Archive for 1/1/09 - 2/1/09

Rip A DVD, Educate a Student

Underside of a DVD-R disc, modified to have tr...Image via Wikipedia

For those of you that attended my recent session on "Copyright and Fair Use for Educators and their Students", the appeal to the Librarian of Congress is due on Monday, February 2nd at 5 pm EST. Remember, if successful, it will create an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for educators using "ripped" DVD clips to teach media literacy.

Here is the pertinent information you would need to submit, quoted from Eric Ford and Azizi Jones, student attorneys at the Intellectual Property Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. Specifically, they need you to submit:
  • Concrete examples from your own work showing how the inability to lawfully circumvent the technological access controls on DVDs has created educational hardships or interfered with your teaching goals,
  • Explanation of how the proposed exemption would help you and your students
  • Information about school and other institutional policies that prohibit the circumvention of DVD copy-protection technology; and
  • Your own beliefs about why media literacy and digital media in education is such an essential part of our students’ future.
Go to this U.S. Copyright Office form NOW and submit your responses to the above prompts. Note the proposed classes in the form by reading this form. And thanks!

BONUS: for those of you who attended the Copyright and Fair Use session, here is a video that I simply didn't have time to include. The message is right on the mark, though the delivery might not appeal to everyone. It's sort of Schoolhouse Rocks meets Flight of the Conchords...


Disclaimer

Although this blog is authored by New Trier High School (NTHS) staff, the audience is global and the views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of NTHS as an institution.

Copyright and Fair Use

This site contains images and excerpts the use of which have not been pre-authorized. This material is made available for the purpose of analysis and critique, as well as to advance the understanding of technology in education. 
The ‘fair use’ of such material is provided for under U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with U.S. Code Title 17, Section 107, material on this site (along with credit links and/or attributions to original sources) is viewable for educational and intellectual purposes. 
If you are interested in using any copyrighted material from this site for any reason that goes beyond ‘fair use,’ you must first obtain permission from the copyright owner.