Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Thing 15 - Copyright, Creative Commons



Copyright vs. infringement Mine vs. everyone's
Creative Commons = let's share
Write, sing, play, perform...Whose right is it?


Some of us learned quite a bit about copyright issues and created blogs about copyright last fall. It was an interesting project and I learned a lot about copyright that I didn't even realize should be considered when generating, using, sharing, distributing, etc. information.


I had seen the comic book before and found it a great tool to use with kids while teaching them the importance of not infringing upon other people's creations. I enjoyed the CC video. I like how it promotes the excitement of sharing creations so they can be expanded upon by others. "Sharing" being the operative word and we all realize that it's important not to step on the creative rights of others, especially when it infringes on someone's income!

On the academic side of the coin, plagiarism is just as detrimental. I don't know if any of my papers or projects have been subjected to Turnitin, the anti-plagiarism tool that many schools and universities use now to ensure original works are turned in. I can certainly understand why institutions would choose to use the service with how easy it is to copy and paste not just sentences, but entire works!

2 comments:

  1. I think I'll have to share Creative Commons with the teachers at my school. A common teacher motto is "beg, borrow and steal," and most I know are afraid to even ask about copyright for this reason. They might like to know that most of what we use in our classrooms is fair use, for one, and that resources like CC exist, for another.

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  2. You're right, Rebecca. Thankfully "educational purposes" takes care of a lot of what would otherwise be a hassle to get permission to use.

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