of the conventions and implications of scholarly, mass market, and not-for- profit publishing; to interact ethically with information and its technologies;
and to recognize the social and political implications inherent in information production and systems.
A body of work is just beginning to emerge, with very few completed studies, which expands our understanding of how to teach Standard 5 beyond proper citation and basic definitions of copyright and fair use.1 It may be tempting to focus teaching and assessment processes on these easily quantifi- able objectives within the standard and neglect the social structure literacy questions that Shapiro and Hughes discuss.2 However, as illustrated in this chapter, survey queries can be constructed to assist in informing curriculum design and the development of student skills in this vital area. Students cannot make ethical decisions about information use or develop informed re- search strategies if they do not recognize the social and political implications of information systems. The assignment examples and assessment queries of- fered are not meant to be prescriptive; rather, they illustrate a variety of ways to adapt the standard to serve both institutional and student assessment needs. Please note that outcome 5.2.f will be discussed in the final section with performance indicator 5.3.
ASSESSING THE UNDERSTANDING OF KNOWLEDGE
Performance indicator 5.1 asks that students understand the intricate and diverse contexts in which they are working and researching. Although as edu- cators we may recognize that the work we do has political and social ramifi- cations, these issues are seldom directly addressed in the theoretical litera- ture of information literacy and library instruction.3 This performance indicator requires a complex and content-based approach in the curriculum, in contrast with more tool- or skill-based performance indicators. It chal- lenges librarians to teach the larger context of information issues within in- formation literacy curricula and programs.
Assessment Queries
To raise students’ understanding of the complexity of the issues surrounding Standard 5, it is best to apply methods of instruction and assessment on the course and assignment level that give the instructor an opportunity to gain an understanding of what students know in order to make changes in teaching and learning opportunities during the course itself. This type of assessment is known as formative assessment, and its use gives students the opportunity to see the gap between their current knowledge and the stated goal.4It is dif- ficult to assess the development of advanced skills in a survey, and this is es- pecially true for performance indicator 5.1.
Otterbein College’s Survey of College Students regarding Copyright Law Information provides several excellent questions to assess students’ under- standing of the concept of copyright and their ability to identify issues related to free and fee-based information. The following queries rely on self-perception and reporting:
How often do you copy multiple chapters of books?
How often do you download MP3 files from peer-to-peer file-sharing networks (e.g., Kazaa)?
How often do you share licensed computer software with others?
In your opinion, is it okay to make a compilation CD for a friend from CDs you purchased?
The following are true-or-false queries to directly test students’ knowledge:
Copyright law protects both published and unpublished works.
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Architectural works are not protected by copyright laws.
Copyright law protects ideas and facts.
Legal action for infringement can only be taken once the work is reg- istered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Copyright laws do not protect slogans or logos.
It is legal for a professor to tape a program off of television and show it to the class.
The queries above could be supplemented with the following ones to more completely address the performance indicator:
In your opinion, is it okay to bypass the security system on a DVD to get it to run on a player purchased in another country?
True or False—The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech for all U.S. citizens.
True or False—Preventing a student from stating their personal opinion in an essay is censorship.
There is a challenge in surveying students’ knowledge and application of laws that are themselves open to interpretation, like the copyright law. The UMBC Surveyasks the following questions, allowing the student to respond either “yes,” “no,” or “don’t know” for each item listed.
Copyrightis a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including lit- erary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.
This protection is available for both published and unpublished works. If you were creating your own website, which of the following could you legally use on your web page without permission?
a. Pictures of Britney Spears from the Internet b. The theme song from Titanicby Celine Dion
c. Letters that you found at the National Archives written by Martha to her husband, President George Washington d. President George W. Bush’s Inaugural Speech
e. Pictures of Anna Kournikova scanned in from Sports Illustratedmagazine
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f. Text you scanned in of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
g. Text of the Homeland Security Act introduced in Congress h. Text of an article from Newsweekthat you scanned in criti-
cizing the Homeland Security Act
The phrase “use without permission” indicates either that an item does not meet the “originality” requirement for issuing exclusive copyrights, that it is in the public domain (copyright terms having expired or its author having deemed it a public domain document and granted open access), or that its use fits within the “fair use” provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act. The query above would evaluate a student’s knowledge of the exemption for U.S. gov- ernment works (17 U.S.C. §105) absolutely (items d and g) and for copyright term expiration (item c). The use of any of the others would only be permis- sible if that use was in the context of a student’s academic work, in which case the “fair use” provision might apply. For an advanced student, this query could be enhanced with an “it depends” answer choice. Additional questions can also be asked of the scenario presented in order to fully assess outcomes 5.1.d and 5.2.e: How much of the items listed will be used or scanned? Will the reproduction of it be on the intranet or Internet? The query could be en- hanced by articulating the purpose of the website: is it on the World Wide Web for personal use and mass public display?
Another query from the UMBC Survey focuses specifically on fair use (5.1.d):
One of the limitations to copyright law is the doctrine of fair use.
This provision allows for the “fair” reproduction of a particular work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. If you were preparing an assignment for class, which of the following could you legally do?
a. For your research paper on Tupac Shakur, directly quote, without citing a source, a paragraph from an article titled
“The Miseducation of Hip-Hop,” published in the journal Black Issues in Higher Education.
b. Use a video clip from the Rosie O’Donnell Showas part of a class presentation on talk shows.
c. Use an audio clip of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles as part of a class presentation on relationships.
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d. Use music from the Rolling Stones or Sean “P. Diddy” Combs as background music during a presentation.
e. Report on and summarize an article on depression and longevity from the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry in a speech for your psychology class.
f. Make a copy of a book chapter placed on reserve in the library by your professor and take it home to read.
Formative assessment might assess a student’s course assignments and class or workshop discussions for the following high-level skills:
Can the student articulate the changes in the publication “chain”
from published scientific studies to popular reporting in the mass media?
Can the student describe various pricing schedules for different databases (e.g., FirstSearchand Dialog)?
Can the student articulate biases in information and describe nuances between objectivity and neutrality in authorities?5
Assignments
Many information issues already addressed in library instruction programs can be expanded and integrated into instruction and assignments for this in- dicator. These might include ethical contexts of intellectual property, equi- table access to information, and fairness in media. Legal concerns include constitutional guarantees and institutional and national information policies, such as academic integrity, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the USA PATRIOT Act. Socioeconomic areas could range from the dynamics of mass marketing in media and publishing to the impact of federal grant funding on the creation of knowledge. At a practical level, students’ knowl- edge of this indicator can begin with an understanding of the role that the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech plays in their academic explorations.
In their 2003 article, Hurlbert, Savidge, and Laudenslager offer an as- signment that presents students with an “event happening on their campus that highlights basic rights of citizenship such as privacy (5.1.a) or free speech (5.1.c).” Students are then instructed to research these “rights” and apply the information they found to the campus event by writing an essay.6
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The implications of current information policy should be discussed by students as users of public and private information and information delivery systems, as lifelong learners, and as informed citizens. The 2001 USA PATRIOT Act has broad implications for privacy, security, and civil liberties.
It encompasses changes to over fifteen different statutes, including expanded provisions to make available information that was previously confidential and an increase in the penalties and scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.7 Outcome 5.1.a addresses technological and information policy issues related to privacy and security of information use and access.
The Central Queensland University Library’s online collection of assign- ments offer two assignments titled “Legislative Progression” and “Policy Progression.” These exercises ask students to track a piece of legislation or policy though Parliament or Congress. They ask the questions, “Who are the organisations involved? What is the history of the issue? What are the ideo- logical conflicts?” The authors believe that this will help students understand the processes of government and follow the politics and social implications of a critical issue.8 To address performance indicator 5.1, this can focus on a specific piece of information policy.
In an effort to curb the rising cost of scholarly materials and authors’ lack of control over their work products, many faculty and institutions are imple- menting exploratory solutions for the management of institutional scholar- ship, such as Dspace, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries’
joint venture with Hewlett-Packard, and Ohio State University’s Knowledge Bank. The development of institutional research data banks and repositories, as well as other alternatives to traditional scholarly publishing methods such as the initiatives of SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, will have increasing implications for student research. These com- plicated models and the economic context from which they arise must be in- troduced to the student researcher. Students must be able to analyze the in- formation landscape to differentiate between information available free on the Internet and the types of resources accessible in vendor-delivered re- search databases available through their libraries (5.1.b). How often do we encounter a frustrated student who simply cannot understand why the web- site for the Journal of Higher Educationdoes not yield the full text of the ar- ticle he or she wants? Although a very reputable search tool led the student to what sounds like the perfect article, what’s found is the table of contents for the journal issue and not the text of the article itself. The economics of information production greatly affects where scholarly and reputable information can be 120 Social Context and Ethical and Legal Issues
accessed. Students should be made aware that the changing information landscape makes available hybrid resource and research tools, where they may or may not be able to access the full text of articles and books for free.
University of Maryland University College’s Information Literacy and Writing Assessment Project (ILWA Project) provides two additional appli- cable assignment examples. The lower-level assignments read as follows:
1. Have students explain what an information database is and how it is relevant for finding information.
2. Have students discuss the differences among various web search engines.9
Also provided are more advanced versions of these assignments, wherein stu- dents are asked to research a topic in a web search engine and subscription database, then compare and describe the resources available through the two tools, and finally discuss the similarities and differences between the tools.
Outcome 5.1.c asks students to analyze the broader context of research and publishing and identify the absence of, impeded access to, and censor- ship of particular ideas as applicable to their field of study. Such barriers may be social and professional as well as technological for students today. Miriam E.
Joseph of Saint Louis University (Missouri) developed the following assign- ment to share alternative research ideas with the faculty. Her assignment suggests students browse the library stacks to examine book and journal titles in a specific discipline. The students should then write an essay in response to the following questions:
What is (discipline), i.e., how might it be defined?
How might the resources consulted be utilized in other courses, especially in other disciplines?
From this exercise, what have (you) learned about the scope of the discipline?10
UMUC’s ILWA Project suggests the following:
1. Have students examine the role of information in a democratic so- ciety. What are the issues? How is information relevant or important to them?
2. Have students construct a timeline or map that illustrates the influ- ence of a particular piece of published research and then summarize the relationship of the original research with what followed.11
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Recording and sharing the processes and results of intellectual explo- ration is the foundation of the academic enterprise. Students who can suc- cessfully navigate this universe have developed some degree of understand- ing of how academics and other researchers create knowledge and of the impact that such information has on their own participation in the stream of intellectual exploration.