Code of Best Practices in Fair Use

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Program on Information Justiceand Intellectual Property

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What this is

This document is a code o best practices that helps educators using media literacy concepts and techniques to interpret the copyright doctrine o air use. Fair useis the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment undersome circumstances—especially when the cultural or social benefts o the use arepredominant. It is a general right that applies even in situations where the law provides no specifc authorization or the use in question—as it does or certainnarrowly defned classroom activities.This guide identifes fve principles that represent the media literacy educationcommunity’s current consensus about acceptable practices or the air use o copyrighted materials, wherever and however it occurs: in K–12 education, inhigher education, in nonproft organizations that oer programs or childrenand youth, and in adult education.

What this isn’t

This code o best practices does not tell you the limits o air use rights. Instead, itdescribes how those rights should apply in certain recurrent situations. Educators’ andstudents’ air use rights may, o course, extend to other situations as well.It’s not a guide to using material that people give the public permission to use, suchas works covered by Creative Commons licenses. Anyone can use those works the way their owners authorize—although other uses also may also be permitted under the airuse doctrine. Likewise, it is not a guide to the use o material that has been specifcally licensed (by a school, or example), which may be subject to contractual limitations.It’s not a guide to material that is already ree to use without considering copyright(copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/). For instance, all ederal government worksare in the public domain, as are many older works. For more inormation on “reeuse,” consult the document “Yes, You Can!” (centerorsocialmedia.org/fles/pd/ree_use.pd).It’s not a guide to using material that someone wants to license but cannot traceback to an owner—the so-called “orphan works” problem. However, orphan worksare also eligible or air use consideration, according to the principles detailed below. And it does not address the problems created by the 1998 Digital Millennium

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Code of Best PraCtiCes in fair Use for Media LiteraCy edUCation

Copyright Act, which creates barriers to otherwise lawul air uses o copyrightedmaterials that are available only in ormats that incorporate technological protectionsmeasures (such as encryption).

hoW this document Was created

This code o best practices was created by convening ten meetings with morethan 150 members o leading educational associations, including signatories tothis document, and other educators across the United States. The process wascoordinated by Pros. Renee Hobbs (Media Education Lab, Temple University),Peter Jaszi (Program on Inormation Justice and Intellectual Property, WashingtonCollege o Law, American University) and Patricia Auderheide (Center or SocialMedia, American University). The code was reviewed by a committee o legalscholars and lawyers expert in copyright and air use. (Consult pages 18–19 ora complete list o signatories and members o the legal committee.)

media LiteracY education

Media literacy is the capacity to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate messagesin a wide variety o orms. This expanded conceptualization o literacy responds to thedemands o cultural participation in the twenty-frst century. Like literacy in general,media literacy includes both receptive and productive dimensions, encompassingcritical analysis and communication skills, particularly in relationship to mass media,popular culture, and digital media. Likeliteracy in general, media literacy is applied ina wide variety o contexts—when watchingtelevision or reading newspapers, or example,or when posting commentary to a blog. Indeed,media literacy is implicated everywhere oneencounters inormation and entertainmentcontent. And like literacy in general, medialiteracy can be taught and learned.Media literacy education may occur as a separate program or course but oten it isembedded within other subject areas, including literature, history, anthropology,sociology, public health, journalism, communication, and education. It can occurin ormal educational settings in both K–12 education and at the university level, as well as in nonproft community-based programs. Its content may vary as well—rom

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Media literacy educationhelps people o all ages to be critical thinkers,eective communicators,and active citizens.