Poster Presentation/Demo Abstract
Understanding fair use can be frustrating and confusing. Six U.S.-based OpenCourseWare producers reexamined the principle for use in their own publications. This Code has been written to assert fair use rights in response to the chilling effects of over-zealous copyright holders. This session features highlights of the Code.
Statement of the problem or issue
Faculty and OCW producers alike find themselves frustrated by the confusion and inconsistencies around the copyright exception of fair use. If it applies to classroom course content, can it also apply to an open educational resource like OpenCourseWare? A group of six U.S. based OCW producers have reexamined the principle in order to apply it to their own publications. Realizing that the practice of a group of practitioners solidifies that practice, the code has been written to more actively assert fair use rights in response to the chilling effects of over-zealous copyright holders.
Description of activity, project, solution, and outcome
This code is not a guide to using material offered under a Creative Commons license, nor is it a guide to using material that is already free to use without considering copyright (i.e., U.S. federal government works in the public domain). Rather, it is a guide to help interpret the principle of fair use. The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare builds on the model of Fair Use Codes by documentary filmmakers, media literacy scholars, and online video producers, all available here: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use/. It was written in coordination with Peter Jaszi of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and Patricia Aufderheide of the Center for Social Media, both at American University, and with the valuable input of ccLearn.
Importance or relevance to other faculty, staff, students, departments, and programs
It is the goal of MIT OpenCourseWare to further enrich our publication of MIT’s course materials by retaining more third party content through the use of a fair use analysis. The Code of Best Practices will serve as the foundation of this analysis. This should make the OCW content richer and more useful for all visitors to the site. It is also our hope to further strengthen the understanding and application of fair use by the MIT community at large by sharing this resource.
Lindsey Weeramuni, Intellectual Property Supervisor, MIT OpenCourseWare
(Presented at MIT Educational Technology Fair 2009)
Topic Area(s)
5. Open educational tools and resources