Available at http://copyrightconfusion.wikispaces.com/NECC09+Workshop

Available at http://mediaeducationlab.com

Participants will understand:

• that copyright law is designed to promote creativity and the growth of knowledge by balancing the rights of owners with the rights of users;
• how fair use ensures that copyright law does not limit First Amendment rights;
• that the flexibility of fair use enables it to be relevant and useful to many different kinds of creative communities;
• that fair use requires reasoning and interpretation of situational factors and how this reasoning process parallels analysis skills used in media literacy education;
• the ways in which copyright law has expanded to protect owners over a period of time
• the historical context in which the Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Media Literacy developed, with particular attention to the work of documentary filmmakers;
• how educators’ lack of knowledge about copyright and fair use negatively affect teaching and learning;
• why the “fair use guidelines” do not have the force of law and how they interfere with educators’ genuine understanding of fair use.
• how the biases of many existing copyright education materials reflect the interests of large copyright holders
• how educators can use the Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Media Literacy Education as a tool in making decisions about the use of copyrighted materials in the classroom and in their own (and students’) work
• how the Code of Best Practices relates to other relevant copyright issues for educators, including DRM exemptions for movies, electronic reserves and photocopying for educators
• how the approach embodied in the Code of Best Practices differs from the Creative Commons approach which gives authors flexibility in identifying types of use rights
• how to use case studies, videos and other tools to guide the process of teaching and learning about fair use and applying the Code of Best Practices to specific situations
• how to use strategies for advocacy to help educators recognize the importance of protecting user rights

Participants will be able to:
• demonstrate their understanding of fair use through participation in discussion activities
• explain why media literacy educators should be leaders in establishing user rights through fair use
• be confident and motivated to continue their learning about copyright and fair use

Outline

In the first hour of the workshop, the panelists will explain importance of fair use for media literacy and technology education. 21st-century educators and learners need to be able to reasonably access and incorporate copyrighted materials into their work in order to analyze culture. Drawing on research from The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy, the high school teachers on our panel will discuss the confusion that educators typically face when dealing with copyright issues – including confusing guidelines, conflicting internal and external policies, and copyright curricula designed by industry stakeholders that distort the nature of fair use. We will screen a video describing the issues that many educators face, and explain how this confusion can be overcome. We will provide a brief background on the history of fair use and how it can best be understood by technology educators.

In the second hour, the panelists who worked on the creation of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education will discuss the process of creating the code and lead workshop participants in group discussion of hypothetical fair use scenarios and a close review of the Code. We will then lead the participants in an analysis of actual curriculum materials and real student work.

In the final section of this workshop, we will introduce teaching materials designed for both student learning and professional development. The panelists will lead the audience in viewing and discussion of animated copyright songs and fair use case study videos and conclude with a demonstration of a sample lesson plan for teaching about copyright and fair use.

Supporting Research

American University (Washington D.C.). Center for Social Media, Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, & Washington College of Law. (2005). Documentary filmmakers' statement of best practices in fair use: Center for Social Media, American University.

Aufderheide, P. & Jaszi, P. (2007, April 3). The good, the bad, and the confusing: User-generated video creators on copyright. Washington, D.C.: Center for Social Media, American University.

Benkler, Yochai. (2006). The wealth of networks. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Crews, Kenneth D. (2001). The law of fair use and the illusion of the fair-use guidelines. Ohio State Law Journal 62, 599-702.

Gillespie, Tarleton. (2008,May). Characterizing copyright in the classroom: The cultural work of anti-piracy campaigns. Paper presented at the International Communication Association annual conference, Montreal, CA.

Hobbs, Renee, Jaszi, Peter & Aufderheide, Patricia. (2007). The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy. Washington, DC: Center for Social Media, American University.

Hobbs, Renee. (2006) Multiple visions of multimedia literacy: Emerging areas of synthesis. In M. McKenna, L. Labbo, R. Kieffer and D. Reinking (Eds.), Handbook of literacy and technology. Volume II. International Reading Association (pp. 15 -28).

Jenkins, Henry. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: NYU Press.

Johnson-Eilola, Johndhan & Selber, Stuart A. (2007). Plagiarism, originality, assemblage. Computers and Composition, 24, 375-403.

Joyce, Craig, Leaffer, Marshall, Jaszi, Peter and Ochoa, Tyler. (2003) Copyright Law. Sixth edition ed. Newark NJ: LexisNexis.

Rife, M.C. (2008). Is there a chilling of digital communication? Exploring how knowledge and understanding of fair use influence web composing. (Doctoral Dissertation, Michigan State University, 2008).

Presenter Background

Renee Hobbs is an experienced media literacy educator and a co-Principal Investigator on a MacArthur Foundation funded grant that spurred the creation of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. Katie Donnelly is a full-time Research Associate on the project. Michael RobbGrieco, Joyce Valenza and Kristin Hokanson all participated in the consensus-building and curriculum development phases of the project.