Be Right About Copyright

Theme: Journalism

Grade: 6-10

Introduction

While you are at school you are protected to some extent by a copyright allowance made to education known as "fair use". This could cause you to believe that you can copy information and media freely at any time. In fact this mistaken assumption has led to students failing to achieve degree qualifications and employees losing their jobs. It is therefore vitally important that you understand copyright and the fair use agreement while you are still at school. Are you protected from prosecution on copyright laws while at school? Let's find out.

Task

You and your friends run a small advertising company specialising in poster productions. A major publisher, sponsoring a writing education project, has engaged your company to produce a series of four posters on copyright. The posters should each deliver a clear and concise message to learners and teachers. As a collection of four posters your message should answer these four questions without including the actual questions on the poster:

1. What is copyright? What is intellectual property?
2. What may teachers and learners copy and under what circumstances?
3. How do we avoid plagiarism?
4. Where may you publish under fair use?

One question does not necessarily have to be answered on one poster: as a team you may design your own campaign and decide what information goes on each poster.

Process

For this assignment, you will work in teams of four and you will divide your task into roles as follows (click on each role for more information):

1. Copyright specialist
2. Fair use specialist
3. Poster design specialist
4. Copywriter

Resources

Assessment

Conclusion

Your understanding of copyright, intellectual property and fair use will stand you in good stead. By producing these posters you have made a valuable contribution to the education of your peers.