EDUC 536 Technology for Learners
Understanding Digital Citizenship, Google Translate
Digital Literacy How to address and teach 21st century skills & learning?
Learning & Innovation Skills
Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future.
What do we know about Digital Citizenship in schools?
Digital Literacy
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An application-programming interface (API) is a set of programming instructions and standards for accessing a Web-based software application or Web tool.
The Si's and Nein's of Computer-Aided Language Translation
Legal issues, Reid Goldsborough is a syndicated columnist and author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway.
The legal issues surrounding language translation are as interesting as they are complicated. In 2007, a French teenager wound up spending a night in jail for translating into French and posting on the Internet all 759 pages of the latest Harry Potter book. Such a translation clearly violated the copyright of author J. K. Rowling, who has the legal right to have translated her books into French or any other language and sell them commercially.
The situation becomes less clear when translating for personal use. Take this scenario: You want to read a book written in a foreign language that you don't understand. Is translating the book so you can read it legal?
I interviewed five lawyers who specialize in copyright and other intellectual property issues about this. One lawyer said for "personal use, the odds are that this would be regarded as fair use and would not result in a copyright infringement claim."
Another disagreed, saying that this is "an infringement of copyright, technically, but it may not rise to the level of having the copyright law enforced."
A third pointed out that commercial issues are as or more important than creative ones. "The courts are very focused on whether you're taking bread off the table of the author," which wouldn't be the case in this situation. But he also said that you'd be at risk if the author made a conscious decision not to have the work translated.
A fourth said that because the right of translation belongs to the copyright holder, it's best to get permission to translate the book.
The fifth lawyer said that when you can't contact the copyright holder, there are provisions in the international copyright law for obtaining a license to translate a book if a certain number of years have passed since the book's publication, depending on the country. Naturally, you should contact a lawyer.