Forwarded on behalf of John Casey...

Steve Boneham.

Netskills


>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Casey [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: 07 August 2006 21:50
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: TrustDR and DRM in E-Learning * Feedback requested
>
>Request for Comment and Feedback 
>  
>The TrustDR project, funded by the JISC in the UK, is tasked 
>with devising some practical solutions to the problem of 
>managing IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) in e-learning 
>materials - especially in the context of institutional 
>repositories of learning objects. To do this the project is 
>working its way through a demanding problem area that includes 
>educational, technical, legal, cultural, political and 
>organisational issues. The project team have decided that the 
>right approach to this task is that of taking a critical and 
>creative attitude to problem solving. The work of the first 
>half of the project is now publicly available for comment, we 
>would really value your feedback about the documents you can 
>find at this website: 
>  
>http://www.uhi.ac.uk/lis/projects/trustdr/work_in_progress.html 
>  
>  
>Some of our emerging conclusions are listed below: 
>  
>It is understandable that many people associate DRM (Digital 
>Rights Management) just with technology (digital), however it 
>is our view that most of the work involved is legal and 
>cultural (rights management). In this domain it would be very, 
>very easy to spend a lot of money on useless (and pointless) 
>technical measures. We propose that most of what we need can 
>be (and needs to be) achieved with 'lo-tech and no-tech' solutions. 
>  
>The law is not as restrictive as many people think, we 
>advocate an approach that says "what do we want to do?" not 
>"what do we have to do?" 
>  
>The TrustDR project final outputs aim to give users the 
>ability to tell their lawyers what to do and to tell their IT 
>support people what they have to do to make this work. 
>  
>As with DRM in any industry it is important to understand the 
>real nature of the business and how it works, in our case we 
>need to clearly understand the  'business of e-learning' and 
>the true role of learning materials in education. If this 
>means upsetting a few cherished myths then so much the better. 
>  
>E-learning, as it is currently practised, continues to fail to 
>reach its potential, mostly for cultural and organisational 
>reasons. Tackling the legal issues in learning materials can 
>be a powerful way of transforming the educational workplace to 
>make better use of e-learning. 
>  
>Many Thanks 
>
>John Casey
>Learning Materials Manager
>TrustDR JISC Project Manager
>UHI Millennium Institute
>Room 145, Perth College, Perth, PH1 2NX, Scotland UK
>
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Tel: 01738 877213
>Mob: 07796930031
>Fax: 
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