The rest of the Wenger book has been posted to ANGEL. Please read 173 – 221 for next week. That rounds out Part II on Identity. That also means that we should take up identity next week in a pretty serious way and also that you should focus your blog posts on that same concept. The last section is on Design. Feel free to dig into it if you have reading time, but you will need to finish up the rest of the book in the next couple weeks either way. Have a good weekend and I will see you on Thursday.
reading
For Class Thursday
Hi all … Bart Pursel from the College of Information Sciences and Technology will be in class on Thursday to talk to you a bit about virtual worlds and how they play out in a learning landscape. Bart maintains a blog that you might want to take a look at it. He also passed a link along to a PDF he’d like you to skim over. It should be a fun and interesting discussion, so please try to come ready to participate.
Reading Assignment for 03.06.08
Just in time for our visit from the master of serious games, we get to the chapters in Wenger where he starts to talk about identity. So we have been in the community space almost exclusively so far. A few people (Becci you know who you are) have dropped the I word into the mix, but we have really not gone after it. So, here are Wenger’s thoughts. There are lots of ways to think about identity, so don’t get tied down to this one, just try to evaluate it. Some questions to think about (really whenever you are examining an explanation of identity): Who defines it? How is it constructed? Where does it reside? What is its relationship to the community / context?
Reading Assignment for 02.28.08
As promised, here are your next readings. I am realizing now that I should have required Wenger as a text, but here we are. If you don’t own a copy, I would suggest it, especially for those of you in the Doctoral program.
Anyway, here is what we have on tap for this week:
Wenger Ch. 5 and Coda I. After all this why not finish the section on Practice. Locality is an obvious thing for us to consider as part of our community conversation around Web 2.0 tools. Enough said. I would pay particular attention to the Coda. While it sounds like a little piece added at the end, Wenger lets himself go a little and there are some interesting wonderings and wanderings in this section. Very Zen.
In response to the dystopian / utopian conversation from last week I have included a piece by Bonni Nardi and Vicki O’Day that goes straight at that issue. They propose what they call an information ecology as a different type of metaphor for technology (it is all metaphors after all). I think it provides a new point of view, but with some real connections to both Wenger and Pea. It also starts with a nice connection to the classic silent film “Metropolis”, so those of you who have seen it can appreciate that, and those of you that haven’t can run out and rent it. Maybe we can even arrange a special screening.
See you on Thursday.
Reading Assignment for 02.21.08
Here they are at last. Sorry about the delay.
First reading is the next two chapters of Wengers book. This includes “Learning” and “Boundary”, both of which are critical to the way that we think about teaching and learning with technology. Learning is obvious, but based on our conversation in class yesterday, and my ranting about a definition of knowledge, think about how Wenger defines learning and the implications of his definition. The second chapter on boundary is particularly relevant in the context of our Web 2.0 world. Things to think about in that chapter are: What are the implications of Wenger’s ideas about boundary for identity? What are the “boundary objects” in a Web 2.0 world and how are they different or the same as those in RL? Also in light of our conversation in class pay particular attention to pgs. 113-121 and his discussion of practice.
The second reading is a classic on technology by Everett Rogers called “Diffusion of Innovations”. This piece bears directly on the question of how schools will change or not to adapt to new technologies. Pay particular attention to the social system aspects of diffusion as they are deeply connected to our theme of community. You may also want to think about the parallels between learning by individuals and learning by institutions (which is another way to think about diffusion of innovation).
These two readings again provide a complementary pair about learning without an explicit focus on technology and a reading about technology without an explicit focus on technology, yet the pieces seem to speak to each other (or at least I think they do). Happy reading and the next set of readings will be posted soon.
Readings for the Week
Some Copyright Information
After class today I thought I’d share some information on copyright with you. It seemed as though there was lots of interest around this topic — especially given the ownership and identity questions we posed. This isn’t an assignment of any sort, but should give you the basics related to copyright. Much of this adapted from work my tam did at IST several years ago.
The birth of the Internet and other technologies that allow for easily sharing information have opened up challenges to our copyright laws. In recent years landmark cases have filled our court systems and left many experts searching for new answers. The purpose of this Lesson is to help you understand copyright law, fair use of copyrighted works, and how to avoid violation of copyright. Essentially, after reading this you should be able to:
- Describe protections afforded to an author under copyright laws.
- Explain how to obtain permission to use a copyrighted work.
- Explain conditions of Fair Use under the copyright law.
- Describe how one can avoid plagiarism.
- Explain the penalties of plagiarism.
- Understand emerging trends in open copyright and discuss the “Free Culture” prespective.
Protections Under the Law
Copyright is the protection provided by U.S. law (Title 17, U.S. Code) of “original works of authorship” both published and unpublished. In their brochure, Copyright Basics, the U.S. Copyright Office (2001) outlines eight categories of copyrightable works:
- Literary works
- Musical works, including any accompanying words
- Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
- Pantomimes and choreographic works
- Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
- Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
- Sound recordings
- Architectural works
There are several categories of materials that the U.S. Copyright Office (2001) does not list as eligible for copyright.
- Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form
- Titles, names, short phrases, slogans
- Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices
- Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship
Up until 1989 in order to have one’s work protected by copyright, it was required that a Notice of Copyright be provided. According to U.S. Copyright Law, the Notice of Copyright was required to contain three elements: (1) The copyright symbol (©) or the word copyright; (2) the year of the first publication; and (3) the name of the owner of the publication. The birth of new technologies has led to some significant changes in the copyright laws. One such change, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law in 1998. The DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent anti-piracy measures built into commercial software. Additionally, the law seeks to prevent the manufacture, sale, or distribution of code-cracking devices used to copy software. Provisions in the law do permit cracking of copyright protection devices for the purposes of encryption research, assessment of product interoperability, and to test computer systems.
Obtaining Copyright
Once a work is created and fixed in a copy or “phonorecord” (U.S. Copyright Office, 2001, p. 3), copyright is secured. It is not necessary to register a work or publish the work to have copyright privileges. If you use or reproduce a copyrighted work without expressed permission, you are infringing on said copyright. However, Section 107 of Title 17 of U.S. Code provides the use of copyrighted works is free of infringement if being used for any of the following purposes:
- Criticism
- Comment
- News reporting
- Teaching
- Scholarship
- Research
In order to gain permission to use a copyrighted work, simply contact the copyright holder, explain your need for their work, and ask permission. You should be sure to gain a written or recorded copy of their permission for your records.
Fair Use
According to Section 107 of Title 17 of U.S. Code, four factors must be considered in determining whether or not use of a copyrighted work constitutes fair use:
- What is the purpose and character of the use of the copyrighted work?
- Is the use of the work commercial in nature or for nonprofit academic use?
- What is the nature of the copyrighted work?
- What is the amount of the work and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole?
- What effect will the use of the copyrighted work have on the potential market for or value of the work?
Avoiding Plagiarism
The use of someone else’s ideas, words, etc. without clearly acknowledging the source of information is considered plagiarism. In order to avoid plagiarism, give credit where credit is due! In other words, if you use someone’s ideas, words, opinions, statistics, graphics, etc. through a quotation or paraphrase, provide a citation for the work. When paraphrasing, be sure to put ideas in your own words. If you use words taken directly for a source, put the passage in quotation marks and provide a page number from the source where you pulled the quote.
Penalties
In an academic setting acts of plagiarism may result in a failing grade or expulsion from the institution. Additionally, such acts may result in legal action in the form of a lawsuit. Here are some additional resources to review: PSU Copyright Bytes: Information about how copyright can affect you. Berkley Digital Library Sunsite: Links and information on Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights. Copyright Clearance Center: How to obtain copyright permissions.
Open Copyright: The Commons
Probably the most interesting development in the copyright space has been the birth of the Creative Commons approach to copyright. This new thinking is allowing people to share and share alike to move their art forward. To me, it is the way of the future — at least I hope. Some people really don’t like it (Bill Gates) and some think it is THE way to go (Lessig). I will let you decide however. I’d like you to take a half hour of you life to listen to Lawrence Lessig’s talk, Free Culture … I’ll be asking you to respond to that, so please take a look.
Wrap-Up
Now that you have completed this Lesson you should have a better understanding of copyright law and your responsibilities to use information in accordance with that law. In this lesson you should have learned to:
- Describe protections afforded to an author under copyright laws.
- Explain how to obtain permission to use a copyrighted work.
- Explain conditions of Fair Use under the copyright law.
- Describe how one can avoid plagiarism.
- Explain the penalties of plagiarism.
- Understand emerging trends in open copyright and discuss the “Free Culture” prespective.
Pea (1993), “Practices of distributed intelligences and design for education”
I have posted a piece by Roy Pea about Distributed Cognition / Intelligence on the course ANGEL site. This is a seminal piece that has clear implications for what it means to increasingly off-load our cognition into our environment, either onto other people, artifacts or technology. Please read this chapter by class on the 14th.
Pea, R. D. (1993). Practices of distributed intelligences and design for education. In G. Solomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations (pp. 47-87). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
One questions that you should consider, and likely post some thoughts about: Are the implications of distributed intelligence different with Web 2.0 technologies? If so, why? If not, why not?
Howard Rheingold and Old School Community
In addition to the assignments that Cole laid out in the previous blog, we also want to spend some time talking about the theoretical foundation that surrounds these disruptive (in this case Web 2.0) tools and how they can be used in teaching and learning. That means reading some theory on community, identity, and design.
First up, Howard Rheingold is one of the original thinkers about online community and the implications of technology on our lives. He recently started a video blog (vlog) to return to online communities and how they have evolved since the late 80’s when he first started writing about them. Take a look at the updated of his original 80’s piece “Slice of Life in My Virtual Community” and also the new vlog, which is only on its first episode. While it is not strictly an academic treatment, he surfaces some interesting ideas about communities online.
The other reading for the 14th will be by Roy Pea and will follow in its own post.