Week 3 - Licensing and Content Protection

Licensing and Content Protection is a two-week module. These next two weeks are intended as a conceptual overview of content protection and licensing. Copyright, while increasingly global, continues to have unique regional models. Many of the topics that will be discussed should be considered in light of your institutional policies.

Module Learning Objectives
At the end of this module learners will be able to:
- Describe and detail intellectual property and content protection licenses
- Analyze varying licensing models to determine impact of each in educational contexts

Introduction:

Protection of digital content is fundamentally different from protection of physical content. Physical content has different input costs for reproduction as well as less accessible options for sharing. Digital content, in contrast, can be duplicated with minimal costs. Sharing is often as easy as uploading a video or a song.

Current methods of protecting content are rooted in the legacy of traditional copyright. Industries, end-users, artists/creators, and even the legal system are all involved in negotiating the legal and ethic dimension of digital content. The implications for education are significant. This module will explore the significant challenges that exist in sharing and reusing educational content.

Readings

The Surprising History of Copyright and The Promise of a Post-Copyright World: http://questioncopyright.org/promise

Against Perpetual Copyright: http://wiki.lessig.org/index.php/Against_perpetual_copyright

Documentary: RiP: Remix Manifesto: http://vimeo.com/8040182 (some language concerns)

Lawrence Lessig, 30 minute presentation: http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html

About Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Activities

The readings and videos this and next week will provide a solid foundation of different licensing schemes and prepare you for the decisions that you'll make when completing your OER-based learning unit. (For those of you that are following assignments in this course)

On your blog, explore your reactions to the learning material this week, particularly in relation to the argument that copyright is an inhibiting factor in new expressions/innovations. Agree? Disagree?

Continue working on your concept map (VUE and CMAP are recommended tools)