John Birmingham's Chicken Theory of Copyright

Greetings from the Senate Alcove of Australian Parliament House in Canberra, where John Birmingham is speaking on copyright, using on an analogy to fast food chicken recipes. This is at an event organized by the Copyright Agency, for the launch of the book Copyfight, edited by Phillipa McGuinness. The last chapter is "This is How the Future Works" by John Birmingham. At the same time we are in the alcove a great political drama is unfolding a few dozen meters away, with a challenge to Prime Minister Tony Abbott by Malcolm Turnbull, former Minister for Communications. I notice that Mr. Turnbull gets two mentions in the book "Copyfight" and Mr. Abbot gets none.

Free Open Access to Australian Curriculum Materials

The Copyright Agency is offering free sessions on opportunities for publishers and creators with the new Australian Curriculum. However, it should be noted that the agency is not a government body devoted to the public interest, but is a non-government body with the aim of maximizing copyright revenue for its members. It is therefore unlikely that the Copyright Agency will be pointing out that the new Australian Curriculum is an ideal opportunity for the development of free open access content which schools, teachers ans students can use without paying any copyright or other fees.

Schools paying for free net material

According to "Schools pay millions for material free on net" (Kim Arlington, SMH, 23 July 2012), the Australian education system is paying copyright fees for materials from the Internet for use in schools, even when the authors intended the material to be freely available.

'SCHOOLS are paying millions of dollars to use freely available internet resources under ''draconian'' copyright laws that have failed to keep pace with digital learning.

Schools spend almost $56 million a year under a compulsory licence to copy material such as books and journals without permission from the copyright owner. But an unintended consequence of the licence means schools also pay millions for internet material that the website owners never intended to charge for, according to the National Copyright Unit, which provides specialist copyright advice to the schools and TAFE sector. ...'

The problem seems to be that the Copyright Agency Limited, and similar bodies, which collect royalties on behalf of authors, assume the author wanted royalties, unless they have said otherwise. So if a web page doesn't say its if free, then a fee is charged. However, this fee is rarely given to the author (as most do not expect, or want, it). The policy needs to be changed so royalties are collected where it is clear the author wanted them. Schools could also lower costs by educating teachers on use of materials and by using intelligent tools which advise on copyright.

One why in which schools could avoid much of the cost is by more use of the Internet, not less. Course designers and teachers can be trained to refer to Internet based materials, rather than copying them. The teacher can place a link in their notes to the document, which the student then clicks on to get the document. If the student then reads the document at home, it is never loaded on the school's computer and so a copyright fee is avoided. This also reduces the size of the course notes and makes them simple.

Teachers can refer students straight to a relevant section by using a named anchor in a web page, or a specific page in PDF. Also teachers can budget the number of documents and amount they ask students to read.

Using links also helps educate teachers and students on e-literacy. Teachers worry that the link may "break", that is the document has moved when the student goes to get it. But coping with that is part of e-literacy. Each time I run a course I have to check each link. When one breaks I hunt down the new location, or if the document is no longer available I find an archive copy at the National Library of Australia "Pandora Archive" or the "Internet Archive".

Using links would also make materials easier to read. Recently I was undertaking an on-line course at an Australian university. The university had a "digital library" where reading material was provided. Unfortunately much of this material was hard to read, as it had been scanned in from paper copies of papers and transferred in hard to read electronic formats. The university would have to pay copyright fees on this material. However, I found it so hard to use that I gave up using it and instead sought out the original materials on the web, which in many cases were freely available is an easier to read format. The university could have saved itself money and the students a lot of trouble, simply by providing a link to the materials on the web.

Copyright Agency Meeting on Digital Publishing in Canberra

Staff of the Copyright Agency Limited will talk about the results of their digital publishing survey and new direct payments for authors, at a "CALconnect meeting" for members in Canberra, 27 July 2011.

In their Digital Publishing Trends Survey (May 2011), CAL found that about half the authors and publishers create digital products, but many publishers don't have a digital strategy.

CALdirect is a new system for distributing shares of fees collected on licensed work to the various rights holders. Previously CAL made just one payment, usually to the publisher, who then had to distribute shares to others (such as authors). The new system could change the balance of power between publishers and authors.

Got a question for CAL? Well you can ask it in person at CAL’s upcoming CALconnect meeting in Canberra on Wednesday 27 July – where you can discuss any CAL related questions you may have.

Eloise Nolan and Rosanna Arciuli from CAL’s Membership team will also be talking about our digital publishing survey, and CAL’s new way to pay members – CALdirect – and what it means for you.

CALconnect events are about sharing information and updates with members while also giving you the opportunity to meet up with other creators in your city. These meetings are open to all CAL members and provide an excellent opportunity to network, share ideas and talk about issues that are relevant to content producers. ...

From: "CALconnect meeting", Copyright Agency Limited, 2011