Some web sites freely grant
permission for schools to use graphics in educational projects, but some do
not, especially when projects leave the classroom for public viewing in web
pages or public performances. Since the law is
still being tested, when in doubt, it is always best to ask permission.
The letters below should help students with this writing task.
Choose
the most appropriate phrases from one of the form letters below, copy and
paste your letter into an e-mail message, and mail it to the web master. The
Web master's e-mail address is usually found at the bottom of the first page
of a site.
|
To Use a Graphic or Sound Clip on your Web
Page: To download
graphics or sounds from the Web, harvest them from a CD or other source and display
them on your Web Page. |
|
To Use a Graphic or Sound Clip in Multimedia Projects: Caution:
Many educators claim "fair use" when students save
graphics from the Web and use them in educational projects. As
long as projects stay within your classroom, you are often within your
rights. However...Fair Use Guidelines no
longer apply if the project leaves your classroom. You
must get permission from the owner/creator of the graphic in order to
use it.
|
|
To Link to a Web Site: Is it really necessary to get
permission to link to another site? In
most cases, it is probably NOT necessary IF you:
Clearly indicate that your link points to content created by
others. Be as specific as possible by giving the complete name
of the site/organization/author.
Do not include another web site within a frame. (i.e., your
site's navigation links are in the left hand frame and all main
content is on the right.) This makes it impossible for visitors to
determine the URL of the site, and it implies that you created the
content. There are lawsuits pending related to this scenario.
Check the site for any guidelines about links, copyright, or
permissions.
Play it
safe. If you're not sure, use the MidLink template and write for
permission.
|
To
Use a Graphic or Sound Clip on an Educational Web Page
Dear
______________,
We are students at _______
School. We are creating an educational Web page, and we would like to
include the following image(s); sound(s) from (your web site; CD-ROM; publication,
etc.):
The file name(s) of the graphic(s) we wish to use is: ______.GIF;
_____.JPG. It is located at: http://__________ in Name
of publication or resource, etc.
Your graphic(s); sound(s) will be displayed on our educational Web page as a resource
for students and teachers. Our final product will be on our school web
site located at http://________. We intend to honor your copyright by
giving your organization full credit and citing you as one of our sources.
Please respond to this message
and let us know if we may use this image in our project. Our deadline for
publication is ________, and we would appreciate your quick response. If we
do not hear from you by ________, we will include your graphic, along with
the proper citation. If at any time in the future you should object, we will
gladly remove the graphic from our Web at your request.
Yours
truly,
_______________
Name, e-mail address
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to top
To
Use a Graphic or Sound Clip in Multimedia Projects for Display Outside the Classroom
Dear ______________,
We are students at _______
School. We are creating a (research project; contest entry; electronic
portfolio, etc.) and would like to use the following images(s); sound
clip(s) from (your
web site; CD-ROM; publication, etc.):
File name(s) of graphic: ____.GIFs - Location of web page
http://______.
Your graphic(s) will be displayed in our educational project for free use by
students and teachers. Our final product will be used ___________ (be
as specific as possible). We intend to honor your copyright by giving
your organization full credit and citing you as one of our sources.
Please respond to this message
and let us know if we may use this image in our project. Our deadline for
publication is ________, and we would appreciate your quick response.
Yours
truly,
_______________
Name, e-mail address
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To
Link to a Web Page
Dear
_____________,
We are students at _______
School. We would like to place a link to your site (in our
multimedia project; in our educational web page at http://____________;
in our _________contest entry). Your link will be included in a free
resource for students and teachers. Our final product will be in the form of
a (web page, multimedia project, contest entry, etc.) We will
honor your copyright by giving your organization full credit and citing you
as one of our sources.
We wanted to let you know how
we will be using your material in our educational project. Thank you for
creating such a useful resource.
Yours
truly,
_______________
Name, e-mail address
Questions
or comments to Caroline
McCullen
Instructional Technologist, SAS
inSchool, Cary, NC