Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

RIAA to Tennessee Schools: Show Us the Money

Wired Magazine is reporting that the State of Tennessee, despite huge budget shortfalls in their public university system, will spend over 9 million dollars of public money to help the RIAA fight music piracy.

"Combating music piracy at Tennessee's public university system is more important than hiring teachers and keeping down tuition costs. Just-signed legislation requires the 222,000-student system to spend an estimated $9.5 million (.pdf) for file sharing "monitoring software," "monitoring hardware" and an additional "recurring cost of $1,575,000 for 21 staff positions and benefits (@75,000 each) to monitor network traffic" of its students...

The law, similar versions of which the Recording Industry Association of America wants throughout the United States, comes as the Tennessee public university system is increasing tuition, laying off teachers and leaving unfilled vacant instructor positions to battle a $43.7 million shortfall."

Earlier this year a UK survey conducted at the University Of Hertfordshire that looked at the music consumption behavior of young people (aged 14-24) found that 63% of students admitted that they download music using P2P file-sharing networks. However, the study also found that:

• The CD is not dead. Even if a legal file-sharing service existed, over 60% say they would continue to buy CDs;

• 80% of current P2P users would be interested in a legal file-sharing service - and they would pay for it too;

• Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music.

What I find most appalling about this story is that the State of Tennessee is using public money that should be used for faculty, scholarships and other education related expenses to support the bottom line of the music industry. According to Wired Magazine "Using conservative estimates, the piracy measure is equal to the price of about 100 Tennessee professors' wages and benefits."

If the RIAA wants to go after students who download music, they should pay for it--not the people of Tennessee. The RIAA has been suing students for almost 10 years and by and large the strategy has not worked.

The Internet is not going away. It's time for the music industry and RIAA to figure out a way to work with consumers, especially college students, instead of against them.

Related Resources

• 2008 UK Music Rights Survey
• The Highway Girl > Interview with Former Director of RIAA Legal
• Harvard Law Professor Challenges RIAA

Global Youth: Teens, Digital Music & Tube Converting

Interesting tidbit over on today's Ypulse Youth Advisory Board from Caroline Marques, a high school student in Geneva, Switzerland, about how many teens are finding a new way to download free music.

"Teens downloading music online is still alive and well thanks to this technique: tube converting. This time it’s not through Limewire, but through something closer to home: YouTube or any online video site.

Since YouTube is where most teens watch music videos, it makes sense. Sites like http://file2hd.com, www.vconversion.com and www.vixy.net are programs where you just type a URL and save the song. With a small chance of getting viruses, and the enormous choice of songs, many teens feel this method is easier and safer."

I wonder how Google/YouTube, the RIAA and the music industry will respond to this new trend? Lawsuits? Scare tactics? Some new fangled blocking software?

Related Resources

• YPulse: Youth Marketing to Teens, Tweens & Gen Y
• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• David Leibowitz on Music, RIAA & Copyright
• Jaffray Study: More Teens Downloading Music Legally
• Bush Signs Anti-Piracy Law

David Leibowitz: RIAA & Music in the Digital Age

This weeks webisode of The Highway Girl features an interview with David Leibowitz, former chief legal council for the RIAA.

In this interview, Mr. Leibowitz talks to host Samantha Murphy about copyright, DRM, the RIAA, music and entertainment in the digital age.

In the pre-roll, Samantha Murphy announced that The Highway Girl has launched a contest to win a Motorola Z9 phone. This is a pretty slick phone with lots of cool features for music lovers. To enter the contest, you just sign-up for the weekly The Highway Girl newsletter.

Related Links

• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• 2009 The Highway Girl College Tour
• Piper-Jaffray: More Teens Downloading Music Legally

Google Docs, Education & Student Privacy

Online writing tools like Google Docs, Adobe Buzzword & Zoho are amazing free tools that are used by many educators. But who owns your online documents? Are there any laws or issues that you need to be aware of before using these tools in your classroom?

According to a post on the Open Sky Media Blog, "while your personal computer may not care about your tastes in fiction, the web service you choose to write and/or host your documents just might."

For example, did you know that the Google Docs TOS state that "“you give Google a worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through the Service." Moreover, Google Docs further stipulate that "students must be 13 or over to use Google Docs."

Why?

Because Google, like every other corporation that is providing an online service to students, must comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law outlines how and what types of personal information may be collected and when and how to seek verifiable consent (written permission) from a parent or guardian. The law, despite it's quirks, is designed to protect the privacy of minors.

To be clear, Google is doing exactly what they are required by law to do. As tween site Imbee found out, failure to comply with COPPA can cost a company millions of dollars in legal bills and fines. If you do decide to use Google Docs in your classroom, be sure to obtain written permission from your students parent or guardian. Failure to do so could put your school and career in jeopardy.

To be clear, I'm not trying to knock Google Docs. It's a great product. My intent is to make sure that educators are aware of the issues. It's important that you, as the teacher, know all the associated issues and legal requirements associated with using this tool before using it in your classroom.

Related Resources

• Imbee.com Settles COPPA Violation
• Google Docs in Elementary Schools
• Collaborative Writing via Skype & Google Docs
• Making Across the Country Feel Like Across the Classroom

Dave Stewart on Music, Technology & Music 2.0

In this interview Dave Stewart, one of the creative forces behind the  The Eurythmics, talks about how web-based technology has allowed him to unleash his creativity, collaborate with colleagues around the world and how this technology is going to level the playing field in the music industry.

Related Resources

• Wikipedia > Dave Stewart
• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• State of P2P File Sharing on Campus
• Muxtape Shut Down by RIAA

For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen

Raised in the "always on" world of the Internet, on-demand content and social media technologies, Generation Y has different expectations and media consumption behaviors than previous generations. This is trend is especially evident when it comes to music. Driven by iTunes and the iPod, Gen Y has a voracious appetite for digital music, ring tones and all things mobile.

How big is mobile music? A study from Jupiter Research found that "worldwide, mobile music generated 4.4 billion dollars in 2005 and is expected to generate 9 billion by 2009...Mobile music now accounts for 15% of the entire music market--and youth leads the way (Juniper Research: Mobile Music: Ringtones, Ring-backs & Full-tracks (second edition & third edition)."

But what are the music consumption habits of Gen Y? What do they think about music piracy, digital music and other issues related to music? These were just some of the questions that a new survey conducted by British Music Rights sought to answer. When it comes to music: What does the MySpace generation want?

The survey, which looked at the music consumption behavior and experience of young people (aged 14-24), was conducted in February and March of 2008 by the University Of Hertfordshire. The study represents the largest U.K. academic survey of its kind.

Among the findings:

• Around 90% of respondents now own an MP3 player. They contain an average of 1770 tracks - half of which have not been paid for;

• 14- to 24-year-olds love music - arguably more than any previous generation;

• 58% have copied music from a friend’s hard drive to their own, and 95% copy music in some way;

• 63% download music using P2P file-sharing networks;

• The CD is not dead. Even if a legal file-sharing service existed, over 60% say they would continue to buy CDs;

• 42% have allowed P2P users to upload music from their computer. Much of this behavior is viewed as altruistic;

• 80% of current P2P users would be interested in a legal file-sharing service - and they would pay for it too;

• Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music.

So what does this all mean for the music industry? Perhaps Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, sums it up best:

“The music industry should draw great optimism from this groundbreaking survey. First and foremost, it is quite clear that this young and tech-savvy demographic is as crazy about and engaged with music as any previous generation.

Contrary to popular belief, they are also prepared to pay for it, too. But only if offered the services they want. That message comes through loud and clear.”

Related Content

• British Music Rights Survey (pdf)
• EU Commission’s “holistic approach” to music copyright
• Muxtape Shut Down by RIAA
• Mobile Music to Reach 9bn by 2009
• Gen Y: Digital, Social & Always-On
• Gen Y & Hollywood
• The Highway Girl

Guest Post: The Highway Girl 2009 College Tour

I'm pleased to welcome Samantha Murphy, founder of The Highway Girl, as the first guest post here on Barking Robot. If you have an idea for a guest post, send me an email.

My name is Samantha Murphy and I'm a singer songwriter and Founder of The Highway Girl. I've been quoted widely in the press as being the voice for independent artists. I've participated in many academic and professional conferences, including a symposium at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University. In addition, I went to Capitol Hill to speak on the issues surrounding digital music and copyright.

My show, The Highway Girl, is a traveling music show that's been running for over three years. Past guests have included Cary Brothers, Elvis Perkins, Inara George of Bird & the Bee, Mike Schmid, Teitur and Harvey Danger.

The Highway Girl has over a million subscribers. The show explores the convergence of music and technology, as well as the life of the artist. Samples of the show may be found at http://www.smtvmusic.com/or directly on iTunes at http://tinyurl.com/ytkdac

Students, Digital Downloads & Copyright

In the digital age, we're both hopeful and uncertain about how we will transform the music industry. How can we evolve as artists and become more open with what we create? I believe we can do that as we begin to trust that it's you, the people, who will support us not the industry.

It is the people, like your students, who buy our albums (and downloads) that keep us going. It is you, the person who has taken the time to find this great music, who matters most. You are the one who will keep great music alive by deciding who you will support. You have an opportunity to use your voice when you find music you love enough to pay for it.

As an artist who has spent a lot of time speaking at universities and conferences, it's clear to me that students need to be informed on the critical issues facing artists in today's ever changing climate. They also need a trusted source where they can discover great artists and music they will gladly support.

I believe that students want to support the artists and music they love. In the digital age, how do students find those artists when there are no trusted filters in place yet? The logical answer is to sample an artist's music before you dive in. The Highway Girl not only welcomes, but encourages students to sample the music of the artists we feature, while supporting their work in a variety of other ways.

The Highway Girl: 2009 College Tour

In an effort to help educate students, The Highway Girl is organizing a special college tour this spring and would love to include your college or university on our tour. We envision scheduling a 60-90 minute session for music, media and technology students.

The sessions will encompass a one on one artist interview between myself and a local singer songwriter, a short acoustic performance followed by a Q & A on digital music and copyright with the students. We're aiming to have an audience of 150-200 students in university auditoriums.

The Highway Girl Tour is supported by organizations like Digital Freedom, Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. To include your university on our itinerary, send us an email at sm (at) thehighwaygirl (dot) com and we will gladly respond with further information.

Related Resources

• SMtv Music
• The Highway Girl Blog
• Samantha Murphy & Digital Freedom

Animoto: Learning Made Musical (and Fun)

Animoto is a slick new web app that takes your pictures, mashes it with audio, and creates a music video that can be exported to YouTube or embedded in a variety of social networks or blog.

Here's a Animoto short video I created using moblog pictures I took on a recent trip to San Francisco. I uploaded my pictures from Flickr, picked a slick track by The Dimes, and Animoto did the rest!

There are lots of ways you can use Animoto in the classroom. Animoto is a natural fit for project based learning activities. This is a great way to get students actively interested in history, literature or even science.

And unlike the open web, Animoto provides teachers and students with a controlled environment for them to create and share video. Other sharing options include email to a friend, downloads (for Pro accounts) and some sort of iTunes integration.

Creating a music video with Animoto is also a great way to open the conversation about copyright and Creative Commons. One of the barriers for educators using this type of technology is fear about using music and all the copyright issues that pop up when using an audio track in a video project.

Animoto has done the education community a great service by providing a wide variety of music that can be used by students and teachers. Creative Commons also has a wide selection of music that can be used in an Animoto movie.

You can import your images from all the major photo sites, including Flickr, Facebook, Picassa Web Albums, and Photobucket. Film shorts are free, and full-length videos are $3 bucks. All in all, Animoto sports some really amazing technology.

I have no doubt that the education community is going to create some really amazing projects using Animoto. And towards that end, I've created a public YouTube group, AnimotoEDU, where you can share your classroom project with other educators.

Related Resources

• YouTube Group > AnimotoEDU
• Animoto: The Buzz
• Creative Commons > Audio
• Animoto Blog
• Education & Copyright

Yale University: Embracing Open Education

Yale University has joined the OpenCourseWare (OCW) movement and is now offering free courses through Open Yale Courses that anyone in the world is free to participate.

Seven departments (astronomy, English, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology and religious studies) at Yale are among the first at the university to offer classes via the Open Yale Courses program.

The Open Yale site describes the program as follows:

"Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to seven introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.

Open Yale Courses reflects the values of a liberal arts education. Yale's philosophy of teaching and learning begins with the aim of training a broadly based, highly disciplined intellect without specifying in advance how that intellect will be used.

This approach goes beyond the acquisition of facts and concepts to cultivate skills and habits of rigorous, independent thought: the ability to analyze, to ask the next question, and to begin the search for an answer.

We hope these courses will be a resource for critical thinking, creative imagination, and intellectual exploration."

The Open Yale Courses have been funded and supported through grants from the William and Flora Hewitt Foundation, as well as the Yale Center for Media and Instruction. Open Yale Courses have also integrated Creative Commons licensing into their course materials.

Additional Resources

• Open Yale Courses
• Didactics World > Bridging the Digital Content Divide
• Creative Commons > Education
• Education Guardian Weekly > Reading Poetry at Yale...
• Didactics World > Open Content Provision Through ccLearn

LearnHub & Creative Commons

Last week Creative Commons announced that LearnHub, the online social network for educators, is integrating CC Licensing into their platform. This is a win-win for both educators and students.

This a huge step in the right direction and I hope that other education 2.0 sites will also integrate Creative Commons into their products as well.

Congrats to John Green at LearnHub and the Creative Commons team on this new partnership.

Related Resources

• LearnHub
• Creative Commons
• Video: Wanna Work Together?
• LearnHub's Creative Commons Community
• Digital Literacy: Get Smart!

Survey: Microsoft Education & Digital Copyright

Microsoft has released the results of a study it conducted regarding teens, illegal downloads and copyright. Among the findings:

- American teenagers between 7th and 10th grades are less likely to illegally download content from the Internet when they know the laws for downloading and sharing content online;

- 49% of respondents said they are not familiar with the rules and guidelines for downloading images, literature, music, movies and software from the Internet;

- 11% said they understood the rules of copyright and illegal downloading of content "very well";

-  76% of boys and 68% of girls said that they would not continue after being told the rules to download or share content over the Internet without paying for it.

In conjunction with the findings of the survey, Microsoft Education has developed model curriculum and resources for educators to help them educate students on the issues around copyright, digital literacy and illegal downloading of content.

In addition they have created, MyBytes, a site where t/weens can learn more about copyright and "develop their own intellectual property and assign usage rights by mixing music online to create a custom riff that they can download as a ring tone."

I think it would also be interesting to survey teachers and see how well they understand "educational fair use" and other issues around copyright. My guess is that they are as confused about what digital content they are allowed to use as the rest of us.

Thankfully, organizations like Creative Commons are taking the lead on the copyright issue, providing a set of alternative licenses to traditional copyright while the lawyers and publishing/recording/movie industry figure it out for themselves.

Related Resources

• Microsoft > Teens Less Likely to Download Study
• MyBytes
• Teacher Guide to IP
• Yahoo! Teacher Document > Creative Commons 101

Edutopia: My Friend Flickr

The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) has long been an advocate of helping teachers use technology to support instruction and student learning in the classroom. This month's edition of Edutopia, their online community and print magazine, has a feature article on using Flickr in the classroom.

The article, written by Amy Standen, features interviews with Tim Lauer, Flickr Community Manager Heather Champ and several other educators on how they use Flickr in their classroom.

At the end of the article, Amy lists several education oriented groups created in Flickr. These groups (and there are quite a few!) are an excellent way to find out how your colleagues are using Flickr in their classrooms. So read the article, check out and join a Flickr education group today!

Also worth noting:

• Flickr has over a million photos with a Creative Commons license that you are free to use in classroom projects.

• You can create a private Flickr group where you control both membership as well as the content in the group. This is a great way to create a "micro-Flickr" for your school and/or classroom.

• There are a TON of Flickr hacks (like Spell with Flickr) created by and for members of the Flickr community that you can use to make some fun and creative art projects. Huge Big Labs (aka FD's Flickr Toys) has an excellent (and free!) collection of Flickr projects. Thanks FD!

• Jeff Utech, the uber edublogger behind The Thinking Stick (always a must read!) has posted a Flickr tutorial over on YouTube.

• One of my favorite Flickr projects ever is the Flat Bobby Project. You can read more about her project by clicking here. This was a great example of what Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake calls the "culture of generosity" that flows freely through the Flickr community.

Related Links

• Flickr + Creative Commons
• World War I Photo Archive
• FlickrEdu: Social Networking Goes to School
• debaird.net + Flickr

Pics4Learning, Copyright, and Community

Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The library consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers.

Unlike other sites, permission has been granted for teachers and students to use all of the images donated to the Pics4Learning collection.

Need a photo for that lesson on California Mission, sloth, or dinosaur fossils? Then Pics4Learning is the place for you! Members of the education community can upload and share their photos in the Pics4Learning photo archive for other educators to use. In addition to photographs, Pics4Learning has lesson plans created by and for the teaching community.

Pics4Learning is a partnership between Orange County Public Schools Technology Development Unit of Orlando, Florida, and Tech4Learning, Inc.

Web Resources

• CyberBee: What is Copyright?
• debaird.net + Flickr

Creative Archive License Group

The Creative Archive License Group invites you to "come and get" content from their archives and "Find it, Rip it, Use it, Share it." This is the latest consortium of media giants to provide content for creative re-use for non-commercial purposes.

via CALG: "The BBC, the bfi, Channel 4 and the Open University set up the Creative Archive License Group in April 2005 to make their content available for download under the terms of the Creative Archive License, a single, shared user license scheme for the downloading of moving images, audio and stills."

One note: Content made available under the Creative Archive License copyright "is made available for users within the UK for use primarily within the UK."

Those of you outside the UK can search for Creative Commons licensed content through the Yahoo!+Creative Commons search engine, which also includes photographs from the Flickr community pool.

And soon, you'll have access to millions of pages of open content from the Open Content Alliance.

Links

• Creative Archive License
• Open Content Alliance
• Creative Commons
• Yahoo! Search+Creative Commons

Yahoo! Search+Creative Commons

Yahoo! Creative Commons Search: "This Yahoo! Search service finds content across the Web that has a Creative Commons license. While most stuff you find on the web has a full copyright, this search helps you find content published by authors who want you to share or reuse it, under certain conditions."

Use the Yahoo!+Creative Commons Search to find open content and copyright free materials for your lesson plans or handouts. This is also a powerful search tool for students (and teachers) looking for open content resources they can use in class projects, research, or reports.

And if you need pictures, be sure to check out the Flickr+Creative Commons Search in Flickr!