Nov/09©Chris Farley
Educating Students on Intellectual Property
On a school trip I participated in last spring, one of the students turned on the bus’s entertainment system, and put in an illegally obtained copy of a then-unreleased film. None of the chaperones intervened.
That incident illustrates a much broader problem, and is a reflection of the experiences of my generation. We were the first generation to grow up with an iPod in one pocket and a cell phone in the other, and then see them combined into one device. Now we expect anything, anywhere, any time, and for free. Illegal file-sharing and piracy are rampant among teens and young adults, but educators seem indifferent. Infringers are depriving right-holders of revenue, but they do not perceive their actions as theft.
My generation is the most digitally active ever, but the schools that we attend have played only a minor role in fostering digital savvy. Most schools have encouraged students to learn about the Internet only sporadically, and have watched in bewilderment as online social networking has chipped away at in-person social networking. While schools are not ignorant of the dangers of illegal file sharing, they seem to be woefully unaware of how widespread it is among students, and have consequently been passive in their approach to combating it. By their inaction, they have unintentionally encouraged the attitude that stealing music, movies, and software is like jaywalking — it’s illegal, but no one cares.
But file sharing is not like jaywalking; it’s like shoplifting. It is illegal, and people do care. The cost of not ramping up intellectual property education immediately is too great. Forrester Research estimated that by 2013, total music sales will be worth $9.2 billion, down nearly 40% from a peak of $14.6 billion in 1999. Record companies have turned to litigation to protect their sales (yet another risk associated with illegal file sharing). The move to litigation is a clear signal to some that the record companies are evil. They forget that artists voluntarily agree to deals with record companies because the companies provide valuable marketing and distribution services. The record companies’ litigation may not be the best long-term business plan, but they are protecting their investment in artists, and by extension, in art.
Schools are already making progress in teaching Internet safety, so they need only expand their message to include respect for intellectual property. Students are bombarded with messages about the dangers of Facebook and MySpace and lessons about how to be safe online. In teaching respect for intellectual property, however, schools have been stunningly deficient. Illegal file sharing or piracy may be less physically dangerous than meeting an online stranger in person, but the intellectual property problem is far more widespread.
Using the Internet responsibly means being respectful of intellectual property and the owners of intellectual property. Schools should teach students the fundamentals of respecting intellectual property from the first introduction to the Internet, because in an age where things can be copied so easily, students should learn that just because they can do something does not mean that they should.
Today’s students embrace all that new technology and the Internet have to offer, and this generation will certainly reap the benefits of social networking; quick, easy, and legal file sharing; email; and mobile computing. Not every copy is illegal, so students should know how to differentiate between legal and illegal copying. Schools must be careful to encourage thoughtful exploration while cautioning against intellectual property infringement. Students can be responsible while still taking advantage of all that new technology has to offer.
Respect for intellectual property needs to be taught because it is anything but intuitive. A common perception is that once you “buy” any sort of content (like a DVD or song), you can do whatever you like with it — upload it to YouTube or make it available on a file sharing service, for example. Students are either unaware or simply do not care that they did not “buy” the content, but just paid for a license to consume the content in a certain way. If students do not like the terms of the license, then they do not have to buy it.
Perhaps the Coldplays and U2s of the world are not struggling in poverty because of illegal file sharing (their highest profit margins are in concert ticket sales), but the situation is nearly impossible for small up-and-coming bands, non-performing artists, actors, authors, and movie studios. If millions of illegal file sharers slowly erode copyright, they will also erode what the Constitution calls “the progress of science and useful arts.”
Schools are uniquely placed to teach students the law, and then allow them to question the law. There is a legitimate debate about whether copyright in its current form is the best possible system, but students should learn what the law is, even if they do not agree with it. Students should learn how to protect themselves from litigation, be respectful of content that does not belong to them, and then learn how to effect a change if they believe the current system is wrong.
Aug/09©Chris Farley
The New Digital Landscape
With an Apple tablet rumored to be on the horizon, the first question that comes to mind is, “Who will buy it?” I’m sure that it will have some educational uses, though a multi-hundred dollar multi-touch device might be a hard sell to K-12 districts. I imagine it will be great for some businesses. (I have images of Apple store employees using a point-of-sale app on the devices or building contractors checking off items on a virtual list). But the real market that Apple will pursue is the everyday consumer market. Apple is a consumer electronics company that does some education and enterprise sales, but they don’t build products for businesses. Apple builds products for consumers, and businesses like them enough to buy them anyway.
Targeting the consumer market is tricky because it’s hard to make the case that consumers need yet another device in their lives. Our current digital world is such that the norm is to have a cell phone or smart phone, a laptop or desktop or both, and a work computer of some sort which I’ll ignore here since it falls outside the consumer realm. Apple’s tablet, should its existence be more than just a rumor, seeks to redefine all that. It’s a game changer because it does not replace and improve something like iPhone does. It inserts a new device to make a more complete digital lifestyle.
My view of the new digital landscape is something like this: Most people will have very powerful desktops at home. This will be their everything machine, and it might even be a home server. Movies, TV shows, everything that is on their other devices will all be here. It’s the place you’d go to manage your media or do resource-intensive tasks like graphics work or video editing.
Next you have your notebook. If you’re like me, you would want this to be very portable, but easy to type on. If you’re a video professional, you would probably want something that could do some video editing on-the-go when you don’t have the luxury of using your amazing home machine.
Then you have your smartphone. It is truly portable, and with you always. It’s perfect for receiving messages and shooting off quick replies, but not for long form composition. It’s great for media consumption on a plane or in a car, but not for the great experience your home desktop will give you.
The rumored tablet comes somewhere in between the tablet and the notebook. It’s for those times when you need something portable and quick without the power and bulk of a notebook. I imagine this as a device that you carry with you around your home, and maybe type out a few quick emails on. It’s nice to have the luxury of the larger screen in your home without the need to stay in front of a desktop. It would be more functional and have more screen real estate than the smartphone, which would make it great for reading articles and consuming media around the home.
I have a feeling that this is what Apple is going for with their new device, if the device exists. It’s about having more devices, more choices, more freedom, and more portability. Users can have remarkable power at home where they need it and great speed and portability on-the-go. If the Apple tablet does exist, it could be a blockbuster product. It could be, like the iPod, a device that we didn’t think we needed.