Copyright Corner (September, 2020)

Welcome to a new school year! This one seems bound to be exceptional in many ways, and I’m sure we will all learn many useful things about teaching, learning, and researching effectively in mostly online settings. In this column I share information that may help you navigate some copyright-related aspects of your fall courses. How can I include films in my online course? This is a copyright question that ULFA members have been asking frequently over the past several months. And the answer? As the saying goes, the devil is in the details . . . which can vary widely from one film to the next. In case you, too, have been wondering about this, I’ll sketch some scenarios that may be similar to your circumstances, as well as some possible, copyright-compliant solutions. These scenarios contemplate films that are copyrighted, but if the films you wish to use are not copyrighted or are openly licensed, you will have a broader array of options. In-class screening of a film on DVD In this scenario, pre-COVID you may have signed out a Library DVD or used your personal copy of a film for an on-campus class screening. If you now wish to screen the same film in a synchronous online class, is the physical (lawfully acquired) DVD available to you? If it is, one option may be to play the DVD on the computer you are hosting your Zoom class on, while you share your screen with the class. This approach is covered by s. 29.5 (d) of the Copyright Act, which permits educational institutions to publicly perform films in class, provided that certain conditions are met. Two of those conditions stipulate that screenings must take place “on the premises of an educational institution” and must be “for educational or training purposes.” As University-supported access to Moodle, Zoom, and YuJa are essentially online extensions of, or alternatives to, the University’s physical premises, as long as you use a lawful source that isn’t subject to terms and conditions limiting you to personal, non-commercial use and you observe all conditions noted in s. 29.5 (d), you should be able to show the film in your synchronous class. If you plan to record your synchronous classes, however, it’s best to turn off the recording during your film screening to avoid issues with copyright infringement. There are some technical considerations to keep in mind if you choose to do a synchronous film screening from a DVD. If you are using Zoom, it is best to install and use the Zoom desktop client. This will enable you to turn on Share computer sound and Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip, both of which are located at the bottom of the Share Screen pop-up window. In addition, it may be helpful to use a hard-wired ethernet connection to provide more stable Internet connectivity. And if you are hosting on a Mac, the default Mac DVD player may block screen sharing while playing the video. In such cases, you may wish to use VLC, an open-source, freely downloadable media player instead. On-demand viewing In this asynchronous scenario, you would like to assign some films as required viewing but are not planning to screen them in a synchronous class. Or perhaps you are planning a synchronous screening but want to arrange for on-demand viewing for students who miss the in-class screening. What are your options here, since the pre-COVID ability to place a DVD film on Library Reserve for viewing outside of class time is not available at this time? 2 A good first step is to contact your subject librarian with details of the film(s) you want to use. Your subject librarian will help you determine whether the film is available in any of the Library’s streaming video collections. If a streaming source isn’t already in place, subject librarians will typically ask the Library’s ordering staff to investigate the availability of commercial streaming sources for educational institutions. When a suitable streaming source is located, your subject librarian will likely order a streaming license or purchase perpetual streaming rights. It’s worth noting that sources like Netflix, iTunes Movies, YouTube paid access, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ are not available to the Library, as these services operate under terms and conditions that allow subscribers to access and use the streaming content only for personal, non-commercial use. Even if you have a personal subscription to a film streaming service, it is unlikely to be suitable for in-class screenings, as explained in this Copyright website FAQ. Commercial streaming unavailable What happens if the film you need on-demand access for your course doesn’t appear to be available to educational institutions from a commercial streaming source? In such cases, the subject librarian will usually forward the details about the film to me in the Copyright Advisor office for an assessment of other options. One that may be applicable is making a screen recording of the film from a Library-owned DVD under the Copyright Act’s fair dealing provision. Factors that help tilt a fair dealing assessment toward fairness include an instructor’s determination that the film is needed for the course and that there are no suitable non-copyrighted alternatives, no known commercially available streaming source, using a Library-owned copy in its permanent collections to make the streamable copy, controlled and secure streaming only to students in the class, access limited to the term in which the course is taught, and no ability for students to download the film. When the Library copies a film under fair dealing for use in a course, we do so by making a screen recording. This is time-consuming but important because access to a film on DVD is usually protected by CSS (content scrambling system). CSS is an example of what s. 41 of the Copyright Act considers to be a “technological protection measure” (digital lock). Further, the Act prohibits the circumvention of digital locks, which means if you use any of the widely available apps to rip a DVD in order to copy its contents, you are infringing copyright even if the content itself is not protected by copyright. Films copied by the Library for use in a course will be stored on YuJa and accessed via a direct (password-protected) link that instructors can post in Moodle. In such cases, downloading will always be disabled, and access will be terminated at the end of the semester in which the course is taught. YouTube videos This scenario is unchanged by COVID. If you wish to embed or link to videos in Moodle, it’s advisable to choose content you are reasonably sure was uploaded to the video sharing platform (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo) by, or with the authorization of, the copyright owner. For example, if you want students to view a CBC news clip or film, choose a source that is provided or hosted by the CBC itself. When in doubt, always feel free to email copyright@uleth.ca with links to content you wish to use – we’ll be happy to have a look and advise on whether they are likely to be copyright-compliant. 3 Alternatives to Library Reserve Pre-COVID, if you relied on being able to place physical materials like books and videos on Library Reserve, what are your options, since the physical Library building is not open for now? You may want to consider E-Reserve, which continues to be available. If you’re not sure whether certain items can be placed on E-Reserve, feel free to consult with your subject librarian or send details of the items you have in mind to copyright@uleth.ca. Interested in Building Your Own Textbook? In my May/June 2020 column I briefly mentioned that the U of L is a partner in a province-wide initiative hosted by the U of A to support creation and publication of open educational materials. We’re currently developing supports for the project but if you are interested in finding out more or participating, please contact Joerdis Weilandt (Teaching Centre) or Rumi Graham (Library). We can help you sign up for a Pressbooks account within this initiative and can provide you with an orientation to open educational resources. I am also happy to help you sort out copyright aspects of creating openly licensed content. Joerdis and I are organizing workshops this fall on using Pressbooks to create open textbooks and other open educational resources, so if you’re interested, watch for announcements of dates and times in the usual places, including the Noticeboard and Teaching Centre and Library websites. As well, one event scheduled for Open Access Week 2020 is a hands-on workshop on building custom-made alternatives to commercial textbooks. Here are the details we have so far - please save the date if you’re interested! Date: Tuesday October 20, 2020, 12:15 to 2:15 p.m. Title: Reuse, revise, repeat: Exploring ways to customize Open Educational Resources for your teaching/learning contexts Presenter: Christina Hendricks, Professor of Teaching in Philosophy and Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia Where: Zoom (registration details TBA) As always, feel free to contact me if you could use some help with copyright matters in your teaching, research or other U of L work. Past issues of this column are available on the University’s Copyright website under Further Reading. Rumi Graham University Copyright Advisor E-mail: copyright@uleth.ca Phone: 403-332-4472 Website: www.uleth.ca/copyrigh