Week 4

I have previously researched the Creative Commons (CC) organization, but after digesting some of the materials for this week's theme in LIS 568, I have gained a new perspective in terms of using CC in an educational context. I sincerely hope that more and more educational companies/organizations (for, not for, and non-profit alike)take advantage of what CC has to offer.

In essence, what I think is most valuable, is that the producers of content can explicitly dictate what are appropriate uses for said content/material. This has a number of benefits. First, educators need not worry if their use of particular material is violating copyright laws or "fair-use" doctrines. Second, the content producers have a lucid record of their intended/approved uses of their content, so that any misuse would likely be interpreted as such by any court.

Should content producers' rights be self-imposed, the "gray area" that I've mentioned on our discussion board shrinks substantially, if not altogether.

Hopefully, with the adoption of more CC or Copyleft licensed material, educators can select materials for use more efficiently, and also have larger pool from which to choose.

On our discussion board, I posted a link to a post I wrote for another blog regrading copyright law, and here it is again, in case you missed it: http://bit.ly/8T9nJp

I do not think my idea for musicians recouping lost revenue would apply to producers of educational material, and I would like to hear if anyone has any suggestions for those types of organizations.