The Media Spot

Rhys was recently interviewed for an upcoming study on copyright's role in media education, entitled Mind-Forged Manacles: The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy. The research was conducted by some of the leading voices in the media literacy field: Renee Hobbs of Temple University, and Peter Jaszi and Pat Aufderheide of American University.

From the Press Event announcement at mediaeducationlab.com:

Media literacy educators rely on the ability to use copyrighted materials in their teaching. But ignorance about copyright (and particularly a lack of awareness of the fair use provision) is interfering with the ability to teach important critical thinking and communication skills to promote digital learning.

The laws related to these issues are difficult to navigate when working with digital media in the classroom. Fear of conflict or even prosecution over the use of copyrighted material in a student project is enough to deter an educator who already has to spend precious time getting comfortable with digital tools and new communications media while trying to teach.

We've been excited to see momentum building on these issues with the recent development of the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use (an effort that Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi are at the forefront of), and "user rights" campaigns like the recently-launched Defend Fair Use web site (with high-profile corporate backers), and the ongoing support of mainstays like Creative Commons and the whole notion of Participatory Culture. We hope that this study will help further define these issues, and allow teachers to proceed with confidence.

We're proud to have participated in the study, and look forward to release of the report! The press event will be September 25, and will be webcast at the American University Washington College of Law Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property web site.