Re: Major interview

["Jose C. Lacal" <jose.lacal@openclassroom.org>]

You might very well be right regarding the copyright issues. On the
other hand, what is to stop me from going to Salzburg, Austria, with my
Hi8 video camera and take a nice 02-hour video of the city? Then, I can
digitize it, and put it up on the web, as OpenSource. Anybody can come,
grab the file, slice it and dice it, and re-purpose it in any way they
want.

Multiply my hypothetical example by the millions of people out there
with video cameras that have _nothing_ better to do with their vacation
videos that bore their neighbors to death, and we are on to something
here.

All it takes is to have a central repository of privately-produced
content like the example above, under the GPL (or BSD license), and then
you have the start of a central content repository for educational
software.

Of course, one-of-a-kind content is a different story. But I don't think
anybody has the exclusive copyright on the _images_ of a country (like
the Mexican pyramids, the Eiffel tower, etc.).

Yes, there are many legal issues involved here, but I am sure those
issues can be addressed with enough political will.

Regards.

Ray Olszewski wrote:
> 
> At 06:39 PM 9/6/99 +0200, Jose C. Lacal wrote in part]:
> 
> >So, how difficult would it be to set-up an OpenSource-centered project
> >where students worldwide create audio and video content (of their own
> >city, museums, significant historical places, musical traditions,
> >typical dances, etc.) and contribute such _royalty-free_ content to a
> >central database? Then, edsoft authors can take such "free" (think free
> >speech here) content, add their intellectual talent (historical
> >background, pedagogical expertise, etc.) and create OpenSource edsoft
> >materials? At a much lower cost than traditional software development
> >costs.
> 
> Possibly VERY difficult. Is anyone on this list an expert in copyright law,
> so able to comment in an informed way on the legal problems one might
> encounter here? Offhand, I believe that a lot of the content Jose is
> suggesting students film is protected by performance or other copyrights. So
> even if the *taping* were royalty free, the content may still require
> royalties (or releases).
> 
> Were I an Edsoft publisher (or were I the publisher's attorney), the last
> people I'd be inclined to rely on for assurances that a video was
> royalty-free would be students and teachers. Their habits about copyright
> are less than rigorous -- something that doesn't really matter when we are
> talking about term papers, in-class presentations of student video work, and
> the traditional things that teachers have students do. But it would be very
> important here, in the context of the development of software that would be
> sold.
> 
> ------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
> Ray Olszewski                                        -- Han Solo
> Palo Alto, CA                                    ray@comarre.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Jose C. Lacal, Chief Vision Officer

jose.lacal@openclassroom.org
http://www.openclassroom.org

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