I often think that the publishing companies should be offering a lot of the materials in digital format. Offering it that way would cut down the cost of the materials as there would be no printing, binding, and shipping costs. Schools districts could then purchase rights to allow teachers to use the digital format of the resources. Will copyright laws that are too stringent force educators to find materials that allow them freedom to reproduce, adapt and redistribute content to suit the learning needs of their
students?
I have always been open to sharing material that I create with my colleagues around the district and allowing them to adapt and modify the material. I would even be open to sharing material with other teachers around the province, country or world as long as users agreed not to take ownership of the content. In turn, I would expect that other teachers would give me the same privileges. As the internet continues to grow, so too does the ability to share resources that can enhance the learning potential of students around the globe.
As I read, What is Copyleft?, I began to get the impression that “Copyleft” is a term that is used to illustrate the opposite of “Copyright.” If copyright is used to stop user from reproducing, adapting and redistributing content, then Copyleft is used to allow users to reproduce, adapt and redistribute content. This seemed very simple and straight forward. That is not exactly correct. In fact, copyleft does not mean that users have complete freedom to do what they want with the content. When a user is given permission to reproduce, adapt and redistribute content, the resulting copies are bound by the distribution terms outlined by the original author (Stallman, 2010).
Creative Commons has free tools that allow users to share knowledge and resources. Although it is a non-profit organization, there are several internet companies, like Google and Flickr, that use Creative Commons Licenses. Because a Creative Commons licenses can be used by an author to give people permission to share, reproduce, adapt and redistribute content, user do not have to worry about copyright infringement as long as they “abide by the conditions” outlined by the author ("Creative commons: about,"). As Creative Commons provides the legal framework for Open Educational Resources, educators can access a variety of educational materials released within the public domain or open license ("Creative commons:
education").
Although Creative Commons Australia claims there are many benefits of offering and using creative commons licences, are there any disadvantages using creative commons licences?
references:
Stallman, R. (2010). The gnu project. Retrieved from http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html
Creative commons: about. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://creativecommons.org/about
Creative commons: about. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://creativecommons.org/education