Copyright Consideration
NOTE: This section will contain a discussion of copyrights with the knowledge that I am not a copyright attorney and can only offer my personal experiences with this topic. While I can offer some information about copyrights, it is recommended that you consult the College Librarians regarding copyright questions.
In general, the College advises only the use of materials not under copyright or licensed for use. Resources listed in this site will offer copyright free materials or materials where general usage is allowed. Within the realm of digital publishing, there are limitations to use only materials that you have personally created (like a picture you yourself took or a song you wrote) or materials licensed through something like WeVideo where we have paid a license fee for their use.
FERPA is also a large consideration for usage, as we all need to be caution when sharing personal information (anything other than their username) about students publicly. We also should not share what students are enrolled in specific courses on campus. This is why things like FlipGrid on campus are approved with considerations.
Before sharing student work, consent should be recorded and saved. That consent is considered to be into perpetuity but the student also has the right to contact you and remove that consent at any time. If that happens, you need to remove the content immediately.
This includes international laws like GDPR, the “right to be forgotten” law. GDPR requires that we need to be able to remove any likeness of anyone at their request at any time. For this purpose, any visual representation is considered a likeness but not a voice recording. The responsibility is on Grinnell to make sure that everyone complies with GDPR.
Licensed Materials
As mentioned above, some materials the College has paid the licensing fees that allows usage.
The Creative Commons site contains information about the levels of licensing and copyrights on many materials shared publicly. It is a great resource for materials with clear copyright delineations, like images, and can explain the copyright and licensing classifications you might see elsewhere online. When in doubt about the copyrights and licensing attached to materials, ask!
Intellectual Property
As a general rule, students own their work. Faculty own their work as well. That’s why we need written recorded consent to share things publicly. This includes keeping track of files for future usage and permission.
