Copyright in education, part 2: Transformative use
July 23, 2008
Being educators, we are often conservative, especially when it involves the law, as copyright does. This has led to a growing concern about missed learning opportunities due to caution because teachers are avoiding doing anything with copyrighted materials, or not allowing their students to produce content using copyrighted material.
American and Temple Universities have been working on this and have a report coming out about the cost of copyright confusion in education. I recently attended a session at NECC given by Kristen Hokanson on this topic. This discussion brought up a concept that is really central to educational use of copyrighted material, and that is transformation. A big part of what makes it fair use is that you’re not just “copying” the work of others, but remaking it into something of your own. One of the best examples is the Fair(y) Use Tale video produced by Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. This video takes snippets from Disney cartoons to teach about fair use. Because it’s both education AND satire, it’s covered by fair use.
I was first introduced to this concept when I did a case-study discussion (a favorite way for lawyers to discuss and educate about legal points) about a potential fair use I had in a classroom project. Transformation is not often discussed, but it’s an important concept for fair use. Get to know more about it. -ALICE MERCER
Transformative use resources
Stanford University guide to Fair Use in Education check out the section on the “transformative factor”
Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Fair(y) Use Tale
It’s Elementary: Copyright–It’s the Law
Related Stuff:
Copyright in education, part 1: Fair use
Photo credit: PugnoM on flickr
