Lesson 15: Copyright Issues
Jennifer Drumm
COMM 5350

University of Texas Legal Counsel Office
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/index.htm

This site contains more information than you would ever want to know on copyrights. Most of the information is geared toward the UT System; however, the crash course on copyrights would be very beneficial to anyone wanting to use resources in multimedia presentations, courses, etc.

"Copyright and Cyberspace"
http://ase.tufts.edu/cte/occasional_papers/copyright.htm

This site is more a topic hotlist on copyright issues than an article. The number of resources on different issues dealing with copyrights is amazing.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educator's (http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/) hosted by DiscoverySchool.com has an extensive resource database on copyright issues and the Internet (http://school.discovery.com/schoolsearch/schrock.jsp?query=copyright&schrock=on).
One of the links that I found most interesting was to a copyright permission letter for students to use when re-publishing work (http://www.bham.wednet.edu/copyperm.htm). She has also added links to graphics that are free to use for educational purposes (http://www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm).

The U.S. Copyright office (http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright) has a section discussion copyright basics (http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html). The definition of a copyright is:
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.

As a teacher using technology it has become very important to recognize copyright issues. Students used to copy from encyclopedias when asked to do an assignment, now they "copy" and "paste" from the Internet without citing their sources. Students need to be aware of the need for citations as well as knowing the correct format for web related sources. The APA style guide found at http://www.newark.ohio-state.edu/~osuwrite/apa.htm would be a good reference for teachers and students in the classroom. There is also a Guide for Writing Research Papers found at http://webster.commnet.edu/apa/apa_index.htm.