|
Like our physical society, the world wide web is governed by rules and responsibilities creating a cyber-society. Our children are using the world wide web for classroom learning on a daily basis. This means that they need to be introduced and abide by this "high tech" society and follow rules governing the use of information development, namely the proper use of computer hardware and software, and the use of information gathering, namely using the Internet.
The Ten Commandments for Computer Ethics is given to us as a courtesy of the Computer Ethics Institute and the Tek Mom website. Everyone is expected to follow these rules on a daily basis in every classroom.
Using Public Domain information is an ethical method to incorporate text, images, and sounds or music into students activities and projects.
| What is Public Domain Information? |
| Public domain information is publicly accessible information meaning that the use of the information (text, sound, images) does not infringe any legal right, or breach any other communal right (such as indigenous rights) or any obligation of confidentiality. |
| Why Use Public Domain Information? |
If a student does not use public domain information and does not cite the source of what text, sound, or image they borrowed, it is called plagerism. The United States constitution is looking into whether plagerism will be considered a felony. In some high schools and most colleges, plagerism is punishable by receiving a grade of "F" or expulsion from the school. It is very important that our students do not use copyrighted information when they are creating any multimedia projects, class research projects, or class activities. They may use any public domain text, images or music or if they own a music CD, they may copy the song into their I-Tunes electronically to use in their multimedia project. If that is the case, then they must cite the source properly. Please click on the How To page to learn how to site sources. Look for the topic, "When you want to perform research". |
| Public Domain Images |
| http://pio.wsd.wednet.edu/students.htm |
| Public Domain Music |
| http://www.musopen.com/ |
| http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ |
|
This page is written and maintained by the Easthampton School District.
|