My original target concerned the intellectual property of webquests and whether it
was reasonable
for others to adapt the works of others to meet their own needs to save time, as
was being suggested
by many of the references I was reading in papers I was marking.
It sparked a lot of interest as I received a number of responses from both
countries which I have
summarised below, Essentially, the overwhelming feeling was that attribution of
the original
source should be made if a work is being copied or adapted. My feeling is that
authors writing
papers about adapting the work of others (in whatever format) need to clearly state
that
acknowledgement of the original author of the work needs to be made, so that our
'emerging'
colleagues are made aware of their responsibilities under current law and general
ethics.
Most have said, and I agree with them, that their work is there to be shared and
built on because we
work in such a collaborative culture, but they would expect to be at least
acknowledged if
permission was not sought directly. This models best ethical practice for both
staff and students.
(None of the quotes in the students' papers mentioned this acknowledgement but that
might be their
choice to shorten the quote, rather than it not being in the original altogether.)
Others suggested that we need to think about how the work we create and publish
online might be used
before we publish it, especially in this copy-and-paste culture. Thus, the work
could be licensed
under Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/license/ or include a line by
the author about
how they might be used, such as "may be used or adapted with attribution". Others
make the
assumption that if they publish it online, then it is "up for grabs" just as
everything else on the
WWW "appears" to be.
There is also an assumption that teachers will freely share their work with their
colleagues as part
of the teaching culture, and databases and so forth are being established in both
countries where
teachers can access others' work more easily. (I don't know if these work like a
bank where you have
to contribute before you can copy, but will they be the death knell of original
thought?) Many
raised the issue that in both the US and Australia, lesson plans and so forth
constructed by
teachers belong to their employing education authority, but I don't know if this is
the case for
work created in the teacher's own time on their home computer. Certainly, I never
had time to
create webquests at school - in fact, everything I did when I was teaching was done
in my own time.
Another suggested that work published on the Web often becomes copied so many times
that the
identity of the original author cannot be determined, particularly in the case of
individuals, and
perhaps there needs to be an overhaul of the intellectual property laws to make
things more freely
available.
There was quite strong feeling that teachers have been reworking others' work no
matter what the
format so why should something like a webquest be different, and that we should be
encouraged. if
not flattered,. that others wanted to use or build on our creations. Our focus
should be educating
the students not concern about our own IP. There was concern that many teachers
would not use
valuable strategies such as webquests if they could not use someone else's work
without permission.
I have included this quote from Sandy Skinner in Australia (no other info was
given) because she
puts it so well ... "Our current generation of information users see the world of
knowledge and
information quite differently, they are peer and group focused, sharing, borrowing
re-making is what
they do...and I don't think they try to pretend they created something when they
didn't, they just
choose to be very efficient and creative in how they work with knowledge and
information because
'info-glut' requires a different headset."
I hope I have interpreted your responses correctly and not missed anything
pertinent. Thanks for
such a strong discussion.
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA
E. barbara@iimetro.com.au
"Together we learn from each other."
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