“There is no simple formula, but the more boxes you tick under ‘favoring fair use’ and the less you tick under ‘opposing fair use,’ the safer you are.” (Shaffer)
This quote summed up much of the advice and instruction in the article very well. As historians, we can often get incredibly caught up in citations and copyright that we can momentarily forget about our actual purpose in research.. I found this to be incredibly helpful for peace of mind when it comes to lesson planning, paper writing, and everything else that comes with digital history and social studies education.
“Copyright protection also doesn’t cover facts, ideas, or theories, which has important ramifications for the collection of data.” (Can I Use It?: Public Domain)
It was interesting to find out that copyright does not protect all intellectual data. Facts, ideas, and theories seem like they would be inherently protected, but they aren’t. This makes me wonder how, in this digital age we live in, anyone could protect their ideas and theories that are published electronically. This must mean that internet users must be conscious of the data they choose to put out into the world.
“Copyleft, a play on the word ‘copyright,’ is the practice of offering users of a work the right to freely distribute and modify the original work, but only under the condition that the derivative works be licensed with the same rights.” (Can I Use It?: Copyright and Intellectual Property Toolkit)
Copyleft seems like a good way to ensure that intellectual property is not stolen or used in the wrong context. But is it equitable? By making sure that ideas are used under the same copyright in being republished, are ideas being spread to more people, or is the information simply cycling in the same intellectual circles?
