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= = = = = //Copyright and Digital Citizenship// =

 Long before the advent of Web 2.0 tools which allow anyone to publish work for the world to view, headlines in newspapers, magazines, and nightly news shows reported illegal copyright issues. In the early 1970's former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison's song " My Sweet Lord" contained musical similarities to The Chiftons' hit "He's so Fine" which led to a very public and lengthy legal battle over the ownership of the music. In the spring of 2010, Camillo Lauricella, a dancer and choreographer, along with friend Nika Kljun found a Korean girl group called “After School" had stolen their choreographed moves for After School's music video,"Bang." Since the inception of the first federal copyright act, the Copyright Act of 1790 which granted copyright for a period of "fourteen years from the time of recording the title thereof" any number of books, articles, plays, choreographed dances, music, computer programs, software, and other copyrighted works have been reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner. Authors such Mark Twain, who wrote to Helen Keller in 1903, explaining he had used Dr. Holmes's dedication in a book of poems to dedicate his own book "Innocents Abroad" to Maureen Dowd, a New York Times columnist, have grappled with plagiarism issues. Clearly, the issues of infringement of copyright law and plagiarism predate the digital age.

The relative ease of transmitting and storing digital files adds to the already complicated issues of copyright and fair use. At no other time has it been easier to quickly download and copy files, music, media, and software. The steps for downloading these digital files are identical whether it is done illegally or legally confusing the issue even more for those who lack knowledge of copyright and fair use. With the global networking of the Internet disseminating digital files is remarkably easy and fast. From external hard drives to hand-held devices the storage space for such digital files has increased without a huge cost burden to the average consumer.

While the digital age presents new and unique challenges to the old issue of plagiarism and copyright law, it is first worth noting there is a lack of general knowledge among educators and students about copyright law and fair use guidelines. Too often teachers themselves break copyright laws each year as they photocopy the last existing page in a consumable practice workbook for a class lesson. In the digital age, teachers are less sure than ever about copyright law and fair use. PowerPoint presentations, meant to engage students, are loaded with images copied from Google or contain movies ripped illegally from the Internet. Students produce similar assignments after observing teacher created work used in class. Incorporating instruction about copyright laws and fair use guidelines as part of pre-service training for teachers and continuous in-service training for all educators would create a broader knowledge base about copyright and fair use in education. This knowledge could then be modeled by teachers who could mentor and advise students about copyright and fair use guidelines. Plagiarism, the act of taking an author's words and ideas without proper citation of the original source may or may not be a violation of copyright law. Although unethical, plagiarizing works in the public domain or licensed under creative commons license is not a violation of copyright law. Many of the solutions to issues of plagiarism can be addressed through changes in teacher pedagogy and curriculum design. Direct instruction in research skills needs to begin in the elementary grade levels. Students who lack the skills necessary to synthesize, analyze, and paraphrase often resort to "copy and paste" to get the assignment completed. To foster a culture that values authors' words and ideas, teachers need to model and teach correct citation skills beginning in the early elementary grades, continuing through middle school, not wavering until students graduate from high school. Engaging students in challenged based learning or project based learning with assignments that have real world relevance and value for them allows students to work collaboratively on unique projects that require innovative, original production of ideas and products. This type of assignment makes it difficult to plagiarize as there is no one specific answer. The use of frequent drafts, reviews, and checkpoints or check-ins help students avoid the last minute rush to complete the assignment which can often result in the use of the "copy and paste" without correct citations.

The solution to copyright, plagiarism and fair use will not be solved in the courtroom or classroom alone. Businesses will have to become actively involved in preserving the rights of creators of content, knowledge, and art. Companies such as YouTube, Flickr, and Vimeo will need to be actively engaged in enforcing their own policies regarding these issues. As communities of collective and often collaborative works these companies and their members will have to engage in developing online community guidelines and policies about copyright. With the continuing developments in cloud computing, software companies may find solutions to fighting pirated software. Instead of downloading the software or purchasing the CD, individuals may simply log onto their prepaid accounts in the cloud to access the software to do their work. In this manner, software companies would reduce piracy and have better control over who has access to the software. The open source software movement may provide another way to reduce piracy through a collaborative culture.

Schools and learning institutions need to create codes of conduct beyond the acceptable use policies that often deal with accessing pornography sites or social network sites. Codes of conduct should include statements about the use of copyrighted material and the unethical practice of plagiarism. School librarians with the aid of teams of trained students who can answer questions about copyright law and fair use, coupled with easily accessible and understandable online references about copyright law, fair use guidelines,sample letters requesting permission to use copyrighted material, and how to correctly cite resources would help create a culture that values and respects the work created by others.

Yet, if the real power of the Internet with its immense social networking ability is to be harnessed, a new culture among its users may need to evolve. The days of content “genealogy” that focuses on preserving the rights of the first person who created a new song, scientific idea, or work of art may need to give way to a culture that concentrates more on remixing and remaking, emphasizing on the cumulative, collaborative process rather than the final outcome. This will require the rethinking of ownership of intellectual property and the expansion of creative commons licensing. With a new type of licensing of intellectual property, ideas of who can reproduce, access, and distribute intellectual property will change. As a result the copyright law which has been revised a few times since its inception may need to be revised again in the future along with the rules that govern it.