Discusses the evolution of authorship and copyright from the Middle Ages to the present. Highlights include the rise in literacy and increased demand; censorship and state-granted licenses; legislation; intellectual property and the means of production and dissemination as the basis for the publishing business; information access and copyright…

Discusses legal issues involved in developing and distributing multimedia publications. Examines libel; rights of publicity; and such elements of copyright law as copyright protections and infringements, fair use and public domain policies, and use of ideas and factual materials. Uses a hypothetical multimedia project to illustrate the legal rules…

Canada and Brazil have set a precedent for aboriginal lands rights cases in recent decisions to set aside homelands for indigenous peoples. Discusses these decisions, land claims settlements, ramifications, and outstanding issues in need of resolve. (MCO)

Explores the relationship between collection development and the system of scholarly communication in academic libraries. Ownership of versus access to information is discussed; use-based criteria are considered; and strategies for collection development in a networked electronic system are presented. (Contains 17 references.) (LRW)

Discusses the ethical challenges of information technology, particularly electronic indexes and the Internet; considers principles to guide students; and discusses possible librarian responses. Topics include Kant's categorical imperative, ownership, right to privacy, social responsibility, self-respect, plagiarism and copyrights, and three…

Highlights key aspects of and issues related to the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998," a bill passed by the U.S. Senate on May 14, 1998. Discussion includes banning of black boxes (i.e., technological-protection measures such as tv signal scramblers), fair-use protection, identification of copyrighted works, protection for…

Copyright and other intellectual property issues have dominated discussions of legal issues surrounding the Internet. There are other issues of considerable importance that also attract attention. Five legal issues affecting the Internet are addressed: copyright, online service-provider liability, database protection, obscenity, and privacy. Cited…

For the thirty-seventh year, the Research and Theory Division and the Division of Instructional Design of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) sponsored the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. This year's Proceedings…

This research explores the history, philosophies and practices of an "A rated" public charter school (serving infants through 8th grade) in Florida. Participants are the professional educators who were involved in the founding of the school in 1999. Findings are based on semi-structured interviews probing the details of the history of…

The central focus of social studies education is to help develop effective citizens in a democratic society, and one of the components of effective citizenship is the development of critical thinking skills (Mallen 2005; National Council for the Social Studies 1991; Parker 1999). One aspect of critical thinking is the ability to look at…

From a financial perspective, the criteria for category distinction of higher education institutions should be based on the ownership of institution property and income for recurrent expenditure. The development of modern higher education witnessed the period wherein higher education institutions have both private property and private payment for…

Although violent crime in schools has showed a steady decline in recent years, it remains a serious concern, and administrators are continually looking for more effective approaches to school safety. At the same time, the best school environments are not only safe and secure, but also attractive and comfortable. The right school setting can…

This paper contends that Maria Montessori had a negative effect on the diffusion of the Montessori method in the United States. Throughout her life, Montessori held to the belief that her thoughts and their expression remained her exclusive intellectual property. She therefore tried to exert as much control as possible over the training of…

An exploratory study examined the premise that pets provide developmental benefits for young children. Four hypotheses were derived from prior research: (1) children who have a bond with a dog or cat show more maturity in their cognitive, moral, and emotional development than children who do not have such pets; (2) children who have a more…

Questionnaires were sent to 114 of the 228 editorial page editors at newspapers in the United States with daily circulations greater than 50,000 for a study that compared (1) the editor-publisher relationship existing at chains to that found at independent papers, and (2) the 1984 presidential endorsements made by chains to those by independent…