Multimedia Use
The Dos and Don'ts of Publishing to the Web
There are many issues that need to
be taken into consideration when creating
and publishing an ePortfolio. An ePortfolio
is a powerful tool for self-expression
and promotion, and can be invaluable
in the job search and application process.
But careful thought and planning are
necessary for an ePortfolio, and certain
responsibilities must be maintained
by the owner of a Web site.
With all information
used on the Web, ePortfolios included,
personal information on a Web
site should be kept to an absolute minimum.
ITS highly recommends that an email
address be the primary, and often only,
means of communication between the individual
creating a Web site and the viewing
public. Confidential, personal
information such as Social Security
Numbers should never be a part of a
Web site posted for general public availability.
The potential for identity theft is
just as likely with ePortfolios as it
is for other Web-accessible information.
Please use caution
when creating and posting an ePortfolio.
Publicly
Available
Part of the power of
an ePortfolio is in its availability;
it is easily accessed and viewed by
potential employers, graduate schools,
and other institutions. When an ePortfolio
account is first created for students,
they are only accessible to the student . This
default setting is due to potential
issues in regards to confidentiality
and the legality of content contained
in an ePortfolio. The
initial availability settings are also
meant to encourage students, faculty,
and staff to work together in the development
of an ePortfolio and to prevent any
possible negative consequences for the
student upon making his or her site available
to the world. Once the ePortfolio is ready, it can be released to the world.
World-wide accessibility presents the
possibility for very real problems.
Because an ePortfolio is available to
the entire Web-viewing world,
careful consideration must be given
to its contents. While Ithaca
College has never been in the business
of restricting a student's right to
express him or herself, certain precautions
must be taken by students posting
sites to the Ithaca College Web server.
Obviously, copyright law is a major
issue for Web publishing; an FAQ is
included below regarding the ethical
and legal use of digital media in ePortfolios.
This FAQ is not intended to be a comprehensive
reference, but rather overall guidelines
for the use of various types of digital
media.
In addition to copyright issues, the
content of an ePortfolio should be of
the highest concern to students. Remember,
everything on the Web should
be considered public. Anything
that is posted in an ePortfolio can
potentially be accessed by any computer
connected to the Internet. That
site is connected to the student's name
and therefore it is the student's
responsibility. An ePortfolio
is a representation of an individual's
thoughts, growth, and ideas, essentially
a representation of him or her self
to anyone who cares to view their site.
For this reason, students should be
careful in what they state on their
site, or in their evidence.
For example, if the name of a company
or individual is used in some aspect
of the site or it's included evidence,
thoroughly examine the context and the
tone of the piece; could it be considered
offensive to the individual named or
to a third party? Slander and libel
can not only hurt a student when seeking
a job, it could potentially lead to
legal trouble. Please note, once "public," an ePortfolio
is a "searchable" page; while
the exact contents of the page will
not be available to internet search
engines, the existence of the page will
appear to anyone who conducts a search.
Ethical
and Legal Use of Digital Media
(Taken from the
Penn State University Ethical
and Legal Use of Digital Media FAQ)
I found a work that I want
to use. How do I determine if it is
copyrighted?
It is important to remember
that every audio, visual, or
textual work has copyright protection
unless that protection has expired over
time or its creator places it in the
public domain. A work does not need
to have a copyright notice or the copyright
symbol to be copyright protected. It
only needs to be fixed in a tangible
medium of expression and contain a modicum
of originality. A "fixed medium"
includes, but is not limited to, film,
audio and video tape, canvas, paper,
and electronic storage. This means that
even a person's snapshots, tape recordings,
electronic mail, and home videos are
protected by copyright.
What can I do to ensure that
I use a copyrighted work legally?
You generally must seek permission from
the copyright owner to use all or any
substantial portion of a copyrighted
work. In the case of most copyrighted
materials, the best place to start is
the publisher, who is often authorized
to give permission. If not, the publisher
may be able to refer you to the copyright
owner. Additional permissions may be
necessary, depending on the content
of the work.
For example, a magazine might own
the copyright on a photograph of a particular
celebrity, but to use the photograph,
permission may have to be obtained from
the celebrity or the photographer as
well as the publisher. When seeking
permission to use a copyrighted work,
always remember to be very specific
about your intended use. Describe in
detail such things as:
-
Your role in using
the work (educator, profit seeker,
etc.)
-
The medium or media
in which the copyrighted work will
be used
-
How many times and
in what way the copyrighted work will
be duplicated, altered, or reproduced
-
How many people will
see or consume the work
-
Whether or not the
intended use is for profit
-
How the work is distributed
(face to face or over a computer network)
Giving such information
to the publisher up front will likely
enable you to secure permission for that
specific use in a timely manner.
Permissions to use copyrighted works
are usually granted for specific, one-time
uses, but more complex agreements for
multiple and standing permissions can
be negotiated. Depending on the nature
of your intended use of the product
and its commercial value, the owner
of the copyright may or may not charge
a royalty for permission. The amount
of such a royalty is established through
bargaining, not by law.
Having obtained permission
to use something, can I use it for anything
I want?
Not necessarily. Unless a standing
permission to use a particular work
for any purpose is negotiated, permissions
to use copyrighted works are usually
granted on a one-time basis for a specific
use. A permission for one specific use
is restricted to that one use; further
permission must be obtained to make
broader or additional uses of a work.
Is it all right to use anything
I want as long as it is for non-profit,
educational purposes?
This is one of the trickiest and least
understood areas of copyright law. Using
a copyrighted work for educational purposes
may be permitted under a legal doctrine
known as "fair use," but any
use for educational purposes is not
permitted automatically. If in doubt,
check with the copyright holder.
What is fair use?
Fair use is a legal doctrine developed
through case law over many years and
now embedded in copyright law. It permits
courts to interpret the rigid terms
of traditional copyright principles,
so the creativity that copyright law
is designed to foster won't be stifled.
According to Title 17 of the U.S. Code,
fair use originated "for purposes
such as criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, or research."
The doctrine of fair use recognizes
that the exclusive rights inherent in
a copyright are not absolute and that
others are entitled to make use of a
copyrighted work that technically would
otherwise infringe on one or more of
the exclusive rights.
What constitutes fair use of
a copyrighted work?
There are generally four factors that
courts use to determine whether a particular
use of a copyrighted work is fair use.
These factors are for guidance and are
not necessarily exhaustive.
- The purpose and character of the
use, including whether such use is commercial
in nature or is for non-profit educational
purposes; educational purpose is more
likely to be considered fair use.
- The nature of the copyrighted work;
that is, the extent to which the work
is factual or creative. The more factual
and less creative a work is (for example,
a news report compared to a song), the
more likely a use of the work is to
fall under purview of the fair use doctrine—all
else being equal.
- The amount and substantiality of the
portion used in relation to the copyrighted
work as a whole. Usually, only short
passages of a literary work that do
not convey or express the "heart"
of the work are permitted under fair
use. For the specific case of single
visual images, this criterion is often
difficult to meet, in that small subsets
of an image are not always useful; visual
images are usually used in their entirety.
- The effect of the use on the potential
market for, or value of, the copyrighted
work. For a claim of fair use to hold,
the owner or creator of the work should
not suffer significant monetary damages
from that particular use.
Each of these four points must be considered
before a copyrighted work can be used
under the doctrine of fair use. Fair use
is a complex legal concept, and specific
principles of the law governing it are
still evolving. There are no simple guidelines
to follow.
Do I have to ask a publisher
each time I want to use a copyrighted
work?
Not necessarily. You may be able to use
the work under the fair use doctrine (see
above); and some exemptions for performance
and display by universities and other
nonprofit organizations are stipulated
in the copyright laws.
If I obtain permission to use
a work, does that agreement extend to
my class, my department, or the College
as a whole?
Only if such permission is explicitly
stated. Agreements will state exactly
which persons or groups within the College
are entitled to use a work and for what
purposes. For your department to use a
product to which only you are given permission,
an additional agreement would have to
exist between the College and the publisher
extending permission to the department
as a whole.
May I copy or record a work into
a different medium?
Regardless of whether you make an exact
copy or edited version or, in some cases,
create a derivative work from the original
in a different medium, the copyright owner
has the exclusive right to do or authorize
the copying or creating of a derivative
work. Making a copy in a different medium
without appropriate authorization would
be a violation of the owner's rights,
unless the activity is excluded under
other provisions of copyright law, such
as fair use. The making of one copy of
a work in a different medium may not be
a copyright violation per se, but what
you do or intend to do with that copy
is important. For example, printing a
posted photograph from a computer network
just to look at it and then dispose of
it may be legally different from printing
the image and then keeping it in a file.
May I store or archive copyrighted
works?
Storing a copyrighted work is
not always permissible under copyright
law. For example, if an educator wishes
to use a copyrighted work royalty-free,
under the fair use provision, such use
often must be spontaneous, not premeditated.
If something is stored for the purpose
of using it at some unspecified time in
the future, the condition of spontaneity
may not be met. If, however, a user obtains
permission to use a copyrighted product,
that user is often permitted to make one
copy for backup, especially of volatile
digital media such as software programs.
In any case, you must always secure permission
from the owner, if not previously stated,
before storing any copyrighted work, unless
your use would fall under an exclusion
such as the fair use doctrine.
May I make copyrighted works
available on the Internet?
Only if you own the copyright
or otherwise have permission to do so.
If you do not have specific permission,
the posting would have to fall under an
exemption such as fair use. Meeting all
the fair use conditions in this instance
can be difficult. Often, the condition
of not harming potential market value
is not met. For example, you might not
think it would harm sales of a magazine
if you scanned a picture from the magazine
and then distributed it on the Internet.
This could be true, but the magazine itself
might wish to sell issues over a computer
network in the near future. In this case,
your distributing the image takes away
potential market value and is an unauthorized
reproduction and an unauthorized public
display of the work.
Moreover, if a work is distributed via
a computer network, you should not assume
it is fair game to use for any purpose.
Some products on computer networks are
made available with copyright notices.
Many are not. Liability for unauthorized
copying and distribution can extend not
only to the person who might post something
but also to those who access, download,
and forward the items. In the case of
distributing copyrighted materials over
a network for educational purposes, fair
use would not necessarily cover the action
because the teaching is not done in a
face-to-face manner. The user would incur
any liability for improper use. If you
have questions, check with the administrator
of the network, bulletin board, or other
service where the work is available.
Is downloading sound clips and
movie clips dangerous to Ithaca College?
One of the biggest problems associated
with the Internet is the fact that valuable
copyrighted works including sound clips
from CDs and movie clips are posted at
renegade sites for anyone to download
without paying any kind of fee. This practice
has driven many copyright owners to court
because they are, in essence, being stripped
of their property; however, since the
source of the infringements is often an
untraceable site in cyberspace, an alternative
defendant has been the Internet service
provider who links customers to these
sites. In our case, the College is the
provider.
A key provision of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
states limitations on the potential money
damages that On-line Service Providers
(OSPs), including libraries and educational
institutions, may face when they function
like a common carrier, allowing online
users access to copyrighted material placed
there by someone else. The new law, the
On-line Copyright Infringement Liability
Limitation, was approved by Congress on
October 28, 1998, as part of the DMCA. |
