American Sign Language (ASL)

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Teaching ASL: Copyright


In a message dated 8/7/2007 7:56:20 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, a teacher writes:
"I get that impression you're a tech guru, could u show me how to transfer pictures/text from my curriculum book to either a cd or on the web? Scan the pages I would assume as the first step?"

 



Dear teacher,
Most commercially purchased curriculum, textbooks, videos, etc. are copyrighted and thus posting such info to the world wide web could easily lead to a lawsuit.

Many teachers think that since they are using a copyrighted work for "educational purposes" that makes it "alright." This is simply not the case. In some circumstances you can legally use a copyrighted work when it falls under the "Fair Use" guidelines of copyright law, but such use must meet various requirements and in general if you plan on using the material for more than one semester you need to have permission from the copyright holder.

Some teachers routinely claim semester after semester that their repeated use of other's copyrighted material falls under "Fair Use." Such is not the case. Such use is temporary. Remember, continued use requires obtaining permission from the copyright owner.

If you have permission, or your project truly falls within the "Fair Use" guidelines, transferring pictures to a CD or a thumb drive is relatively easy. Most scanners now come with software that will copy and paste scanned images directly into word processing documents. For example, my scanner will post pictures to my Microsoft Word program. The exact process for how to do this will vary depending on your equipment. Check your user manual for details.

Additionally you can google "scanning tutorial" and check out some of the sites that walk you through the process with pictures and step by step instructions.

Cordially,
Bill

 


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