_DIJ
It talks about installing an extension called: "IE Tab Multi (Enhance)" and then tweaking it further.  Unfortunately, it didn't say how to tweak it! Thanks for any ideas! "

It was funny this was happening to me as well but I never gave it a second thought, after some research here is the solution I came up with:


I downloaded IE Tab https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ietab/hehijbfgiekmjfkfjpbkbammjbdenadd?hl=en from the Chrome store and it works like a charm.  The only fix I had to do was to go to my Destiny site like I would normally do in Chrome then in the top right-hand corner of the browser you will see a very small logo of a folder with a globe in it.  Click that and it will open your Destiny page in an IE tab.  IE Tab makes a webpage act as if you were viewing it in Internet Explorer instead of Chrome. As of the moment the cursor is staying in the box and working like it should.  

Free web editing/design, multimedia software from Microsoft.

We here at DIY strive to do things with budget constraints in mind so these downloads/news were a no brainer!

Microsoft has decided to pull the plug on its Microsoft Expression Suite and kill off some of the products completely while rolling others in to its Visual Studio suite. The focus appears to be more towards developers than designers moving forward but….for those of us would be Saturday morning web designer wannabes the news has a definite bit if upside to it. As a part of this move Microsoft has decided to make Expression Suite 4 available for free download. 

Those of us who have used Expression Web 4 know that it is a powerful web editing tool with a rich set of functions that put it in the top tier of html editors. There is a catch… if you download any of the following applications for free you will be running it without official Microsoft support. But hey, they're free! For those who purchased it they will continue to be supported in accordance with the with support lifecycle.

The Expression Suite includes;

Expression Encoder 4 

• an advanced audio/video-encoding and live-broadcasting application that provides new feature support, updates, and stability enhancements.
• Import and encode video files

• Produce live webcasts

• Publish with Microsoft Silverlight

Expression Web 4

• a full-featured professional tool for designing, developing, and publishing compelling, feature-rich websites that conform to web standards.

Expression Design 4

• a tool for creative professionals and developers who want to build graphics for application user interfaces, the web, or any other medium.
  

For those who may not be familiar with web editing or are new to Expression Web 4 there is a whole slew of training videos available for free as well on the site.

So what are you waiting for? Click on the links, start downloading and creating!!
*Note: While the .exe file says trial it is a non-expiring, it's a full function copy.

• Learn Expression Web Free Training & Resources
• Information About Expression Support For Paid Customers

How to use our IPEVO document cameras.

 

10 Sites for Teaching/Learning a Foreign Language.

1. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)A free site, no sign up required, from the folks that brought you Doctor Who bring you a robust site with tons of material to start learning one of the forty different languages they have to offer. Everything from; A Guide to Languages, videos, links to foreign media sites, as well as resources that can complement a secondary curriculum. This site seemingly has it all.  So go a head, <<parlez francais!>>
   
2. Duolingo
   Is a sites that allows users to translate text from the web.  Sentences are given to users at their own learning pace and Duolingo supplies words with images to reinforce learning.
   
3. Imendi
   A site where you can learn 8 foreign languages through 12 lessons that incorporates flash card style games.
   
4. Learn a Language
   Learn a variety of languages through online games, activities and more.
   
5. Lingt Classroom
   An educational portal that allows teachers to create voice based assignments.
   
6. Lyrics Gap
   Learn a language by filling in the missing words of a song.  A user can even create their own exercises by selecting what word to be omitted and then sharing a link.
   
7. Memrise
   A site for learning a variety of subjects including foreign languages through an innovative flash card system.
   
8. Nabber
   A collaborative site that allows users to search for a word/term and finds translations/suggestions left by others.
   
9. Nulu Languages
   Learn a foreign language through online translations of current events and use of flashcards.  Includes a education portal for student tracking.
   
10. Word Steps
    A great way to learn a foreign language words by creating word list with images and audio.  Word Steps also has a mobile app which is ideal for learning on the go.

How to use our Hamilton .mp3 players.

You may have seen these around school and you may have used them in your English class, our Hamilton mp3 player/voice recorders. We have been having great success using them as audio book players.  Staff and students can check them out just like books.  They are available at the Media Center.  Please give a couple days notice to have an audio book loaded on to the device(s).

Here are is a cheat sheet for the device 

and the actual instructions.  These device holds 1GB.

What do you mean I'm OVER my monthly data plan for my smartphone?!?

Ever wonder how much data you blow through watching re-runs of Blossom on your smartphone plan? Well here are some guidelines on how much certain activities use.  I'm using a 2-gigabyte (2,000 megabytes) monthly allowance of a typical data plan.  Remember try use the the Wi-Fi option whenever possible!!

1. Watching video streamsA high-quality video consumes almost 6MB per minute with a 4G connection.  If you stream a video a day from YouTube for a month or a single HD movie, that's 700MB.  More that a third of that 2GB plan.
2. Video calls
   Face-to-face video calls, using the camera on most new smartphones used 2.5 to 3MB a minute.  Video chat for 20 minutes a week and you used anywhere from 200-600 MB.
3. Uploading video
   Unless it's compressed a 3-minute video clip in HD(1080p) is around 300 MB.
4. Streaming music from a subscription service
   You like tuning in to Pandora while you go for that jog?  That half hour workout every day for a week, plus a couple times a week in the car eats up around 700 MB.
5. Playing games online
   Like battling Curt Schilling in video games while riding the T? Just remember that every minute of playing equals 1MB of data.

On the good side, these three activities use less than 1MB per minute; 

• surfing the web
• using maps an navigation
• sending email without attachments.