It's Elementary!

Mrs. Moore's library web site gives a useful copyright lesson for elementary students at Hunters Creek Elementary Library in Houston, Texas, under the Module One link.  She includes a Syllabus, which describes the "course," and Table of Contents under Module One.  The dictionary gives clear and concise definitions for copyright-related and online teaching terms.  There are a few blank spots where links don't quite connect, but do check it out and play around anyway.  It's worth the look!

http://library.springbranchisd.com/sbisd_library/Schools/Hunters%20Creek/Copyright_for_Kids/moduleone/mod1-copyright-symbol-0015.htm

How do we copyright wikis and blogs?

Collaborative websites, which let users create, edit, link and track changes to them, have flooded the Internet.  We recognize them as blogs--such as Blogger, which powers this blog, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and wikis.  Due to the complex structure of these multiple-authored web pages, tracing the maze of contributions is difficult for the purpose of giving authors credit, and to determine if copyrights have been violated.  Botterbusch and Parker discuss three categories of public licenses that govern online collaborative spaces.

CopyLeft--one can use the content for any purpose and change it, as long as all copies and changed works are released under the same (CopyLeft) license as the original.

Creative Commons--enable authors to keep their copyright and at the same time give users some flexibility.  This is a "some rights reserved" copyright.  The Creative Commons' Share Alike license is like CopyLeft, allowing users to copy, distribute, and remix content if:  1.) the user attributes the revised work to the author, but does not imply the author's approval of it; and 2.) the revised work is distributed under the same or similar license as the original work.

Public Domain--The Creative Commons' Public Domain license and PrimarilyPublicDomain license are the two main Public Domain licenses and they release all possible copyrights of a content producer.

I'm thinking that Regina's Copyright Blog would be protected by a Creative Commons' Share Alike license.  I want readers to make comments, corrections, and additions, but I want the license to remain the same so that future readers can change the content again.  I don't know about about you, but plain old "copyright" is looking pretty clear cut to me!

Botterbusch, H. R. & Parker, P. (2008). Copyright and collaborative spaces: Open licensing and wikis. TechTrends, 52(1), 7-9.