ETL 503 Copyright and other musings

   School has finished for the year but study marches on. One thing I had the pleasure of reading last week was information from Smartcopying: The Official Guide to Copyright Issues for Australian Schools and TAFE. As an author I was already aware of the fact that anything I create is automatically covered by copyright in Australia. However I didn't know the nitty-gritty of viewing films/DVDs with regard to copyright. I was especially interested to see the emphasis on how using a film for the purpose of parody/satire is considered OK. I think there is room to expand on this as a teaching resource.

Source: Beth Montgomery

   One of the other students wrote in the forum that notices can be posted near the photocopiers at school to educate staff regarding copyright. This is a good idea, as is presenting a few PD sessions on copyright issues.
   The whole issue of artistic ownership interests me as I can see it from the creator's side. When you spend hundreds of hours creating a text you don't want people using it for free. You want them to pay for it. Are teachers aware that authors only recieve a small payment of the total price of each book sold? For instance, one of my books sells for $17.95. I receive about $1.60 from each sale. It's easy to see why most authors keep their day jobs. If you sit down and do the maths for how much work the average author puts into a book and the financial reward they receive at the end of it all, it would equate to something as ludicrous as 15 cents an hour. Don't they at least deserve that, over and above nothing, which is what they currently receive when you rip off their work by indiscriminate photocopying.
   Enough of my rant. As I look forward to 2013 I wonder if this will be the year when the school library purchases a few e-books.  Will the school library embrace social networking? Will it find new ways to improve the Internet connection at the school? Change may be slow but change is inevitable. Let's hope our school can be bold and embrace the digital age at last.