Hello and Happy New Year! ALA will be filing comments in the latest round of the 1201 rulemaking<http://copyright.gov/1201>. We are supporting an exemption for educators and students to circumvent technology on DVDs in order to extract film clips for classroom or research uses.
Gary Handman was the ultimate go-to guy in terms of providing examples of faculty and students (in all disciplines) using film clips to meet pedagogical goals. Now that Gary has retired, I am asking each of you to provide me with an example of how members of your university/school community are currently using clips. We need MANY examples to order to convince the Copyright Office that educators use clips and may have to circumvent technology in order to extract film clips for fair use purposes. I know that you work closely with faculty and students on all things media related. I know that you understand how your community uses media and your collections. Please take a moment to send me your examples. Due date: January 15th ideally, but can accept examples up until January 30th. Tell me 1. The name of the person using clips, in what course/subject, and for what purposes. (We do not need to use the name of the person in our comments, but it is helpful to know so we can turn to that person with any questions we may have.) 2. The name of the person who wants to use clips but cannot (due to DRMs, not knowing how to circumvent DRMs or fear of violating the law), in what subject and for what purposes? 3. Is it necessary to circumvent technology in order to extract clips? (I'll take examples even when circumvention is not necessary) 4. Why does the visual quality of the clip matter? (Instead of using screen capture, etc) 5. Why are film clip services inadequate for educators? Why do educators need to pick out their own clips instead of using a clip or steaming service? Why is there market failure? Example: Name, Assistant Professor of Law, Such and such university "Clips are helpful for teaching criminal law and crime and technology. A clip from the beginning of the movie Magnolia, which shows an unlikely sequence of events in which a suicide turns into a homicide, in order to teach the doctrine of "causation" in criminal law. It would be a very good way to get students to think about unpacking events moment by moment and asking causation questions, which is very hard with just the written word." Other things that would be good to know more about: 1. Are DVDs protected by DRMs? (Has this lessened?) 2. Do people use other means to extract clips? 3. Is blu-ray a more dominant format? Why? Is this format encumbered with DRM? 4. Because of the exemption, what are faculty able to do that they could not do before? 5. How are users inconvenienced by DRMs employed on DVDs? 6. How often do you have to field questions about media that is encrypted or protected? 7. How hard is it to circumvent technology? Do people know how to do this? 8. Have there been increases in media materials budgets or shifts in media materials budget to meet the needs of users who need media for classroom use? 9. Why is the use of media important in today's classroom? 10. Anything else you think it would be helpful for me to know. Assume I do not know anything, because I probably don't!! Our hope is that this will be the last time we have to go through this process<http://www.districtdispatch.org/2014/12/another-round-foolishness-dmca/>. There is a better understanding that the rulemaking process is not worth the time, money and expertise necessary to file comments, so it's possible. Thanks very much for your help!! -carrie Carrie Russell Program Director, Public Access to Information ALA Office for Information Technology Policy 1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW First Floor Washington, DC 20009 202.628.8410 800.941.8478 crussell<at>alawash<dot>org
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
