Copyright Revisited

The article we read this week by Doug Johnson, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bag [Copyright]?" was interesting to me as another opinion about how to handle the teaching of copyright and fair use in schools. We have now read a number of articles about this for class and it seems to me they each fall into one of two categories: either the articles recommend that teachers err on the side of caution, or they recommend that teachers assume a use is legal, unless there are explicit rules stating otherwise. In other words, these articles all seem to represent two extremes. Go for it! or Don't go for it! The Johnson article is certainly a member of the "Go for it!" camp. In fact, he states that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

A lot of what he says makes sense to me, though there are other points he makes that I find less impressive. For example, he basically says that many definitely illegal uses of media (showing movies as rewards, etc) are so common that if librarians try and stop them it just makes the librarians look like martinets. This may be true, and no one wants to become unpopular as a "tattler," but it seems like a slippery-slope to me. The more things that we overlook, the more boundaries will be pushed. Also, if we willfully overlook certain misuses, how can we enforce misuses by students, or accurately teach them the law? His point about the importance of increasing student understanding of copyright was one of the ideas I definitely agreed with--especially that students need to be able to articulate why a use is fair if a copyrighted work is used in a project or paper. However, we cannot tell students one thing and then turn around and do something else ourselves (especially right in front of them) or we are sending a very mixed message.

Again, as with most articles I have read about copyright laws in schools, I am left with a feeling that of the two extreme viewpoints, neither is wholly right. Johnson says that comfort level should be the deciding factor, and on some level I am agreeing with him. As an information specialist, I am most comfortable when I am well-armed with knowledge. I think the real issue is that there needs to be more education about the law as early as possible, so that teachers do not have to "blindly" decide if a use is okay or not, but are able to make a truly informed decision.