Considerations

=School Considerations=

The following are some considerations for teachers:

=Creative Commons?= Online publishing is a public representation of the physical school. It is important that any materials posted in the school or class web content are originals and not a copy from another website, book, magazine or any other medium. This includes text, images, buttons, or other media. Copyright law differs from country to country and need to be followed, but there are a few unwritten rules on the internet. Copying ideas or information in your own words is not copyright infringement; as long as you use proper citation of sources. Often, you can attribute credit on a web page by simply linking to the original source. If you are copying an image from an online source you need to do your best to contact the creator of the image either by email or another means. Obtaining written permission to use the image is important and if you get no answer then you are getting a “no” answer from the creator.

There are sources of text, images and media that are free to use. Any materials that are in the “public domain” can be integrated into a web content without much worry of copyright infringement. Works go into the public domain for a number of reasons, a few examples are a certain amount of time has passed after an author has passed away, or the copyright holder has forfeited their rights and has given the work to the public. There are also more flexible copyright licenses like the Creative Commons license, which appear on some websites. These licenses are easy to understand and clear about how you can use the content that appears on a website. Just click on the image to find out the type of rights associated with the work.

The Creative Commons ([|http://www.creativecommons.org/)] is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others legally to build upon and share. It enables copyright holders to grant some of their rights to the public while retaining others through a variety of licensing and contract schemes including dedication to the public domain or open content licensing terms. The intention is to avoid the problems current copyright laws create for the sharing of information.

A Creative Commons license is based on copyright. So they apply to all works that are protected by copyright law. The kinds of works that are protected by copyright law are, for example; books, web sites, blogs, photographs, films, videos, songs and other audio & visual recordings. Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work. Creative Commons licenses attach to the work and authorize everyone who comes in contact with the work to use it consistent with the license. - Creative Commons ([|http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ)]

=Think About Student Privacy=

Working online also means that you must be consciousness about what information is going out on the web in any format. Just because you’re creating content for your class doesn’t mean that only members of your school community will be viewing what you have created. That means that you have to be careful when you’re posting student names, images of students, and student work on the World Wide Web. My own practice has been to only include student names as acronyms or screen names. They always enjoy coming up with something unique that they feel describe themselves. Any work if that comes from a student would use that particular acronym or screen name. If you do decide to post images of students or their work, then you should get written permission form their parent(s)/guardians(s). The permission form should specifically state that it’s okay to use a photo or student work on the World Wide Web. Some school boards have already established forms and formats for this process it’s important to look up the forms and processes at your individual school board.

=**Photo Posting Etiquette**=

When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog. For schools make sure that students and parents have consented to photo's being taken and published, also ensure that students are not clearly identified with their full name, use just their firs tname.


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