Blog Entry VI: Copyright

When it comes to education I have always believed that making your content available for others to access is important. We all know that internet has done a wondrous job of expanding openness by allowing us to communicate, share, and work together through easier methods. By making content more available we are providing students with better learning opportunities. Although the internet has provided us with an extraordinary amount of content, some of it is protected through copyright. 

Review:
Copyright is what protects our ideas and work. When we create something, whether it's a work of art, a song, a video, a book or something else it automatically becomes copyrighted. When your work is copyrighted, it means that other people cannot share it without your permission. There are alternatives to copyright in case you don't want your work to be completely protected. The alternatives are known as Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows you to create rules or conditions for those that want to share your work. Some of these rules include:
Attribution: requires that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request
ShareAlike: You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work, as long as they distribute any modified work on the same terms.
NonCommercial: You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and (unless you have chosen NoDerivatives) modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially unless they get your permission first.
NoDerivatives: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only original copies of your work. If they want to modify your work, they must get your permission first. 

As someone that heavily supports the idea of sharing content, it's also important to understand the laws of copyright and creative commons. Because of how connected the world is and how easy it is to access digital content, it is very easy to duplicate material. For this reason teachers may access content illegally; and sometimes they may not even realize they are doing it. Understanding and abiding by these rules is part of what being a digital citizen is about. As teachers we should want to be trustworthy citizens and reflect so that our students can see. By understanding the rules of copyright, we can teach our students about them as well. As I've mentioned before, it's important to teach them about setting the bar for ethical standards. It's about responsibility, and supporting the future work to help make our world better.