3.1 Choosing a publication license: four activities for the creative  (Page 3/7)

Introducing the inquiry activity

• You will begin this activity by introducing the research assignment. Explain that the students will be choosing a publication license for the works that they have been creating, so they need to understand what the options are, and the ramifications of each option, for the creator and for others.
• You can pique interest in this activity by presenting some facts, stories, history, and/or news items that your students will find relevant to their personal and creative interests and to this class project. The list of resources is a good starting point for finding information that will get the attention of the students.
• Explain that each group will research a specific type of licensing that is relevant to your project. Tell them the date of the discussion class period, and explain that they should arrive to that class ready to give a formal presentation and to answer any questions their classmates will have about it. Hand out copies of the research questions and your expectations for the research and the presentations (for example, minimum numbers of research sources or time limits on presentations).

Ask

Divide the students into groups. Each group is expected to research one area of interest and prepare a presentation on the answers they find, to be given during Activity 2. My suggestion is to divide the class into at least three groups and give each group one of the following: public domain; all-rights-reserved copyright; Creative Commons sharing licenses; any other sharing licenses that are relevant to your project (as the teacher, check into this before you make group assignments).

Questions for each group

• What are the basic rules of this type of license?
• What does it mean for the creator?
• What does it mean for the people who would like to enjoy the work?
• What does it mean for other creators who would like to make a new creation based on a work with this license?
• Give at least two good reasons for choosing this type of license.
• Give at least two good reasons not to choose this type of license.
• Does your country have laws limiting the ability to choose this license, providing this license automatically to published works, and/or providing a time limit after which the license expires? What happens to the work if the license expires? What do you think are the reasons for these laws? Do you think these laws have any unintended consequences? (Back up your thinking with evidence and/or with well-reasoned arguments created by the group or published by others, and be sure to provide proper citations!)
• What are some famous works with this type of license that are the same type of works that the class is creating (e.g. poetry, pop songs, videos, etc.)?

Investigate

Relevant resources will depend on your particular project, but here are some suggestions to help get you started.

Web resources

• The Music, Movies, and Computer Software Copyrights page published by National Paralegal College provides a short summary of the subject.
• The Copyright for the Rest of Us course in Connexions is intended to be an introduction to the subject for high school and college students.
• The Creative Commons website has information about open licenses, including videos introducing the idea, and detailed information about each type of license.
• Stanford University Library provides information about both public domain and fair use of copyrighted materials.
• The National Association for Music Education website has a copyright center with a great deal of information aimed at helping music teachers navigate copyright issues pertaining to student performances and recordings.
• The Music Publisher's Association website has a copyright resources center featuring a guide to researching the publisher or copyright holder of a piece of music.
• The Public Domain Project is a source for public domain and royalty-free music