Otherwise Open

Managing Incompatible Content within OER

Lila Bailey, Counsel for ccLearnOpenEd 2009, Vancouver BC

OER for Everyone, Everywhere

BY-SA by www.lumaxart.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2136951861/in/set-72157603545124242/

Building a Global Learning Commons

• Our goal as a community is to build a global learning commons -- a large pool of OER that anyone in the world can access, share, modify and combine with other open resources.

We promote openness

CC BY by Virtual Sugar Rush http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtualsugar/316200555/

And interoperability

BY-SA by www.lumaxart.comhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2137737248/in/set-72157603987562129/

BUT

BY-NC by S. Myers http://www.flickr.com/photos/puppiesofpurgatory/3067934263/

“All-Rights-Reserved”

• Unfortunately, many educational resources are made available only under “all-rights-reserved” copyright or under a more restrictive license than you need.

• ARR copyright limits what others may do with the content – ARR content is not open.

• And, because copyright laws differ around the world, ARR content is not interoperable with other content.

The Problem for OER

• When teachers combine ARR content with their OER, then the openness and interoperability of the educational resources are compromised.

• The same is true when trying to combine resources having differing, incompatible licenses.

Teachers are used to using materials inside the 4 walls of their classrooms.

CC BY by Foundphotosljhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/foundphotoslj/466713478/

But what happens when teachers want to SHARE the resources they create?

BY NC-SA by dsa66503http://www.flickr.com/photos/yeksa/3393910047/

May others reuse those resources and share them with the world?

CC BY by One Laptop per Childhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/3011271232/

Managing ARR Content in OER

• OER creators have developed a number of techniques for managing incompatible content– Reliance on copyright exceptions and

limitations, such as fair use or fair dealing

– Seeking permission or deleting the IC– Reliance on rules of practice such as

only using a “little bit” of the IC or linking to the content instead of incorporating it fully

What are CELs?

• Copyright exceptions and limitations (CELs) provide legal ways to use ARR content without payment or permission

• You have now all heard of Fair Use• There are many other kinds of CELs

around the world, including fair dealing and specific educational exceptions

Types of CELs

• Limitations on copyrightable subject matter (e.g., must be original, no protection for labor alone)

• De minimus (tiny portions)• Idea/expression dichotomy (not protecting data)• First sale/exhaustion (why we have libraries)• Government works (in the U.S.)• Flexible doctrines such as fair use• Specific exceptions/limitations for classroom use

CELs internationally

• Every country has implemented their CELs differently.

• Fair use is not always compatible with fair dealing or other types of CELs.

• Using ARR materials in OER on the basis of a CEL (such as fair use), use of that material outside of that country may not be legal.

• This is not a one-way problem!

Use Case

• A teacher making copies of 3 newspaper articles reporting on the same story from different perspectives to illustrate media bias.– In India, this would be allowed so long as it is

“in the course of instruction.” – In the U.S., we would ask if the use is

transformative, how much was taken, whether the © owner was harmed, etc.

– In the U.K., this would not be allowed at all because it does not fit any specific enumerated category of acceptable uses.

The flow of OER is stopped at the border.

BY-NC by Ladybeameshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/50906336@N00/2896787167/

Which hurts the global learning commons.

BY-SA by www.lumaxart.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2136951861/in/set-72157603545124242/

What can we do about it?

BY-SA by www.lumaxart.comhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2136947623/in/set-72157603549757387/

We need to work togetherto find a global solution!

BY-SA by www.lumaxart.com/http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2137735924/

A few things to consider…

• We need more education of course creators about copyright issues

• We need them to think about © as they are in the process of developing courses and course material that may be turned into OER

• Encourage use of as much PD and CC materials as possible

• Discourage use of ARR content unless absolutely necessary

OER Copyright Survey

OpenEd Website

Licensing info for this presentation

• Unless otherwise noted, everything in this presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Please attribute to ccLearn.

• Available at http://www.slideshare.net/lilabailey.