Everything on the Net is public domain. Right? Read "The 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained" by Brad Templeton and you will soon have a different perspective. Another thought provoking article is David Rothman's "Copyright and K-12: Who Pays in the Network Era?" His premise is that with current law, children must pay the ultimate price because inadequate budgets will not allow schools to pay licensing fees. Several issues are presented: what networks mean to teachers and students, how copyright may affect K-12 networking, attitudes of educators, and options for a solution. For information about preventing, detecting, and tracking down plagarism on the Web, go to Cut and Paste Plagarism. If you want a cool Web-based tool for your students to use to create bibliographies from email citations to Web sites, check out NoodleTools.

For basic copyright information, current legislation, and international agreements go to the United States Copyright Office. The Copyright Clearance Center is a not-for-profit organization created to help organizations comply with U.S. copyright law. With over 1.75 million titles, it provides authorized users with a lawful means to make photocopies. For guidelines on what you may copy as a teacher, read "Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians" at the Library of congress. A more recent document, "Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia," adopted by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property in September 1996 can be found at the Consortium for College and University Media Centers, Indiana University.

Read about copyright by visiting the sites below and answer these questions. What is copyright? What is fair use? What are the tests for determining fair use? Are there limits to the amount of material that you can use?

10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained
Copyright and K-12: Who Pays in the Network Era?
Copyright Management Center
Copyright Web site
Cut and Paste Plagarism 
Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Media
NoodleTools
U. S. Copyright Office

Assignment:

1. View the Ask CyberBee animation. Create a short copyright lesson to use with students. Post it in the Log Entries.
2. Using the Promenade, assign writing assignments for parts of the Tour Guide for Safe Surfing on the Internet publication (final project).