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My original target concerned the intellectual property of webquests and whether it was reasonable for others to adapt the works of others to meet their own needs to save time, as was being suggested by many of the references I was reading in papers I was marking. It sparked a lot of interest as I received a number of responses from both countries which I have summarised below, Essentially, the overwhelming feeling was that attribution of the original source should be made if a work is being copied or adapted. My feeling is that authors writing papers about adapting the work of others (in whatever format) need to clearly state that acknowledgement of the original author of the work needs to be made, so that our 'emerging' colleagues are made aware of their responsibilities under current law and general ethics. Most have said, and I agree with them, that their work is there to be shared and built on because we work in such a collaborative culture, but they would expect to be at least acknowledged if permission was not sought directly. This models best ethical practice for both staff and students. (None of the quotes in the students' papers mentioned this acknowledgement but that might be their choice to shorten the quote, rather than it not being in the original altogether.) Others suggested that we need to think about how the work we create and publish online might be used before we publish it, especially in this copy-and-paste culture. Thus, the work could be licensed under Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/license/ or include a line by the author about how they might be used, such as "may be used or adapted with attribution". Others make the assumption that if they publish it online, then it is "up for grabs" just as everything else on the WWW "appears" to be. There is also an assumption that teachers will freely share their work with their colleagues as part of the teaching culture, and databases and so forth are being established in both countries where teachers can access others' work more easily. (I don't know if these work like a bank where you have to contribute before you can copy, but will they be the death knell of original thought?) Many raised the issue that in both the US and Australia, lesson plans and so forth constructed by teachers belong to their employing education authority, but I don't know if this is the case for work created in the teacher's own time on their home computer. Certainly, I never had time to create webquests at school - in fact, everything I did when I was teaching was done in my own time. Another suggested that work published on the Web often becomes copied so many times that the identity of the original author cannot be determined, particularly in the case of individuals, and perhaps there needs to be an overhaul of the intellectual property laws to make things more freely available. There was quite strong feeling that teachers have been reworking others' work no matter what the format so why should something like a webquest be different, and that we should be encouraged. if not flattered,. that others wanted to use or build on our creations. Our focus should be educating the students not concern about our own IP. There was concern that many teachers would not use valuable strategies such as webquests if they could not use someone else's work without permission. I have included this quote from Sandy Skinner in Australia (no other info was given) because she puts it so well ... "Our current generation of information users see the world of knowledge and information quite differently, they are peer and group focused, sharing, borrowing re-making is what they do...and I don't think they try to pretend they created something when they didn't, they just choose to be very efficient and creative in how they work with knowledge and information because 'info-glut' requires a different headset." I hope I have interpreted your responses correctly and not missed anything pertinent. Thanks for such a strong discussion. Barbara Barbara Braxton Teacher Librarian PALMERSTON ACT 2913 AUSTRALIA E. barbara@iimetro.com.au "Together we learn from each other." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://lm-net.info/ * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html * LM_NET Wiki: http://lmnet.wikispaces.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------