Baseball and Copyright (Fair Use)

Hmmm. I can think of two topics that could possibly be more boring to many folks out there. I love baseball. I am watching the World Series as I type. Which is one reason I love baseball because I can totally get into it, calculating the countless possible outcomes before each pitch or have it on in the background looking up whenever I sense there is a big play happening so I can work, play or take a nap between the action. Most of all, I love baseball because no matter how much I think I know about the game or how long I have been watching, I can always see something new or perhaps that has never happened in the 150 +/- years the game has been played.

So what does baseball have to do with copyright law and Fair Use? Well, if you think that copyright law is boring, doesnt affect you and/or nothing new is happening then you might want to read on. Now, I am no expert but the issue comes up again from time to time. Like it did today (thanks Kyle) so in my typical non-linear fashion I researched the topic with the focus of how this impacts education.

Recently, the Center for Social Media conducted a study and reported in The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy that due to the confusion regarding copyright, "teachers use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit erroneous copyright information, fail to share innovative instructional approaches, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms." The report concludes that teachers need to better educate themselves to about Fair Use so they and their students can more confidently use (more) copyrighted materials for educational purposes. That sounds good to me but dont tell the lawyers.

Perhaps there is a better way. Sure we need to employ Fair Use but there is an alternative or a "modification" to copyright. Its called Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows a creator to license their work as they see fit to users. It protects the creator and users. A license can eliminate the need to for the user to obtain permission, pay to use it or rely on the confusing "rules" of Fair Use. Watch this video to see how it works.





Want more information on Copyright in Education? There is a good presentation and resources on Karen Richardson's Wiki page. Well, the game is over and its time for bed. Perhaps I'll explore this more in another blog. Tell me what you thing and feel free to use any of the information using Fair Use or Creative Commons (see my license at the bottom of this page).