Copyright, OER, and Social Media

This week's module was all things copyright, OER (Open Educational Resources) and social media.  

    What exactly is a copyright? In a nutshell, it's the government's way of protecting any tangible work by an author.  It legally prevents someone from stealing an author's work and using it as their own. I learned during the lecture that copyright is not something that has to be formally requested.  It takes immediate effect as long as the original idea is in a tangible form.  An item such as my child's artwork is automatically copyrighted, which I think is cool. Take that, handprint turkey thieves!

    Copyright lasts for the lifetime of the author, plus an additional 70 years. If the work was created by multiple authors, the copyright lasts for 70 years after the last author's death. I am curious about why the "Powers that Be" chose 70 years.  I suppose to essentially guarantee for it to be less likely for anyone in the author's lifetime to take their idea. 

    Open Educational Resources, or OER, include textbooks, curriculum, online courses, or any kind of educational material.  It can be in any format as long as it's being used for education, and is part of the public domain.  The public domain offers resources that are free to use without a copyright restriction. OER is a great alternative to standard textbooks because it offers more than one way to learn about a topic.  Teachers can utilize numerous educational methods rather than relying on what's in the textbook.  While textbooks are fine to use, it's good to offer a variety of educational resources to accommodate numerous learning abilities. 

    Social media is rampant with copyright issues, but as long as we are diligent about sharing the source with our posts, we don't have to worry about copyright infringement. A lot of things on social media are shared by users who did not create the item, such as memes.  We must do our due diligence and try to share the source of the memes.  One way to do this is to just "share" the post of someone else, rather than reposting it as though it is an original thought. 

    Using social media to promote books is a fun way to entertain and educate. It is also a great way to promote what's going on in the library.  I have learned that older people tend to see libraries as a building full of books, which may have been true when they were younger, but libraries are now bustling hubs of education.  Many libraries have a Makerspace, which offers engagement with STEM related items, art materials, and other electronic tools. 

Works Cited:

U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). What is Copyright? U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright.gov. https://copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (n.d.). Open Educational Resources and Libraries: A Briefing. IFLA.