Lauren Nixon CSE 624 Fall 11/11/2013

Fair Use Summary Copyright is a common term used, it seems that pretty much everything today is copyrighted; in fact most is, since the copyright law states that once a person creates an image, music score, video, among many other things that person automatically has full rights over the use of their creation. A term that is not as commonly used but has become more so with the increased availability of computers and internet connection is fair use. Fair use is a section in the copyright law. There are many questions about what fair use is and who gets to use it. Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jasiz (2011) provide answers to the question of fair use in their book, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright. In addition to clarifying what Fair use is Aufderheide and Jasiz provide answers why fair use is an important right to employ, and how to safely apply fair use when remixing copyrighted materials. Aufderheide and Jasiz begin the discussion of copyright and fair use by confronting the issues surrounding todays current copyright law. Todays copyrights can last for more than seventy years, leaving material unavailable to be used unless given permission from the author. The law itself is extensive and confusing leading to infringement on copyrighted material or to repressed creativity. In todays culture remixing multimedia is very popular because it uses technology and can be shared worldwide easily. However, remixing copyright materials can lead to serious legal trouble such as the story Aufderheide and Jasiz include about a mom who posted a video she created on YouTube of her child dancing with a copyrighted song in the background (p.3). Soon after posting her video on YouTube she received a request to remove the video do to copyright infringement (Aufderheide and Jasiz, 2011, p.3). This is a common occurrence and in

some circumstances result in legal issues, and is most often a result of misunderstanding our limited and outdated copyright law. Knowing todays copyright law and the fair use doctrine is important for educators for many reasons. One important reason they need to understand it is to be able to educate their students on their use and restriction of copyrighted material. The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students emphasizes the need for students to demonstrate digital citizenship which includes practicing legal and ethical behavior. In order for students to create and share online they need to be taught what copyright is. The NETS standards for teachers also demonstrates why educators need to know current copyright law because teachers are responsible for not only teaching digital citizenship but also modeling it. Our current copyright law is limiting and confusing, but a section within that law has the ability to open up the creation and sharing of remixed works, this is the fair use doctrine. Aufderheide and Jasiz (2011), discuss the importance of asserting and defending the fair-use right (, p.14) as a means to foster creativity, learning, and expression, as well as having a realistic copyright policy the enables people to make and distribute transformative works. Aufderheide and Jasiz describe fair use as a limited permission of use by another without acquiring permission from the author under certain conditions and for certain purposes (p.18). They also acknowledge that the fair use doctrine is broad and open to interpretation which has resulted in misuse of the doctrine and apprehension of employing it (Aufderheide and Jasiz, 2011, p. 110). Those amongst the confused and apprehensive are teachers. While teachers have exemptions in the copyright law for educational use, those exceptions have presently been

extended to include more limitations (Aufderheide and Jasiz, 2011, p. 110). Aufderheide and Jasiz (2011), comment that teachers often confused fair use, an ample and flexible doctrine, with their own narrow and specific exemptions, and that schools often apply fair use guidelines that are created by media industries (p.110). It is important for teachers to know what fair use is and how to apply it when creating their own lesson plans and class materials because by utilizing fair use teachers have fewer limitations on materials for classroom use to develop twenty-first century learning experiences for students. The NETS standard for teachers advocates that teachers use their knowledge of subject matter and technology to facilitate enriched learning experiences. This can be done using video clips to provoke discussions or music to illustrate cultural changes, among many other usage of multimedia. While fair use expands the application and transformation of copyrighted materials, fair use is not a free for all and due to it being broadly written it can be easily misused. In order to apply fair use more safely, Aufderheide and Jasiz (2011), advocate the development of codes of best practices in a creative or user community (p. 127). Codes of best practices are guidelines on how best to employ fair use in specific communities such as filmmakers or literacy educators. Creating and using codes of best practices are important for teachers because they can serve as guidelines when integrating multimedia into lesson plans and classroom materials. Educators are encouraged to integrate new technology into the classroom from the NETS standards for teachers and students. To do so they need to have access to creative works by others to facilitate experiences that advance student learning and creativity. In addition to applying these guidelines for their own classroom use, it is important for teachers to familiarize their students with different codes of best practices so that students can stretch their fair use muscle for personal and educational use of copyrighted materials. The NETS for students advocates that students be

able to create original works as means of personal expression using a variety of media. For students to do so, codes of best practices need to be taught and exercised in the classroom setting. Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright, is a great resource for all who are actively remixing works and sharing them either online, in a classroom, or in a business meeting. Aufderheide and Jasiz help to clarify questions about fair use and why fair use can be the answer to contending with an out of date and limiting copyright law. They also advocate for the development of codes of best practices for all creative communities in order for artists, bloggers, even teachers to create guidelines for best employment of fair use in their community. Becoming knowledgeable about copyright, fair use and codes of best practices is important for teachers because multimedia materials allow educators to create lesson plans, classroom materials, and assignments that facilitate twenty first learning experiences for their students.

References: Auderheide, P., & Jaszi, P. (2011). Reclaiming fair use: how to put balance back in copyright. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Educational Technology Standards. Received from: http://www.iste.org/standards