Mixing Fair Use and Education
Thrown out there on February 8, 2010
Teachers are fairly oblivious to securing materials within the classroom. Teachers themselves often succumb to using resources which are copyrighted for distributive use, or will use clips from movies and songs which are longer than the time or percentage allowable by law. The basis for this response is my direct observation, not to mention my own actions prior to being aware of that which I must be sensitive toward.
I believe in giving credit where credit is due, but I cannot say I agree, philosophically, with Fair Use policies primarily because it is an intrusive, invasive restriction of communication surrounding the human condition. Philosophically, ideas should be free, and should not generally be confined to restrictive access and perpetuation thereof—especially within the realm of education. We shoot ourselves in the foot when we attempt to educate our nation’s youth, but then disallow access to materials, resources, and art for the sake of producers’, record labels’, and publishers’ pockets.
Although the argument was given in Smaldino’s Instructional Technology and Media for Learning that “the ease with which software and other digital information can be duplicated without permission has inhibited some commercial publishers and private entrepreneurs from producing and marketing high-quality instructional software,” I think this is an unfounded, false argument because it implies that no high-quality instructional software can otherwise exist (apart from these educationally-minded institutions). Could you imagine the proliferation of knowledge and the incredible advances we might make if knowledge, technology, and science were released to public access?
Many applications which have been made available to the public far surpass those which are commercially produced. Our reliance on the commercial world is unnecessary if laws would permit progressive changes. Technologically speaking, Firefox, PHP, Audacity, Wikipedia, and EphPod, are all high-quality yields hailing from companies who give offer the software for free. In most cases, the products are fully customizable, and altering them is encouraged for public development! If someone intends to make money from using others’ work then, legally, it should certainly have restrictions or at least a financial trickle-back effect. As it is, Fair Use is a part of the law, and must be adhered to. At least educators have a little leniency.
As a public educator I am, of course, required to follow Fair Use guidelines and I will. Given the current laws and restricted access to quality materials, the restrictions are perpetuated (who, after all, is going to spend the time coming up with all-encompassing curricula if they cannot receive financial gain or be allowed to work collaboratively with the public). Furthermore, illegal downloads present a problem for companies because, as stated previously, it will discourage these record labels, producers, and publishers from producing more material for fear that they will lose perceived revenue from those potential products. And so the cycle continues. You end up with a generation highly technologically savvy, yet faced with inaccessibility, which leads to the moral dilemma of whether or not to share the information that they believe should be freely accessible to begin with, which in turn frustrates corporations who resist finding alternate revenue streams by finding a way to release information to the public like so many technological applications have been successful in doing (Holzberg).
And, after saying all that, perhaps it’s truly impossible for technological applications to be carried into educational realms for lack of (and negative implications of) advertising and access to private, confidential information. As the law stands, it would be best for educators and students everywhere to simply respect the copyright laws so that publishers may produce high-quality material.
Works Cited
Holzberg, Carol, Copyright and Fair Use, January 15, 2005 available in pdf Copyright and Fair Use_cholzberg.doc Accessed on 2/15/2008 from http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=57700758.
Smaldino, Lowther, Russell, Instructional Technology and Media for Learning, Chapter 1 Technology and Media: Facilitating Learning, Chapter 2 Instructional Strategies: Integrating Technology and Media.
