Peggy Hoon, 2011 – 2013 moderator of the Center for Intellectual Property’s blog collectanea shares her expert observations of the Georgia State University copyright lawsuit on her June 7th post. Ms. Hoon divides her discussion into some very interesting topics:
I say, “Well worth the read”.
Creative Commons announced on June 2, 2011 that You Tube has added Creative Commons BY as a licensing option for users. You Tube users can now choose to license their video under CC BY or use the “standard You Tube license”.
You Tube, in conjunction with the implementation of the CC license, has launched a Creative Commons video library containing 10,000 videos under CC BY from organizations such as C-SPAN, PublicResource.org, Voice of America, and Al Jazeera. The library will serve as a base catalog of videos for users to access, edit, and incorporate into their own video projects.
For more see CC news, You tube launches support for CC BY and You Tube’s blog, You Tube and Creative Commons – Raising the Bar on User Creativity.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2011, asked more than a half a dozen experts in copyright, intellectual property and scholarly communication what the Georgia State University Copyright Case might mean for the future (of education).
Professionals including Kevin L. Smith, Director of Scholarly Communications at Duke University, Peter J. Givler, Executive Director of the Association of American University Presses, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of media studies and Law at the University of Virginia, David E. Shulenburger, Senior Fellow at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, Kate Douglas Torrey, Director of University of North Carolina Press, Dorothea Salo, Research-services librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Brandon Butler, Director of public-policy initiatives at the Association of Research Libraries offer their insights into this landmark copyright case.
To learn more about the background of the case see previous posts in the archives.
May 2, 2011. Cable Green announced he accepted the position of “Director of Global Learning” at Creative Commons. He said on his blog “while I am sad leaving Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (he will certainly be missed in Washington), “I have an intense passion for open education resources and open policy….and this is an opportunity to work those issues on a global scale.” This is a great match and global open education resources is the benefactor.
April 7, 2011, Next Generation Learning Challenge (NGLC) announced the first round of grant winners. Twenty nine organizations will receive a total of 10.6 million. An additional 5.4 million will be awarded to some of the most promising projects. Wave II finalists are being considered now.
NGLC is led by EDUCAUSE in partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), and the Council for Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Funding is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Today the emphasis is on open courseware and analytics to monitor student learning. And with US stimulus monies and funds from foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation the technology and teaching landscape is changing dramatically. More at ars technica Money flowing into “open courseware” on college campuses.
April 13, 2011 Creative Commons announced they were awarded a grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to provide support to successful applicants of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (C3T) grant program with partnering organizations Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative (OLI), CAST, and the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). These highly experienced organizations will provide comprehensive infrastructure support and capacity building in the following:
Services will be coordinated through Creative Commons. Read more at Creative Commons and from SBCTC’s Cable Green.
Robert Darnton, Director of the Harvard University Library, comments on the rejection of the Google Book Settlement in his New York Times article A Digital Library Better Than Google’s and says, “ what we really need is a noncommercial option: a digital public library.”
In December 2010, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard said it would coordinate a planning program for public and private groups interested in creating just such a digital public library of America. The idea, says Robert Darnton, is to link the electronic resources of participating university libraries and cultural institutions like the Library of Congress and make them accessible through a single portal. The hope is to create “a gigantic digital library that would make the cultural heritage of the country available to everyone”, he says.
Judge Orinda Evans denies the motion to dismiss on grounds of sovereign immunity made by Georgia State University and sets a trial date of May 16, 2011. Judge Evans’ order filed on March 17, 2011.
Kevin Smith at Duke University Libraries Scholarly Communications explains GSU’s motion to dismiss and the issues GSU raised as to the degree of control the named officials, who included all of the Georgia Board of Regents and the President, actually have over the actions that are alleged to be infringing. Kevin states, “This issue of whether or not the defendants are close enough to the alleged illegality to actually control it is normally considered a purely legal matter that can be decided by a judge without a trial. But in this case, Judge Evans has essentially postponed her decision about sovereign immunity until she hears all the facts at trial; in legalese, she is treating the question as a “mixed” issue of law and fact.” Read Kevin’s whole blog post at GBS and GSU: Two Cases, Going Forward. For the actual case see Cambridge University Press et al v. Patton et al filed almost 3 years ago on April 15, 2008.
Judge Rejects Google’s Deal to Digitize Books, by Miguel Helft, The New York Times, published March 22, 2011. Google’s ambition to create the world’s largest digital library and bookstore has run into the reality of a 300-year-old concept: copyright.
Read more at Chin Decides Google Books Settlement Would “Go Too Far”, by Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal, published March 23, 2011.
Judge Denny Chin’s order filed March 22, 2011, in United States District Court Southern District of New York.
TED announced a brand new initiative – TED-ED. They are making a commitment to global education.
TED-ED aims to assemble a new archive of remarkable educational videos. These videos will be shorter than TED Talks, can be created by anyone, and must be undeniably catalytic to learning.
They are seeking the input from visionary educators, organizations, film makers and creative professionals to lead this new initiate. In a few weeks they will be launching an online forum called the TED-ED Brain Trust. Your input will define TED-ED.
