Library Home: .OER for You and your Students: Free, Opened, and Public Domain

If it is on the Internet, it is free to use, right?

Not exactly. Just because content is on the Internet does not mean it is free to be used in any situation. All original content, regardless of access, may have copyright protection, even if it is not declared.

When in doubt, treat everything as under copyright, until proven otherwise.

What is Open Access? (OA)
Open Access refers to removing barriers such as "paywalls". Open Access initiatives seek to make research articles and other works easy to find and read, for free. It does not address copyright, but rather the methods of funding and accessing the research or other works.
What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?
Open Educational Resources are works that copyright owners have "opened" by adding a Creative Commons or other License that removes some copyright restrictions. The ideal is to allow others to "retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute" without needing to ask for permission, as long as the work is attributed to the copyright owner, giving credit where it is due.
U.S. GOVERNMENT WORKS (fairuse.stanford.edu)
"In the U.S., any work created by a federal government employee or officer is in the public domain, provided that the work was created in that person's official capacity."...
"Keep in mind that this rule applies only to works created by federal employees and not to works created by state or local government employees. However, state and local laws and court decisions are in the public domain."

Free

There are many resources on the internet that can be accessed for free.

As long as you are using content for

your own personal use

for educational, non-profit use

and you cite or attribute the source

- you probably fall within the bounds of

Fair Use exception to Copyright

Fair Use Makes use of copyrighted material without permission legal, under certain circumstances. Usually, just one copy for personal non-commerical educational use. Does not include workbooks unless copyright owner grants permission.

FOUR FACTOR TEST of Fair Use

How does your use add up when applying 4-Factor test?

Fair Use - 4 Factor analysis:

1. The purpose and character of your use
Fairer: Non-profit. Educational.

2. The nature of the copyrighted work
Fairer: Facts.

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken
Fairer: Just a quote, a few pages.

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market.
Fairer: One article for personal, non-profit, educational use.

EXAMPLES: Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors (fairuse.stanford.edu/)
TOOL: Fair Use Checklist (copyright.psu.edu)
ANIMATION: Copyright and Fair Use Related: https://msu.edu/~milczyn1/copyrightfairuselesson.html https://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-copyright-fair-use https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/10-must-have-resources-to-teach-about.html

Opened

Using a Creative Commons License or GNU or other legal license addendum

to give away some of your legal copy rights,

may be referred to as opening your property license (copy right).

Such "Opened Content" is ONLY as opened as the attached license indicates.

Some works are opened only enough to allow making multiple copies, without any changes.

Copyright owners can choose which copyright restrictions to remove by selecting the appropriate Creative Commons License.

After a Creative Commons License is attached to a work, it can not be revoked for that copy of the work...but the copyright owner still retains all rights and privileges of copyright for their work.

Creative Commons Licenses ONLY apply to works that are protected by copyright.
They provide a legal way to remove some copyright restrictions.

Open Educational Resources

OER is a new field, so standards and definitions are still being formed and tested.
If a work cannot be modified / no derivatives allowed (CC ND) it is generally not considered to be an Open Educational Resource (OER)

CC ND and CC NC ND licenses do allow you to make multiple copies without needing further permission from the copyright holder.

Regardless of copyright status as Copyrighted, Copyright Opened, or Public Domain (released/free from copyright protection), you must always cite or attribute the source of the work.

What is OER? LIST of definitions (wiki.creativecommons.org)
OER Commons definition: you may freely use and reuse, without charge "Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse, without charge. OER often have a Creative Commons or GNU license that state specifically how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared."
Cable Green OER definition: must be able to revise and remix " All major OER definitions include the ability to revise and remix, so content licensed with either the CC BY-ND or the CC BY-NC-ND licenses are not considered OER. "
David Wiley OER definition: able to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute At its core “open content” describes a copyrightable work that is licensed in a way that “provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities” which are retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute.

.OER for You and your Students: Free, Opened, and Public Domain

If it is on the Internet, it is free to use, right?

Free

FOUR FACTOR TEST of Fair Use

Opened

Open Educational Resources

Open Access Movement defines OER as works allowing the 5 R's