I agree with what many of you have said about 30 seconds not being long enough to get the meaning of some of the songs across. Many songs, such as the ones we are using in class right now, can be powerul teaching tools. If you chop the song down to 30 seconds, you can lose alot of the meaning in the song. I think that as long is the song is properly cited, has been legally acquired, and is being used for educational purposes only that it should not be a problem. People listen to music everyday for recreational purposes so why shouldn't they be able to listen to it in the classroom for educational purposes?

Bridget's Response

I actually had no idea about a couple things that this group told us. I didn't know that if I was giving a presentation, I could only use 30 seconds from a song. It doesn't make sense to me though because I have never really had any teacher go over this with us so I always thought we could use the whole song. Either way, I think that the copyright laws are somewhat fair. I think that some of the laws are a bit harsh because sometimes people don't even know that they're breaking the law when they are. If they really want to enfore this, they should advertise it more someway or inform the public more so they know exactly what is legal and what is not.

copyright laws

I was glad that we went over copyrights and fair use laws, because I have been breaking those laws for years without knowing it. If we hadn't gone over it in class, I probably would have continued to break those laws as an educator without even knowing they existed. I think that the laws are there for a good reason and purpose, however I think they were a little too picky and I think that some of them are too small (i.e. Songs, Videos).

Brianne's Response

Like many other I have mixed thoughts about the 30 sec per song. I think it can be hard to cut a song to thirty seconds without getting your complete point/message across. I also believe that there are many people who break this law because they do not even realize it exists.

Megan's Reply

I agree with Katlyn. Listening to thirty seconds of a song does not allow you to fully understand the underlying meaning of the song. However, it is unfair to the songwriter/producer for people to take their hard work as their own.

Megan's Response

I am on both sides of the argument. I think that the copyright guidelines are fair. There needs to be some rules over what you can and can not use in order to guard the creater. On the other hand, with strict guidelines, sometimes it becomes perplexing on what you can and can not use. I'm sure that in the past, most everyone has violated a guideline without even being aware of it. Looking at the fine print of the copyright and fair use guidelines handout, it seems that these strict guidelines can limit teachers on what they can use in the classroom. For example, teachers are only allowed to make copies for classes a number amount of times.

Lindsey

I've been wondering about the 30 sec. song useage. I just can't seem to believe that throughout all of high school, we would create videos for our high school's news channel, and we would use the full length of songs. But again, how much is too much? We have so many programs that are free available to us, that in my opinion copyright seems like a joke. People burn DVD's and download free music all the time, and nothing seems to happen.

I agree with what most people are saying too. The limit is set on the copyright rule could be a little longer but not too long. I believe in giving credit to the person and not taking it all in as your own stuff. Other than that I think the copyright rule is a good thing to keep people undercontrol.

Many of you are saying that 30 seconds is not long enough, so what do you think would be a reasonable time limit for music???

I also agree with what most people have been saying. Although the 30 second rule limits the full understanding, it is not fair to use someone else's work and not pay for it. In a classroom setting I don't think it would be harmful to teach your own class the full lyrics or meaning but for a presentation to a school, or if you want to sell something you can't use other people's work/inventions, etc.

I agree with what mostly everybody said about how only hearing 30 seconds of a song limits your ability to fully understand the meaning of song...but then you have to think about the person who spent millions of dollars writing and publishing the song. If I put my time and efforts into a musical composition I dont think I'd be too happy if people could just freely take my whole song and use it without having a fee of some kind.

I agree with much that has been said. If there was a way to stream line laws so that they would be readily comprehensible that would help out teachers. The problem is that there are so many types of media that we use and need access to that it gets kind of confusing. On the other hand I imagine that if I were the author or artist, I would also want to protect my work.

Erin

I too agree with Heather. I feel it is very confussing in regards to understanding what is and is not legal. I feel that we need to come up with a way to educate the viewers as to how copyright laws work.

Erin

I feel that it is fair to have restrictions on things. It is not fair for someone to take someone else's work. I feel when it comes to teacher websites, they should on use these as helpful tools, but not take everything that is on the website.

I agree with what Heather said regarding having a class to prep teachers on this matter. It was very detailed on what was considered fair use or not. Even though it may be sited, it still might not comply with the rules that go along with fair use. By having a class for teachers, it will not only allow them to be able to review what is considered fair use, but it could also give them ideas on how to do things correctly and use it in the classroom.

Copyright Laws

After listening to the presentation and looking over the handout passed out, the limitations and guidelines for educators are very detailed and exact. Although I do think limitations are necessary, it is difficult to decifer what is 'fair use' and what is legal. Many people might think they are complying with the regulations, when in all actuality they are breaking them. Just to make sure everyone understands what is 'fair use' and legal, I think schools should offer a class on 'fair use' and copyrights or have someone come in and prep schools on what is legal and how to prepare lessons without infringing on the regulations. In addition, people, in general, need to be aware of what is acceptable to use and the consequences they could face for not complying with the guidelines.

I feel that having limitations does take away from young people or adults. I agree with what someone else said previously by if they are only hearing 30 seconds of a song they are not getting the full effect of the meaning. Whoever is using this information should just be able to site their information from the sources they got it from. This way no one is plagiarizing. However, limitations are a good thing because they help people from downloading certain songs rather than going out and buying a cd. These people are saving themselves the trip of going out to the store and having to spend money when all they do is download it illegally. This is were I believe the limitations should come into place. Overall, I can agree and disagree with it but I do think it's important for young people and adults to be aware of.

I don't think that these limitations are fair. At least for the music ones. 30 seconds does give you enough time to get the full effect of most songs. Think about these protest songs, most of them have a much deeper meaning, and the students would benefit more by hearing the more of the song in a presentation. I feel that as long as you site the song, and make it clear that it is not your work you should be able to use as long of the song as you want. Also going along with books, poems, and pictures. I feel that as long as you obtain the material legally and aren't trying to sell or pass off the material as your own you should be able to use as much as you need. By putting a limit on this amount or time you can use, also in a way puts a limit on how in depth you can go when talking about the topic.

Copyright and Fair Use

Do you feel that the limitations put on fair use are actually fair? Discuss what you think about the limitations and if you believe that they will actually limit the amount of media that teachers can get?