I hate to begin the new year by complaining, but I find that I must. Perhaps I should suggest that my comments are intended to offer a different perspective. I guess you are free to interpret my remarks as you will.
This post was prompted by a recent post on the 21st Collaborative blog concerning intellectual property. I do not intend to single this blogger out – the post just happened to be the trigger for these comments.
I respectfully disagree with the position that “our kids” are being limited because copyright law is too restrictive. In my opinion:
- It is inappropriate to decide what you have a right to do with the property of someone else (digital or not). It is especially troubling when educators take this position. The notion of entitlement in education is very dangerous.
- Those who advocate the use of the content of others often target a specific type of material making artificial distinction between situations/formats in which it is acceptable and unacceptable to use the work of others. I find it especially troubling when some advocate the use of the digital objects created by others while assuming they personally should be compensated for the delivery of information in other circumstances or in a different format (e.g., paid for teaching, paid for presenting).
- The argument that someone else has made enough money on a product cannot be an excuse. If you object to the cost of a ticket do not attend. If you object to the cost of a CD, do not purchase. While you can probably get away with appropriating digital content, the income a talented individual has generated hardly seems a reasonable justification for theft. To me, there is something wrong with acting on this premise in some circumstances (digital content), but assuming you cannot in others (sneaking into a theater because the movie is too expensive, stealing the book because it is over priced).
- I think a sound argument can be made that creating your own digital objects is the best learning experience. Write your own material. Take your own pictures. Converting the ideas of others into your own method of representation is a superior learning experience to relying on the creativity, talents, and physical representation of someone else. If the focus on the “polish” or impressiveness of the product encourages the use of music, video, computer code, artwork, etc. created by those with greater skill, the focus on personal learning has been lost.
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