Copyright violation
One of the most common ways in which students can contravene the social media policy rules of their institution is to share inappropriate material because they think it is helpful to other students. Reflect upon the example below.
Good morning everyone, I am wondering if a past or current student of E*** would be willing to screen shot the lecture on Attachment Theory to me? I missed the lecture – even better if you have a recording of it on your phone! I wish you all the best with the latest essay
Many thanks
Fred
Activity 5 Sharing on social media
You recorded the lecture on your phone because it helps you to make sense of your notes after – do you think that sharing it on social media is breaking any rules? You made the recording on your phone so surely it belongs to you and you can choose what to do with it. Or can you?
Comment
It may surprise you to know that if you ever shared screenshots or recordings of content created by your lecturers then you may have broken your institution’s Social Media Policy. Although you are a student at the institution the university owns the copyright to the material that is created or used in lectures. By sharing screenshots or recordings or other university material online you are breaching copyright and risk falling foul of your institution’s social media policy.
This rule is fairly standard across institutions. For example, the Open University Social Media Guidelines state
- Module materials including assessment questions, or anything provided by a tutor must not be shared without permission and where permission is given, you must credit the source.
- Recordings or extracts of recordings of online tutorials must not be shared on social media
In brief, if it is was not created by you, then you will need the owner’s permission to share it.