Digital Citizenship: Rights and Responsibilities

Rights and responsibilities -- just because a lot of what we do on the Internet is done behind our monitor doesn't mean we can ignore the rights of others and the rules of law. There are very strict regulations for the use of information you get from the Net. You know those little ads you see when you rent a DVD where they show people stealing and then they say copying this video is a crime? The same goes for stealing information from the Internet. 

Here's a video by 9th graders on intellectual property and copyrights - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEAW10gFf9w

In this lesson we'll discuss:
copyrights, plagiarism, intellectual property, access to info

Copyright
What does it mean? Copyright is a form of protection given to the authors or creators of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works.  What that means is that, as the author of the work, you alone have the right to make copies of your work, let others make copies and share. Because, as the creator of your work, you should have the right to control what people can and cannot do with your work.

Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are Fixed in "a tangible form of expression."

Examples:
 literary works (which includes computer software); musical works, including any accompanying words; -                      dramatic works, including any accompanying music ; pantomimes and choreographic works;  pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works; sound recordings; and  architectural works.

Intellectual Property can also be protected by copyright. It includes ideas and things that can't been seen, but that are original works of authorship. These may include software games, applications, cell phone technology, etc.

You can tell something has a copyright if you see the © or  ® on the product. A "©" on the work means it is copyrighted and an "®" means it is a registered trademark in the United States.

Your Turn! Give me some examples of copyrights!

But who owns the copyright? The copyright in a work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created it at the moment it is put into fixed form. And, when two or more people create a work together, each of them is an author: they are called "joint authors".

Terms you need to know:
1. Infringement -- In order for a court to determine that a copyright in a work has been infringed upon it must find that: (1) the infringing work is "substantially similar" to the copyrighted work, and (2) the alleged infringer had access to the copyrighted work -- meaning they actually saw it or heard it.
2. Fair Use -- The "Fair Use" doctrine allows limited copying of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The copyright law provides that reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of copyright.
3. Public Domain
Works that are in the public domain belong to everyone and can be freely used without compensating the authors. For example stuff on YouTube.com, Wikipedia.org, and so many others.

But, I have heard songs recorded by singers other than the orginal singer! That is probably because they got PERMISSION from the original singer to reproduce their song. This is called "Derivative Works."

Plagarism
What does it mean? Plagiarism is when you use someone else's words or ideas and pass them off as your own.

Did you know that "plagiarism" comes from the Latin word which means to "kidnap!" Plagiarism is the act of "kidnapping" someone's words, ideas, thoughts. It is cheating! It is not acceptable in school or the work place!

It is easy to do with the Internet because you can copy/paste sentences and paragraphs from a web site into your document. DON'T DO THIS! Our school has a strict policy that if you commit plagiarism you may get computer lab rights suspended in addition to a school conduct referral!

Plagiarism.com provides an easy way to check if something has been plagiarized. Here's an example of homework turned in where the student was to provide information about an Olympic athlete. He submitted this paragraph:

Shaun spent his formative years riding Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, at Big Bear a small ski resort found in the BALLE San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Today, his sponsors include Burton Snowboards, as well as Oakley, Birdhouse Skateboards, Park City Resort, Target, Red Bull, Adio, and HP; White also has his own character on the games Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder. White has been a participant in the Winter X Games, where he has medaled every year since 2002. Including all winter X Games competitions through 2008, his medal count stands at 14 (9 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), including the first four-peat winner by a male athlete in one discipline, the snowboard slopestyle. White's quest for a five-peat Gold in 2007 was spoiled by Andreas Wiig (Gold) and Jussi Oksanen (Silver), with White taking the bronze.

I entered the first sentence into http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/ and it pointed to the exact location where this paragraph exists...which happened to be Wikipedia!
But how do I PREVENT PLAGIARISM? Easy as 1-2-3
1. Do not copy/paste! Translate the meaning of what you find into your own words.
2. Cite your sources! Use the appropriate citations at the en of your paper or within your project (for example, if you are creating a web site you can add sources to the bottom of any page). Example citation: Smith, Hazel B. "All About Giraffes." 1995. See: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/step3.html) for more on citing sources.
3.  Ask if you  are  unsure! If you  are not sure whether you can use certain information, pictures or ideas, ask you teacher for guidance.

View Rebecca Meeder's "Plagiarisks" and complete the quiz.

DO:
2nd-3rd: 1)  Review the Copyright Basics. 2) Discuss what you learned in class.
4th - 8th: 1) Review the Copyright Basics.  2) Take the Copyright Challenge (keep track of your own scores). 3) Print out the Certificate and write on it your final score, then turn it in ...but before you turn it in:  4) Check out the Copyright Forms Registration Page and indicate on your Certificate what type of form you would need to use if you wanted to Register a copyright for a song you wrote. 5) Turn in your printed Certificate today! Note: This will be graded -- receive 5 points total.

References
Copyright Kids, http://www.copyrightkids.org/whatcopyframes.htm
Piracy: http://www.uspto.gov/go/kids/kidantipiracy.htm
Plagiarism: http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/plagiarism.html
Citing Sources: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/step3.html)