EPS ICT
Webtools and sites to support 21st Learners
Issue 2 - September 2013
Digital Copyright and Creative Commons
The digital era has made it easy for everyone to locate and reuse information, images, videos, music and to present information, for entertainment, and creativity. Copyright jargon can be confusing and technical. Many countries have their own laws and regulations. Copyright is what protects creators work from being copied by others without permission. Here are a few tips to help you understand copyright in the digital world.
1. Not everything you find on the web is free to use. Just because you found it on Google doesn't mean that is free to use. This is something many educators and students are innocently guilty of.
2. As educators there is a term called 'fair use'. This means that an image, video, parts of text can be used for educational purposes and might be flexible to copyright rules. Educators and students need to look closely to copyright license symbols and permission before using items for teaching and learning purposes.
The National Copyright Unit,(Ministerial Council on Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs) states ' There are four instances where teachers do not need to rely on special provisions in the Copyright Act: linking, embedding, material created by your or your department body and free for education material.'
Creative commons(CC) is an extension to copyright. Creators can apply CC licenses to their work to allow others to use, remix, modify and/or to protect their work. There are six licenses and each has it's own special icon which are recognised globally. Remember these rules when locating CC text, images, video or music.
1.Attribute the owner / website to let others know where you got the information from with a link and or text.
2.Only use it for non profit purposes.
3. Anything you create with other authors content, you must apply the same license to your work.
4. Where possible use the creative common symbols to accompany the work you have created with CC images etc.
Watch this video to learn more about Copyright and Creative Commons.