<< Chapter < Page | Chapter >> Page > |
Modern technologies have made it easy for students to get into serious trouble for overstepping the bounds of copyright laws or rules about plagiarism. But technology has also made possible a vibrant participatory culture in which all creators, including students, can choose to publish their creative works and share them in varying degrees. Understanding the options that are available for sharing and protecting intellectual property will help students make wise, well-informed decisions about both their own work and the intellectual property of others. Introducing the subject in relationship to the student's own creative work provides concrete, personally meaningful examples of the issues and encourages respect for the intellectual property of others. These activities are designed to be one aspect of an extensive creative-arts project. The module does not include a specific creative project; instead it can be used with any publishable creative work, including:
This module includes suggestions for:
If you do not have a creative project in mind already and would like some suggestions, the following Connexions modules include activities that could result in publishable creations. (If you would like to add other Connexions modules or links to other creative-activities sites, please contact the author.)
Copyright law is an extensive and complex subject. Rules change with time, and also vary from one country to another. Although "all rights reserved" and "public domain" seem fairly straightforward, rules (such as what constitutes "fair use," when and how copyrights expire, and what is automatically copyrighted or automatically in the public domain) may vary from one type of work to another and from one country to another. Licenses that permit certain types of use or certain degrees of sharing, altering, and remixing, can also have different ramifications depending on the type of creative work. (For example, some rules or licenses are more relevant or useful to video creations, while others are more pertinent to protecting or sharing written works.) Your class may also be planning to enter creations in contests, display them locally or on a particular website, or submit them to magazines or other edited publication venues, all of which may constrain or affect the licensing that you would want to choose. In short, I cannot even begin to provide here all of the copyright and licensing information that might be pertinent to your project.
Notification Switch
Would you like to follow the 'Music inquiry' conversation and receive update notifications?