Look Out for Pirates!

A WebQuery for Pre-service Teachers

Dr. C. Bertelson & Dr. I. Loverro
Pirate Flag

Introduction

Pirates are among us. Pirates of copyright that is. They're stalking everywhere and committing illegal acts of copyright infringement! What unsavory acts are they committing with no remorse you ask?

There are some duplicating rental DVDs, while others are downloading mp3s illegally. There are even those who download commercial applications or games without paying for them.

These are common examples of piracy, but what about those who break copyright laws without realizing it? What about the teachers who xerox everything in sight for their students. And what about those who reward their students with movies that aren't serving an educational purpose? What about the teachers who permit their students to use web images in their projects without citing their sources? What about couples who burn their favorite songs onto CDs for guests at their wedding? These people are breaking the law...

As Governor of our small coastal town, it is your job to stave off these vicious attacks and protect the innocent citizens. To assist the townsfolk, you have decided to forge a full-blown campaign against copyright piracy and will flood the town with posters or brochures educating and warning the innocent, and not so innocent, against the risks and consequences of copyright piracy. So, prepare yourself and get ready to protect!

Task

Your job is to create a poster or brochure to “educate and warn” the townspeople against copyright piracy. Your poster or brochure should address at least one of the following:

A guide for teachers on the four-factor test of fair-use. What can they copy legally? What can't they do?
A guide for consumers, including at least 6 facts, rules, or consequences of copyright infringement that will help citizens act responsibly and obey the law.
An explanation of how copyright violation is actually a crime and hurts intellectual property holders and ultimately consumers.

For your poster or brochure to be successful, it must:

utilize images that illustrate and support the message of your poster or brochure.
include documentation of your sources (you don't want to be accused of piracy, do you?)
be error free, professional looking, and targeted to your specific audience (age).

The types of materials used to create your poster are up to you!

The Process

To assist you in your endeavor, consider the following questions as you sail through your project. You do not necessarily have to answer each of them, but you should certainly consider them as you create your poster or brochure on copyright law.

Who is my audience?
What is their background?
What is the most important information about copyright law that my poster/brochure needs to convey?
What is the best way to present this information?
Is there a secondary and possibly tertiary message?
What do I know about copyright law?
What else do I need to know?
Where can I find this information?
What are some common misconceptions about copyright law?
Are there exceptions to copyright law for teachers?
Why do copyright holders worry so much about piracy?
What acts of piracy have been taking place and who is committing them?
What avenues exist to forge off the violators?
Is copyright violation a victim-less crime?
Where can more information be found?
Is the poster/brochure easy to read?
Is there a central focal point?
What draws your audience to the poster/brochure?
How can I use illustrations effectively?
Have I credited my sources?
Have you covered all aspects of the grading to rubric to earn full points?

Resources

Explore these links as you research copyright law and prepare your poster or brochure. Be sure to visit several of them to ensure that you have a strong background in the subject. Along the way, you may find that what you thought you knew about copyright law was wrong. Use that discovery in your project to help others learn from your work.

Feel free to add other links, but check with your instructor first.

General Copyright Info

Chilling Effects
http://www.chillingeffects.org

Smithsonian
http://www.si.edu/copyright/

Copyright Kids
http://www.copyrightkids.org

Cyberbee
http://www.cyberbee.com

10 Big Myths about copyright explained
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

What is Copyright Protection?
http://www.whatiscopyright.org

Copyright Website
http://www.benedict.com

U.S. Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov

Copyright Office Basics
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers

The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use
http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright.php

A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright
http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm

A Visit to Copyright Bay
http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/

Play it Cyber Safe: Piracy
http://www.playitcybersafe.com//cybercrime/piracy.cfm

Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm

Stanford University Libraries: Copyright & Fair Use
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html

Evaluation

Your poster or brochure will be graded according to the following criteria. Be sure to read over it and double-check your work to be sure that you've covered all of your bases and that you really are finished.

CATEGORY	2	1.5	1	0
Attractiveness	The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness.	The poster is attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness.	The poster is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.	The poster is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive.
Graphics - Relevance	All graphics are related to copyright law and make it easier to understand. All borrowed graphics have a source citation.	All graphics are related to copyright law and most make it easier to understand. All borrowed graphics have a source citation.	All graphics relate to copyright law. Most borrowed graphics have a source citation.	Graphics do not relate to copyright law OR several borrowed graphics do not have a source citation.
Copyright Content	Product follows one of the three task choices and is complete and accurate.	Product follows one of the three task choices and is nearly complete but may have some inaccuracies.	Product follows one of the three task choices but is incomplete or not accurate.	Product does not follow does not follow any of the three task choices.
Message Delivered	Message delivered by the project is relevant, informative and easy to understand.	Message delivered by the project is relevant, informative but a little confusing.	Message delivered by the project is relevant, but not very informative and possibly a little confusing.	Message delivered by the project is irrelevant, uninformative or difficult to understand.
Mechanics	Capitalization and punctuation are correct throughout the project. There are no grammatical mistakes.	There is 1 error in capitalization, punctuation or grammar.	There are 2 errors in capitalization, punctuation or grammar.	There are more than 2 errors in capitalization, punctuation or grammar.

Conclusion

Now that you've explored copyright law and have created an informative poster or brochure, you should be better equipped to act legally when dealing with the use of copyrighted materials, but how can you continue to help your family, co-workers, and friends stay legal? How can you model legal use?

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuery, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuery. On the line after the original author's name, you may add "Modified by (your name) on (date)". If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

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