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Ethics: Schools teach students about copyright laws(Daily News, The (Bowling Green, KY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 19--Think of it as teaching "digital citizenship." In a world where students can frequently grab images and music through Google and post it to their MySpace or Facebook Web pages, local educators say they have to go the extra mile to teach copyright laws involving technology projects. In fact, Pat Stewart, director of technology for the Warren County Public Schools, said sometimes the process of teaching students what they can use involves "unlearning" what they already practice. Stewart said it can be difficult not only for students but teachers and parents to understand the difference between fair use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes and copyright infringement. So he calls it digital citizenship. "We teach students to obey laws, take that and apply it to cyberspace," Stewart said. "We're teaching them to use technology in a good way and be respectful of the intellectual property of their fellow person." Fair Use of the Copyright Act allows some material to be used by teachers for educational purposes under the understanding that it will not be used for profit or public distribution. But sometimes that becomes tricky, Stewart said, when students want to put background music from their personal CD collection into projects or teachers post their work to the Web. "My rule of thumb: If you show it in the district, for profit, on the Web or if it's used in competition, do not use copyrighted material such as music or graphics without permission," Stewart said. Members of the Student Technology Learning Program throughout the state can be disqualified from competition for using copyrighted material that does not display a written consent from the owner. At Bowling Green High School, Sandra McCoy, who teaches advanced multi media, said her students had to learn the hard way about copyright infringement. Two years ago, a student entered a contest with the Kentucky Department of Transportation with a public service announcement video created using an image of "Star Wars' " Darth Vader. After attempting to contact creator George Lucas for use consent, the student entered the project with the understanding that if it won, it could not be aired publicly as a commercial. The work came in first place, but it was the second-place winner whose work became public. "I try to stress to the students the importance of avoiding using images and graphics in projects," she said. McCoy said last year a new class made a commercial and had to get consent from Wendy's Restaurants and the Warren County Sheriff's Department for images that appeared in a smoking advertisement. Since consent was received, the commercial was eventually aired in movie theaters. Susan Throneberry, who integrates technology into Warren County schools, said the emphasis is on student-created work, and she provides students with programs, such as GarageBand, where they can even create their own background music in minutes. "Students will want to use music from their CD collection and they'll say 'well, I bought it, why can't I use it?' " Stewart said. "But you bought it for personal use, you didn't buy the rights to it." Throneberry said she also discourages students from pulling items from Google Images -- a tiny disclaimer on the search engine says some items may be copyrighted. Even if images do not contain the copyright symbol, that does not mean they are not copyrighted, she said. "I tell parents and teachers, 'you wouldn't let students plagiarize, but if you're posting things to the Web, you're doing the same thing as plagiarizing,' " she said. According to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, copyright is "the legal right of an author, composer, playwright, publisher of distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale or distribution of" their work. Any original work has copyright implied, the department cites. The definition of fair use has restrictions, according to the department, as it is "an implied permission granting non-profit and or educational institutions use of copyrighted materials in face-to-face teaching, personal discussion and research, and news reporting." But it cannot be used in online publications open to the public or a classroom Web site because it's not considered a face-to-face, controlled environment safe from public use. Michael McIntyre, a Bowling Green High School senior in McCoy's Advanced Media class, is currently working on a trading card for Kentucky State Police troopers. He said the school had to get permission from the department to use its logo, and must be cautious that it does not leave the school. "We're given (the logos) to use for this and this only," he said. "You could be fined for copyright violations or not citing sources." Many of the students in the class said the laws are sometimes difficult to understand and find themselves frequently asking permission for use. Senior Tyler Donchez said while it is legal to use 30 seconds of a song without permission, he has written to Linkin Park for consent to use that group's music in a project. Most recently, Donchez appealed to WBKO for permission to use its seven-day forecast logo for the school's news broadcast. "It's not hard -- you just have to look on certain things to see if someone else has already done it," he said. Throneberry said a stronger emphasis has been placed on copyright laws to avoid student work from being disqualified in competitions and to teach students to do their own work. She said five years ago, it was not as big an issue, but in the last year students have been thrown out of state STLP competitions for having images without copyright consent. "It used to be considered fair game because of fair use," she said. "But if you can't qualify it as correct educational use, you can't use it." To see more of the Bowling Green Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bgdailynews.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily News, Bowling Green, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |