Author: Tasha Russell
School/Organization:
Wagner Middle School
Year: 2021
Seminar: Listening to the Music of Contemporary Africa: History, Politics, and Human Origins
Grade Level: 6-8
Keywords: copyright, fair use, Fela, infringement, public domain, Solomon Linda, the Tokens
School Subject(s): Computer Science, Technology
The purpose of the unit is for students to learn about their rights to their own copywritten work, identify how they can use copyrighted work without permission through public domain and fair use, and understand that piracy and plagiarism are forms of copyright infringement. These are common practices that are unethical and unlawful. (Taken from common sense lesson on copyright https://tinyurl.com/vsxdp368). The unit will be taught using various materials that analyze, compare, and synthesize ways that music has been misappropriated through the music of Fela, the Tokens, Solomon Linda, and current hip hop artists. At the end of this unit, students will be able to understand the importance of properly using copyrighted work as a creative person. The students will work through various activities that will help them to write an essay defending the reasons why it is important to obtain permission for the use of someone’s work.
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The content of this unit will focus on broadening middle school students’ knowledge on intellectual property, copyright, public domain and fair use as it relates hip hop music’s use of Afrobeat music in its production. Afrobeat provides a good case study because it is an African popular music style that has been incorporated into the music making of several big name artists in the United States, sometimes with significant legal implications Technology changes daily and more people are using technology to be creative. The current state of internet technology is called Web 2.0. Web 2.0, a term coined by Tim O’Reilly and Dale Dougherty, is where content on the Internet is participatory, meaning that users are able to create content without being an expert in the field and where the information is published. Copyright is important because participants who share information on a website become a part of the creative works and may be entitled to certain rights as content creators. Students need to be aware when they post assignments that include video, music, and art and begin to share their work that they are subject to the legal and ethical standards of copyright, fair use, and public domain. In the day and age of “free culture” where people are sharing and creating media freely without permission from the creator it is important to understand the legalities of sharing creative work that often crosses the lines without the creator even knowing. Our case study focuses on the controversial use of West African Afrobeat and how he was sampled (specifically created by Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti) in contemporary hip hop. According to the distance education school the University of the People, if we practice critical thinking skills with our students, we will allow them to solve problems as well as devise and create new ideas to challenges experienced within creative works. As educators, we want to create students who are able to be creative in solving issues. As new issues arise and as we create project- based curricula that involve new technologies like Web 2.0. with our students, it is important to help students understand the rights and responsibilities of one who creates and those who use the creative work of others. Creativity is important to the future of the Internet. For students to maintain and understand the relationship between creativity and the Internet they must understand copyright and all the legal ramifications that are related to it. The intention of this curriculum unit is to help middle students in the Philadelphia School District understand that if they create a piece of work, they also need to protect their work. This is particularly true in situations of racial inequality. For example, there is widespread appropriation of TikTok dances that originated within the Black community, which are used in videos made by non-black Tik Tok “creators”. According to Lockhart, an journalism undergraduate writing her thesis on entertainment, the world wide web makes it easier to replicate and share someone else’s work, and we need to remember that such replication often occurs in situations of racial inequality in which many Caucasians will regularly copy and imitate the styles and culture of Black people without giving them credit for their creative work. Lockhart further explains that Causcasians will “sometimes completely plagiarize the work and take credit for it” (Lockhart, 2021, p. 9). Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines plagiarism as the act of stealing or passing off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own or using another’s production without creating a source. Lockhart states that the Caucasian creator tries to give credit in the Tik Tok video by using a side by side with the original creator to create some sort of credit to the original creator. Tik Tok imitators receive compensation while the Tik Tok originators gain nothing in return, but stolen royalties. Copyright infringement occurs often in music as well. Copyright infringement “occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner” (https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-definitions.html). Another example of creative work that the artist did not ask for permission to use is in the song, “Blurred Lines”, sung by Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and the rapper, TI. According to Alleyne, in 2013, the Marvin Gaye estate sued Thicke, Williams, and TI for using a substantial part of Marvin Gayes’ song, “Got to Give it Up, Part 1”. After a two year court battle, Thicke was found liable for copyright infringement and had to pay the Marvin Gaye estate 7.3 million in profits and damages. Wagner Middle School is located in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia and serves over 500 children in 6th through 8th grade. All of the students attending are economically disadvantaged. The racial makeup of this school is: eighty-nine percent students are African American, four percent are Hispanic/Latino, one percent are Caucasian, and six percent are Multi-Racial/other. The school participates in project-based learning and most of their learning activity involves posting work that uses music, art, and videos and is shared over the internet. The issues raised in this curriculum unit are particularly important in our school though students everywhere are creating content and confronting these issues every single day. Elementary and middle school students enjoy creating TikToks™ and do not understand that they need to protect their work and ideas. This unit seeks to help students understand that as a creator, one needs to understand their work and ideas could go viral. They also need to know what are the ways as a creator protects their work and ideas to receive compensation as well as not lose out on royalties. Each marking period in the technology program, middle school students learn about copyright, fair use, and public domain. Every marking period there is a new set of students. Each period in person is about seventy minutes long. This unit will be taught over a two-week period. The purpose of the unit is for students to learn about their rights to their own copywritten work, identify how they can use copyrighted work without permission through public domain and fair use, and understand that piracy and plagiarism are forms of copyright infringement. These are common practices that are unethical and unlawful. (Taken from common sense lesson on copyright https://tinyurl.com/vsxdp368) Copyright-the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.: “he issued a writ for breach of copyright” “works whose copyrights had lapsed” Creative Commons– Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, “What can I do with this work? Public Domain the state of belonging or being available to the public as a whole, and therefore not subject to copyright.: “the photograph had been in the public domain for 15 years” “public-domain software”. Fair Use (in US copyright law) the doctrine that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.: “whether or not six seconds of the song in a user-generated video constitutes fair use is something for a court to decide”. Web 2.0 is the second stage of development of the World Wide Web, characterized especially by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media. Creative Works are a manifestation of creative effort such as artwork, literature, music, paintings, and software. Creative works have in common a degree of arbitrariness, such that it is improbable that two people would independently create the same work. Creative works are part of property rights. The term is frequently used in the context of copyright law. Digital Literacy is the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technologies. It requires one “to recognize and use that power, to manipulate and transform digital media, to distribute pervasively, and to easily adapt them to new forms”. Digital literacy does not replace traditional forms of literacy. It builds upon the foundation of traditional forms of literacy. Digital literacy is the marrying of the two terms digital and literacy; however, it is much more than a combination of the two terms. Digital information is a symbolic representation of data, and literacy refers to the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently, and think critically about the written word. Digital literacy researchers explore a wide variety of topics, including how people find, use, summarize, evaluate, create, and communicate information while using digital technologies. Research also encompasses a variety of hardware platforms, such as computer hardware, cell phones and other mobile devices and software or applications, including web search or Internet applications more broadly. As a result, the area is concerned with much more than how people learn to use computers. In Scandinavian English as well as in OECD research, the term Digital Competence is preferred over literacy due to its holistic use. Intellectual Property is a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc. Documentation is the process of classifying and annotating texts, photographs, etc.: “she arranged the collection and documentation of photographs”. Logo is a symbol or other design adopted by an organization to identify its products, uniform, vehicles, etc.: “the Olympic logo was emblazoned across their jackets”. To Paraphrase is to express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity.: “you can either quote or paraphrase literary texts” Patent Plagiarism Defenders of patents commonly say they are against innovators’ ideas being “stolen” or “plagiarized.” This implies that patents simply permit an innovator to sue those who copy his idea. This position betrays either disingenuity or ignorance about patent law of Nov 21, 2009 Piracy is the unauthorized use or reproduction of another’s work. Remix or Mashup Remix is taking a song and adding your changes to it. … A mashup would be two different tracks mixed into one song. For example you grab the vocals from one track and mix it with a beat from a different track. Trademark is a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product. Students will be able to do the following:Overview
Rationale
Introduction
Problem Statement
Vocabulary
Content Objectives
Present a PowerPoint with the 18 vocabulary words and definitions. Students would be presented with a scenario and match the term. Ask: Imagine that you and some friends created a short stop-motion animated film. You wrote clever dialogue, designed the shots, and worked on the footage on the weekends. You post the video on YouTube, and people love it! One day, you see your film uploaded on someone’s website. They wrote the caption, “Look at this cool stop-motion video!” But there is no mention of your name or your friends’ names, and it’s not linked to YouTube. How would you feel if something you had worked hard to create was being shared by other people without your name attached to it? Invite volunteers to share their thoughts. Help students connect their feelings to a shared definition of fairness: that when you work hard on something you create, you deserve credit for it. Emphasize that: Distribute the Fair and Square Handout (worksheet 2). Show students the Understanding Copyright, Public Domain, and Fair Use video on Slide 4 (2:41) and then have them complete Part 1 of the handout. Slide show https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jgtgIMX8wryWHoQQp4-9N4MfTndHJEX29C-fVDUhh7Q/edit#slide=id.g4d3cc272cc_0_0 After watching, review the correct responses to Part 1 using the Teacher Version. If time allows, project Slide 5 and ask students additional questions to check for understanding of the video: Summarize by explaining that if you want to use copyrighted work (images, text, video, music, etc.), you either have to get permission from the author or be able to claim fair use. Continue working on the Fair and Square Worksheet Explain that this example probably isn’t fair use because although Maya is only using part of the logo, it’s for advertising and she plans to make a profit. That is less of an argument for fair use. Note: This section includes a music video by DJ Earworm (https://youtu.be/PvWC7V3gGts), which is composed of clips from other popular music videos. Review this video in its entirety before showing it to students. If you are comfortable sharing only a segment of the video, feel free to do so. Continue with the Factors of Fair Use Worksheet Write an essay about how it is unfair for someone to steal your work and what could be done to protect your creative rights? Complete the Writing Process. Stages of the Writing Process Taken from https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/writing-process/ Hand out the “Fair Use Guidelines” sheet. (Worksheet 3) Discuss the four questions on the worksheets to determine fair use and the limits of fair use Divide class into groups of four Give each group a “Fair Use Scenario” and give them time to discuss it Pass out “You Be the Judge” handout (Worksheet 4) Who is Fela? Students will view a documentary on Fela Kuti and complete See, Think, and Wonder Complete Worksheet 5 (See, Think, and Wonder) Respond to the following questions: What is Afrobeat? Students will define Afrobeat: urban popular music originating in Nigeria in the late 1960s that emphasizes percussion rhythms and features elements of jazz and funk and lyrics which are often strongly political Students will listen to the song Opposite People by Fela Kuti and understand how his music became the theme for the Black Power Movement with the Black Panthers and Pan Africanism. Students will complete the following listening activity: Have students review songs that have been sampled on Who’s Sampled? Fela Songs and identify the name of the artist and song who sampled Fela Kuti. Complete Worksheet 5. Motivation: Introduce the song: In the Jungle Discuss the song, “In the Jungle” from the Lion King by asking students if they have heard the song before, and if they remember where they learned it. Students will read the article, In the Jungle: Inside the Long, Hidden Genealogy of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, in small groups. Each group will focus on answering one of the following questions: Listen to the original song by Solomon Linda and the Original Evening Birds that traveled to the United States. Then compare the next three songs. Discussion: Read/ Analyze: Students can read the following article to understand who Solomon Linda was and the connection between Solomon’s song and Disney’s Lion King: https://decolonizingthemusicroom.com/in-practice/f/mbube-a-lions-tale Students will listen, compare, and contrast the following on the Venn Diagram: A: In the Jungle, the Mighty JungleDay One:
Day Two:
Day Three:
Day Four:
Day Four:
Day Five:
Day Six:
Day Seven:
Day Eight:
Day Nine:
Day Ten:
Materials Worksheet 1 Name ___________________________ Intellectual Property Terms Copyright Documentation Fair use Intellectual Property Logo Paraphrase Patent Plagiarism Public domain Trademark Worksheet 2 Match the vocabulary word to the correct definition by drawing a line or writing the correct letter. Fill in the blanks for the Four Factors of Fair Use as your teacher reads them aloud. Use the graphic to analyze whether or not DJ Earworm’s “Turnin’ It Up” mash-up falls under fair use. Final decision: Does this mash-up qualify as fair use? Why, or why not? Worksheet 3 Fair Use Copyright Guidelines Fair Use does not imply that citing the source of the material is not necessary. Article, Essay, or Story Poems Illustrations One chart, picture, diagram or cartoon Less than 2,500 words Complete poems less than 250 words or excerpts from longer poem not to exceed 250 words 5 images by any one artist or photographer 15 images from collection 10% or 30 seconds, whichever is less Cable TV (CNN, MTV, HBO….) Erase after 45 days unless otherwise stated May be used with permission Must include all copyright information on copy Four questions to ask yourself to test for fair use: What is my purpose for using this? (i.e. education, parody, criticism or commentary) What is the nature of the work? How much am I going to use? What effect will my use have on the creator? Created by Hjordy Wagner on June, 2002. Permission is granted to copy this worksheet in its original form. Information taken from the following website http://www.uwec.edu/admin/copyright/uses/index.html. Worksheet 5 What Do You See? What do you think is going on? What does it make you wonder? Worksheet 6 You Be the Judge The owner of the local Family Video store supports the school by donating one videotape rental-free to the school every Friday. The video is shown in the auditorium to reward students with perfect attendance that week. Is this fair use? If not, what could be done to make this legal? A student building a multimedia art project uses copyrighted images of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings downloaded from the web. He submits this project to a competition honoring classroom work and wins a prize for the school. Is this fair use? Why or why not? A high school video class produces a student video yearbook that they sell at community events to raise money for school equipment. They use well-known popular music clips. The money all goes to the school and the songs are fully listed in the credits. Is this fair use? Why or why not? Michael’s father bought a DVD burner for the computer. He used it to back up computer files. However, when playing around with it one day, Michael realized he could copy DVD movies. He decided to make a copy of some of his favorite movies to give to his friends. Is this fair use? Why or why not? Joshua is the newspaper editor for the high school’s newspaper. He has a problem this week. He has a blank spot on the front page where there should be a cartoon. The person who was supposed to do it was sick. He decides to copy one out of the Sunday newspaper that talks about school. He puts it in the school newspaper and all 2500 students see the comic strip. Is this fair use? If not, what could be done to make this legal? Jamie is short a sheet of music for a particular selection for the next concert. Her teacher said she could make a copy so she would have a chance to practice for the concert in three weeks. Is this fair use? Why or why not? Mrs. LaBarbera created a PowerPoint titled Intellectual Property. The PowerPoint included short sound clips and pictures from the internet. She included a bibliography that documented the information and clips used. She decided to put it on the district website so that other media specialists could have access to it. Is this fair use? Why or why not? A teacher rents Gone With the Wind to show the burning of the Atlanta scene to her class while studying the Civil War. Worksheet 7 Directions: Visit https://www.whosampled.com/Fela-Kuti/ and list an artist who sampled Fela Kuti in their song. Name the song and the artist Visit https://www.okayafrica.com/fela-kuti-afrobeat-hip-hop-samples/ and list the artist who sampled Fela Kuti. Name the song and artist
A law granting authors and creators of original works the exclusive privilege to reproduce, distribute, perform, display or sell their work.
Limited use of copyrighted works, without the permission of the owner, is allowed for criticism and commentary, parody, news reporting, research and classroom instruction.
Original creative work, in a tangible form, that can be legally protected by a patent, trademark, or copyright.
A design used by an organization on its letterhead, advertising material, and signs as an emblem by which the organization can easily be recognized.
Legal document granted by the government, giving an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention for a specified number of years.
A symbol, such as a word, number, picture, or design, used by manufacturers or merchants to identify their products and distinguish them from others.
The use of your own words to tell what you have read, heard, or seen.
To take and use the thoughts, writings, inventions, or creative works of another person and use them as your own.
Citing of sources used when doing research, usually in the form of a bibliography
Works that are not copyrighted and may be used without permission.
Directions: Part 1
Vocabulary Words
Definitions
Legal protection that creators have over the things
they create
The ability to use copyrighted work without permission, but only in certain ways and specific situations
Creative work that’s not copyrighted and free to use without permission
Directions: Part 2
… the
of the new work
is
or the original
work is
into
something very different.
… the
used is
Common examples:
… the
of the
only a small
of
original work is
the original work or
or based on
does not include the
fact (rather than creative
of the work.
or fictional).
… the
of the new work does
not include any
impact
on the creator or the value of the
original work (think
!).
Directions: Part 3
Printed Material
Books
Not to exceed 10% of whole or 1000 words
Music
Sheet Music Music/Lyrics/Music Video
Emergency for a performance 10% of an entire work
Visual Media
Videotapes/DVDs/Video clips
10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less
Television
Broadcast TV (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS & local stations)
May be used for instruction
Internet
Images, sound or video files
May be downloaded for student projects (see restrictions above)
Web Publishing
To publish copyrighted material on the web, (e.g. clip art and video clips), you must receive permission from the owner of the material. Publishing to the web is not covered under the educational Fair Use guidelines; therefore there are different permissions you must receive in writing from the copyright holder.
Email
Email is copyrighted material. It may be paraphrased or brief quotes taken from it as any other print material, though the source must be cited.
See
Think
Wonder
Fela Kuti Song
Artist Name/Song (New Song Sampled)
Water, Get No Enemy
Gentleman
Sorrow Tears and Blood
Colonial Mentality
Fear Not For Man
Fela Kuti Song
Artist Name/Song (New Song Sampled)
Gentleman
I will not apologize
Na poi
Colonial Mentality
3 Fun Music Games & Activities for Middle School https://solfeg.io/music-games-activities-middle-school/ About CC Licenses https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ Alleyne, M., (2019). A history of the “blurred lines” case: Copyright infringement in the music industry. In SAGE Business Cases. SAGE Publications, Ltd., https://www-doi-org.proxy.library.upenn.edu/10.4135/9781526483621 Africa (West, Central and South — digital only), by All Around This World Copyright in the Classroom https://libguides.geneseo.edu/c.php?g=67346&p=2807678 Definitions https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-definitions.html Definitions for creative workcre·ative work https://www.definitions.net/definition/creative+work Discussion Questions for Use with Any Film that is a work of Fiction https://teachwithmovies.org/discussion-questions-for-use-with-any-film-that-is-a-work-of-fiction/ DJ Earworm Mashup – United State of Pop 2020 (Something to Believe In) Leroy, V. D. (n.d.). Mbube: A Lion’s Tale. Decolonizing the Music Room. https://decolonizingthemusicroom.com/in-practice/f/mbube-a-lions-tale. Lockhart, Amirah, “A Stolen Culture: The Harmful Effects of Cultural Appropriation” (2021). Plagiarizing https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarizing The Four Factors of Fair Use https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/the-four-factors-of-fair-use The Writing Process: Steps to Writing Success https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/writing-process/ Questions for Reading NonFiction. https://www.hcpss.org/f/parents/tips_readingnonfiction.pdf. (n.d.). University of the People https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/why-is-critical-thinking-important/#:~:text=4.,ideas%20and%20adjust%20them%20accordingly. What is Web 2.0? https://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html Who Sampled Fela Kuti Standards Common Core ELA L.7.1,L.7.3,L.7.6,RL.7.1,RL.7.2,RL.7.4,SL.7.1,SL.7.1a,SL.7.1b,SL.7.1c,SL.7.1d,SL.7.2,SL.7.4,SL.7.6,W.7.1,W.7.1a,W.7.1b,W.7.4,W.7.5,W.7.9,W.7.10 ISTE 1d,2a,2b,2c,3c,3d,4d,6a,6b,7b