Copyright and classrooms: problems and solutions

Cory Doctorow 12:14 pm Thu Aug 10, 2006

Harvard's Terry Fisher and Bill McGeveran (supported by EFF's Derek Slater and the Berkman Center at Harvard) have just published a fantastic white-paper on the ways that copyright can present barriers to educators, called "The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material." The paper provides an exhaustive, lay-person-friendly guide to the minefield of copyright in the classroom, as well as good, realpolitik solutions to the problems:

Drawing on […] case studies, other research, and comments made by a cross-section
of scholars, lawyers, librarians, and educators who participated in two day-long
workshops organized as part of the project, the following emerged as the most
significant copyright-related obstacles to educational uses of copyrighted material:

* Unclear or inadequate copyright law relating to crucial provisions such as fair use
and educational use;

* Extensive adoption of "digital rights management" technology to lock up content;

* Practical difficulties obtaining rights to use content when licenses are necessary;

* Undue caution by gatekeepers such as publishers or educational administrators.

(via A Copyfighter's Musings)

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