Copyright Project

For my teaching with technology class I have to explain the proper use of the "fair use" clause of the copyright law in instruction. The fair Use clause says that if the use of the copyrighted material is in the best interest of the country, that it can be used without payment or consent. There are some massive limitations to that, and it isn't a catch all that allows the rights of producers to be ignored, but it does allow for the use of materials in public criticism, comment, news, teaching, scholarship, and research. This means that as an instructor, as long as I am using material directly for teaching and not for entertainment purposes, and that I am not going to diminish the value of any of the things I am using, that I can use them in my classroom to teach without the producer's consent or without payment. This is very helpful. However, there are guidelines, such as not using too much of a single work, and making sure that all materials have references so you can find the original material. Also, the originals have to be legally acquired. It is really a fascinating subject and has a lot of parts to it.

For this project I have to analyze two videos on the principle of fair use. The two videos I have chosen are 1)The American Form of Government 2) Symphony of Science "We are all connected."

I love this video. I wish more people knew what it teaches.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is an educational video meant for instruction, thus it falls under the intent of "fair use." The pictures used of historical events, documents, paintings, so on and so forth all are incredibly old and can be thus used. Any song snipits were very short and used only for effect, video footage also lasted no more than seconds per clip. Thus the guidelines are followed very well. The only thing that I find at fault with this video is lack of citation. This video needs a credits page to be completely in harmony.

This is another one of my absolute favorites. The idea of how everything is intertwined is an incredibly awe inspiring and life changing one.

This also falls under the category of fair use because of its instructional intent. Though more entertaining than the first video, it is defiantly a movie that is educational in value. This video does better in at least giving credit for quotes, but lacks source citing on all the multi-media clips. This also needs a credits page. The music is an original composition, and is published on youtube by the author, so no worries there, but like the other video it needs a credits page.