WK1 Blog Comments to Kimberly Bathker

Demystifying copyright by Kimberly Bathker

http://teachstem.blogspot.com/

Honestly, in most of the teacher technology courses that I myself have taught, I glossed over issues of copyright, simply because I did not know the information. I also considered it to be too large an issue to research on my own. So, I was excited to hear that our first week in MAC would explore copyright. It will be nice to be able to say something about copyright and permissions in my upcoming workshops, other than to argue that all teachers fall under the umbrella defense provided by “Fair Use!”

I enjoyed Good Copy/Bad Copy—although I should have paid closer attention to the warning about disturbing images, and watched from home, rather than at work! The juxtaposition that the filmmakers set up, between Girl Talk the music-mixer who argues that copyright laws “interfere” with his creativity and the MPAA attorney who claims that the entertainment industry loses $6 billion each year to copyright infringement, was compelling. Although I might not always demonstrate this perfectly by the way that I use images and other media in my lectures for students, I am actually a very strong believer that individuals and corporations should be fairly compensated for the work that they do—and the media that they produce. Profit is a powerful motivator, and not inherently a bad one. (What can I say? My parents gave me a copy of Atlas Shrugged when I was in junior high!)

The digital age has brought so many issues of copyright, permissions and usage to the forefront. I think that Lawrence Lessig’s point that, while U.S. copyright laws serve a valuable purpose, they are simply outdated. His licensing platform, Creative Commons, offers a valuable tool for codifying permissions. I’m really looking forward to sharing information about the various types of CC licenses with my colleagues and students.

Posted by KIMBathker at 9:14 AM

My Comments to Kimberly

Mrs. CJGMusicMay 5, 2012 06:57 PM

Kimberly, you seem to have gained great insight into the copyright laws and all the issues associated with it. I also feel that individuals and corporations should be compensated for their work, but the lines of 'original work' are so blurry. Especially with music tracks and rhythmic licks. I feel that the court are quick to side with big music producers because it has a lot to do with the money involved. For copyright laws to survive, they must be updated to account for creativity. Even the creativity to do a remix of a remix of a remixed song.