The Problem: A science teacher and media specialist designed an online unit of study through the creation of a “virtual zoo” to be built collaboratively by students. The zoo was intended to help teach students understand fair use practices and to use Flickr as an educational resource. The students used iWeb to build their site and photographs taken by other people from Flickr. An email from an angry owner of one of the photos followed, who called the usage “theft” because the school did not ask for permission to use his photos. The photographer did not feel the student use of his work was fair use. The librarian maintains that she teaches the students practice “fair use” because the students always make sure the photos are copyright friendly and they cite the sources through URL links. She says she makes sure the students “add value” to the photos through the content of their virtual zoo websites to constitute for fair use.
Analysis Of Response: It is great that the librarian taught the students to add URL links to give attribution to the owners of the photos, but this is not enough. Copyright.gov stresses that citing a source is not the same as obtaining permission. It is not only a courtesy but a legal responsibility to ask permission to use another person’s work. The only exception to this requirement would be if the work is specifically listed as Creative Commons, but even then it would still be a good precaution to request usage. The video does not say if the angry photographer used Creative Commons copyrighting or not, so I would guess that asking permission would have been the appropriate response to the situation.
The librarian also says it is important for students to “transform” or “add value” to a work. There is nothing in copyright law that says using the photograph for a different purpose than its original intent makes it “fair use”. According to Section 107 of Copyright law, it is illegal to use an image if it interferes with the owner’s ability to make a profit from their work (Copyright.gov). Although the photographs were used by students for educational purposes, it is possible that usage diminishes the value and uniqueness of the original photograph. Diminishing the value of the original work would be considered infringement.
My Response:
The librarian says the “owner’s rights are limited.” According to Educationworld.com, copyrighting is designed to protect the owner more than those who want to use the owner’s work. Since the district is ultimately responsible for any infringement by the students or teachers, it would have been a good idea to contact a district technology coordinator or attorney to see what their thoughts were on how to teach and utilize the work of others in an effort to avoid legal battles. If the virtual zoo was my project, I also would have taught the students to only use Creative Commons work to make sure the owners have expressed the rights for people to use their work without permission. I would have created a tutorial with screenshots of how to locate Creative Commons pictures through the advanced search tools on Flickr and other relevant websites like morguefile.com. I also would create something similar to a dichotomous key to help students make sure they have taken all necessary steps to avoid copyright infringement. While the librarian had the students reflect on copyright infringement as a closing activity, this is something I would have done as an opening activity to stress the importance of using the work of others. As Educationworld.com says, it is important as a teacher to encourage fair usage among students and an understanding of the responsibility that goes along with using another person’s copyrighted work.
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