William W. Fisher and William McGeveran from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society have just posted a most interesting “white paper” on SSRN. The paper, The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material in the Digital Age, addresses in a very concrete way the many barriers faced by educators when considering the use of digital resources.
The paper is the product of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which allowed the authors to conduct research, interviews, workshops and case studies to explore the law and actual practices of educators attempting to use digital resources in innovative ways. The paper, not surprisingly, concludes that there are very real obstacles to such innovation. The authors identify the following as the primary hurdles:
“Unclear or inadequate copyright law relating to crucial provisions such as fair use and educational use;
Extensive adoption of ‘digital rights management’ technology to lock up content;
Practical difficulties obtaining rights to use content when licenses are necessary;
Undue caution by gatekeepers such as publishers or educational administrators.”
Very interesting reading and a great summary of the existing law on the topic.
