Case+07+-+Mr.+J's+Whole+Lotta+Shaking+Going+On

Mr. J teaches an 8th grade science class with a spiral curriculum. In a unit on Earthquakes Mr. J has created a project whereby students read about eyewitness accounts of earthquakes then recreate them in the form of short (under two minutes) digital stories. Students use the internet to find appropriate photographs, newspaper and magazine articles then stitch them together using Microsoft Photo Story. Stories are then posted online so that they may be shared with other students as well as parents and the interested general public.

Mr. J is worried that the copying and reusing the articles and photographs and then posting them online violates copyright law. Although the provenance of the articles is easily determined, the copyright status and ownership of the photographs found by the students are not as easily determined.

Commentary

As stated by NCATE, the answers to these two questions can help us determine if the above stated use falls under Fair Use:

Does the work transform and repurpose the material? By creating an audio-visual mash up of photographs, words and sections of articles the students are transforming and repurposing the work. The works are being modified and put into juxtaposition with other sources with the resulting effect that the original message is modified. Clearly the answer to this question is yes, this use does fall under the protection of fair use.

Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount?

This second question can be answered by looking at the amount of material taken by the students. Due to the nature of the project, education, and the nature of the medium—short digital story—only snippets of articles can be used; therefore we can safely state that the use of photographs and excerpts from articles does fall under the umbrella of Fair Use.

In conclusion, both questions can be answered in the affirmative, therefore the use clearly falls under the Fair Use doctrine. Mr. J can continue to allow his students to complete this project.