Copyright - Please be careful

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

Putting this message on the main page because I think it is an area many people are unclear on. Please can you make sure when you share resources on this site that you have permission to do so. If it is entirely your own work this is fine, if it is someone else's make sure they are ok with it.
There are certain rules for images, music and books to which we need to adhere. Clip art and music clips are ok if they are the ones from ppt/word as most people have these programs to view these documents and so the license should cover you (but keep them in word/ppt etc please don't try to paste them into pdf). If you use images and music elesewhere from the internet check it is from a site that is happy for you to use it in this way. Most images are fine for personal use / school use, but we may run into problems if we share them, even if it is for free, unless you cite where you sourced the image (a little like putting in your references at the end of an essay). Others may just be unusable altogether. So to be sure;
- Use word / ppt clip art in the appropriate docs
- Cite the name of the site where you got your images from otherwise
- Try to stick to free sites such as http://www.freefever.com/animatedgifs/aliens3.html, http://educationalsoftware.wikispaces.com/Free+Image+Libraries , http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj//FLClipart/default.html http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle/primaryzone/index.asp, http://www.mdlsoft.co.uk/PrimaryPics.htm (rather than say google images)
- and for royalty free music try http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/ and http://www.podsafeaudio.com/

As for books - in my understanding you can scan them and use the images (and insert soundfiles say) in ONE ppt/on the IWB as long as you have a hard copy (ie the actual book) that has been purchased in the institution in which you are going to use it. ie in school for school. You may not share this with other schools.

Where LA's distribute powerpoint copies of the Catherine Cheater books for example, they have bought licenses to enable them to do this and may only give them to schools that can prove they have purchased the books. If you use a book in a presentation for training purposes say, similar rules apply and you should not use the book in it's entirety. (I will check and find out what percentage of the book you are allowed to use).

Hope this clarifies things a little - if you want to copyrite your own work by the way you might be interested in finding out about the internet recognised creative commons licenses which are free and easily inserted into work and pages. Then (unlike the TES resources) it will stay your work too!

Please do not let this discourage people from sharing ideas and resources, just please check it's legal to do so first and if you are unsure I am very happy for you to contact me and I 'll do my best to find out for you.

[Jan Lewandowski]

Hi Jo
Good to see you at the `Training the Trainers' conference in London.
This posting is very timely; I've had one or two worries about scanned images etc. both here and elsewhere and have worried about copyright issues.
It really needs a definitive statement from CILT or NACELL but I've been to workshops where`unsafe' material has been demoed.
Over on the TES forum `Groovy Guzzi' on the MFL forum has had a lot to say about copyright and related problems; may not be there anymore as the site has changed radically in recent months.
Having said that about copyright, I think we mustn't allow it to stifle creativity; it is a very fine line and not at all easy.

Jan janlewandowski.co.uk