In this post, I provide some introductory remarks on copyright and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for colleagues in the accountancy department at the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) at Concordia University.
1. How does copyright work?
Copyright is enacted by a federal statute, whereby conferring economic and artistic rights to creators of qualifying works. These rights may be mobilized by contracts or agreements, often called licenses when they are limited in scope. Copyright agreements mobilize copyrights with regards to many components, such as monetary flows, duration and termination, geographical dimension, markets, exclusivity, transferability… the complexity and nature of copyright agreements is up to the parties involved, the federal statute allows for an almost infinite combination of arrangements. When mobilizing exclusive rights, an agreement is necessary.
Copyright ownership is usually vested in the original creator. In Canada, employers are assigned the ownership of copyrighted works produced by their full time & permanent employees, unless their work contract stipulates otherwise. At Concordia, the CUFA collective agreement reverts copyright back to faculty with the University retaining a license on all materials for educational purposes for a decate. On the other hand, the CUPFA collective agreement, governing contractual workers, is silent in the matter.
In recent years, the digital environment has introduced a new kind of agreement, open licenses, which facilitate the sharing, reuse or distribution of online content without remuneration. These include Creative Commons or open source software licenses. At Concordia University Libraries, we support the transition to open access through open textbooks, open scholarship, and Spectrum, our open archive. Open licenses are essential to the movement toward open access.
In addition to economic and artistic rights, the Copyright Act edicts exceptions that are afforded to user communities in specific and limited circumstances. The most notable are the “fair dealings” exceptions, not to be confused with “fair use” in the USA. In Canada, there are eight fair dealings: education, research, private study, news reporting, parody, satire, criticism or review. In the “CCH Case” of 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada established boundaries to fair dealings. Other exceptions include those for the print disabled, for libraries and archives, or for educational institutions. When one qualifies for an exception, use may proceed with neither an agreement nor a payment. Libraries are often tasked with governing copyright exceptions.
Also, Copyright establishes institutions that govern the artistic, cultural, creative or communication ecosystems. These include collecting societies which automate or streamline rights clearance, a specialized tribunal, review parameters as well as other measures. In the educational sector, Copibec is a collecting society which offers licenses for reprography or digital use of textual material, most notably coursepacks. Similarly, the Library offers digital collections under licenses to the university community.
Finally, copyright interacts with many other legal regimes, most notably provisions in the Civil Code of Québec, which govern contracts or image rights, or federal telecommunications regulations, which govern what is broadcast on national airwaves.
A primary source is any original work that is unmediated by external analysis, evaluation, or interpretation. A secondary source is typically an external study of primary sources, usually written retrospectively. A tertiary source typically amalgamates the content found in primary and secondary sources and is less critical or argumentative than secondary sources.
With regards to primary or secondary sources, the distinction usually about the identity of the organization issuing the source. In the field of business, primary sources are documents issued by the corporation (press releases, product catalogues, corporate websites, advertisements, financial statements and other filings, etc.) while secondary sources are issued by others, most notably journalists or researchers writing articles about the corporation.
Interviews throw an interesting curve ball into this distinction. I would say that a news or trade journal article featuring an in-depth interview with an executive would probably qualify for a primary source, if the article contains only the interview. If the article only has a few quotes from a company source but contains much more than just the interview (say, commentary or analysis), then the article in question ceases to qualify as a primary source (primary = from the mouth of the corporation or their executives).
It is important to note that certain academic disciplines may have a different definition for primary/secondary sources. Most notably, historians usually consider historical newspaper articles as “primary sources” in their disciplines because of how they conceptualize these sources within the framework of their academic discipline. This is important should you seek out information on the Internet about primary/secondary sources…
As one of the librarians taking care of the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, I am responsible for supporting two of the five departments, namely Marketing and Management. Over a decade ago, I embarked on an initiative to transform my library service, leveraging blended pedagogy to provide Open Educational Resources for my community. Learning to use a library and trusted resources is the original (dare I say canonical) experiential learning activity. This simple fact is sometimes forgotten…
In short, my pedagogical delivery strategy involves curating a set of short videos (5 to 10 minutes), hosted on YouTube and embedded in an instructional website. These videos cover using specific databases to empower learners to succeed in their classroom activities. These videos also provide insight on search strategies and skills applied to the Canadian business environment. Students can discover these videos and corresponding web pages through direct links in the Moodle instance for their course, through subject guides on the library website or, more improbably, by searching on the Internet. I currently have about three dozen videos in active use.
JMSB provides for some distinct challenges in devising a library learning program. An entering cohort of new students has around 1500 undergraduates. Class sizes are capped at 60, which means that a required course would have up to 55 sections a year, spread over 5 semesters (fall and winter, as well as 3 spring/summer terms). In the past, I would strive to visit as many course-sections as humanly possible, sometimes providing up to 5 library lectures per day. These 60 to 90 minute lectures were provided to a handful of select courses, so each time a teaching faculty would request a library lecture, I would attempt to secure a visit in all sections. Other librarians would pitch in. My records would indicate that we would only visit about a third of course-sections as many teaching faculty would not allocate classroom time for our visits, for a handful of courses.
As I gained experience with my community, I became increasingly aware that the 60-90 minute lecture was neither systematic, nor sustainable. Blended learning, in the form of embedded video lectures on course-related websites, was the strategy I determined to be the most appropriate.
Given the current context, this asynchronous pedagogical strategy is more than necessary.
This question is quite astute as it allows me to consider both academic integrity as well as complying with copyright and licensing requirements. I’m periodically asked whether one can send an article or a report from a licensed database by our University Library to someone outside of our University’s library. The gist:
Don’t share, just cite ™
Source: Olivier Charbonneau, Senior Librarian, Concordia University (Montréal)
To expand on this simple guideline I can provide the following insight: our licensing agreements with most of our vendors do not allow members of the University Community to send the verbatim or full reports to parties from the external community. So, please do not forward PDFs from our licensed databases outside of our University. Caveat: anything on the “free web” – such as websites/reports from governments – are free to share in full (as per the Canadian Copyright Act).
I know this is unfortunate but I offer you a silver lining: members of the university community are allowed to read, learn and cite from reports or articles from our licensed databases to draft summaries or briefs. In addition, you can cite from multiple sources to craft a really powerful synthesis of a complex business topic. This resulting paper is your own, as long as you cite short but salient passages from reports or articles our licensed databases and provide the source in a proper bibliography (footnotes and/orendnotes).
This advice stems from a simple ethical rule in research: if you share a single source in full, this is usually called stealing… but if you cite salient but short passages from multiple sources and provide proper references, this is called research. The resulting research paper is yours: the authors of the research paper own the copyright of the resulting paper with citations and can leverage or mobilize it as they wish, like selling it to a client or posting it on the free web.
This is the ethical rule in authorship, in line with various complex copyright or licensing requirements, that exemplifies best practices for the university community. In addition, it also provides for a “value-added” service for business analysis: selecting and arranging salient business insight in a research brief. Believe it or not, this is what you are groomed to do in our business school. Your question exemplifies best practices, that of validating with a colleague how best to proceed given a novel or uncertain context.
In addition to the above insight, please allow me to point out the following resources I’ve created to support Canadian entrepreneurs:
2. My “expanded” list of resources, with licensed databases from our collection, is on the Library website: Entrepreneurship research guide
In closing, please note that this summer, I shall be overhauling my research guides and corresponding YouTube tutorials, so these sources will shift in the coming months, as fast as this humble librarian (and single dad from an undisclosed location deep in the Montréal Suburbs) can crank out web and video Open Educational Resources. Please consult my work blog, www.outfind.ca, for updates.
Here is a selection of books and other resources about board games. It came after a flurry of emails on academic listserv. Thank you to all of those who have suggested materials for this short bibliography !
Closed captions or transcribed video is a great idea for your YouTube videos. It allows watchers to follow along is a loud environment (like public transport) as well as offering the hearing impaired an opportunity to partake. Of course, learners of a new language can also use the transcription service to read the words as people speak.
Here are some simple steps to follow to add captions to any YouTube video. Take this example:
To add closed captions, follow these steps:
Click on the settings tool on the YouTube video interface (looks like a gearwheel) ** within ** the video pane
Select subtitles: automatic
Let Google’s AI do all of the heavy linguistic lifting.
The image below shows you hot to do this. Notice that my computer is configured in French, but that doesn’t matter, you get the idea:
Then, you can copy-paste the transcript by using the interface. Here’s how:
Click on the “more options” icon – the three grey dots next to the “save” option ** below ** the video
This post contains the lecture notes I will be using in an honors level undergraduate class. Remember, the library offers a Business Research Portal.
1. Is there information on the Internet?
Lecture; 10 minutes
Synthesis: Information (or more precisely: facts, opinions and data) is contained in documents. Documents may be posted on the Internet or published in electronic or print venues accessible through subscriptions or other forms of payment. A successful search for information implies thinking about (1) the motivations of those creating documents (e.g.: the goal) and their (2) expectations about posting on the internet or publishing in paid-for venues (e.g.: the source).
2. Compare articles
Activity; 10 minutes; Compare articles from various sources: blog, magazine, trade journal, Wikipedia, subject encyclopedia and scholarly journal
Focus: distinction between free or invisible (library) web
Synthesis: all articles are not created for the same audiences. Academic or peer-reviewed articles are the standard way to publish research results. University students are groomed to craft academic articles through writing papers as part of the requirements for their classes
3. Academic articles: structure and editorial process of scholarly communication
Lecture; 10 minutes
Synthesis: Structure & Editorial process of scholarly communication.
Structure of an academic article: research questions; conceptual framework; hypothesis/objectives and method; data & analysis; conclusion (very similar to an academic paper)
Process: peer review
4. Tools & strategies
Activity: 20 minutes
Transforming concepts to keywords for database searching
Compare Google Scholar and a library article database
Working from a known item – read the bibliography and explore related articles. Locate the article in a database and obtain keywords
Data sources on the Internet – be mindful of secrets
Here is a bibliography on the topic of research in Canadian universities. In no particular order, I’ve tried to incorporate some sub-themes, namely graduate students; research support; international; innovation. I’ve grouped results based on the type of source, such as trade associations, government reports and academic articles.
Trade Associations & Think Tanks
(Criteria: reports in English from the last 5 years issued by Canadian organisations. Method: Google with a focus on PDF files and keywords such as research, innovation, university)
(Using Google and Publications Canada’s search engine. Because universities are governed by provinces in Canada, I also looked to Québec. I included here reports provided by Concordia University, my employer, to government agencies. OECD also had some interesting reports, but not UNESCO.)
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2015. Health Research Roadmap II: Capturing Innovation to Produce Better Health and Health Care for Canadians: Strategic Plan 2014-15 – 2018-19. 39 pages. Retrieved from: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/documents/CIHR-strat-plan-eng.pdf
Science Canada. Collaboration between Federal Research Funding Organizations: Policies and Guidelines. Multiple pages. Retrieved from: http://www.science.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_1E7A5F18.html (list of cross sectorial issues important to all disciplines, including open access and research data management)
Statistics Canada, 2016. Higher Education Research and Development Estimates (HERD). Multiple Websites. Retrieved from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/imdb-bmdi/5109-eng.htm (yearly data, last updated on June 2016. Click on “related products” and explore publications, CANSIM data and The Daily for various reports and datasets)
Academic articles
(Using Concordia University Library‘s Discovery layer, I searched for canad* AND universit* AND (research* or innovat*) and filtered for peer-reviewed articles from the last 5 years. I reviewed the first 50 hits and selected articles based on perceived relevance.)
Gopaul, Bryan, et al. “The Academic Profession in Canada: Perceptions of Canadian University Faculty about Research and Teaching.” Canadian Journal of Higher Education 46.2: 55-77. Retrieved from: http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/185269
Moore, Gabriel, et al. “Implementing Knowledge Translation Strategies in Funded Research in Canada and Australia: A Case Study.” Technology Innovation Management Review 6.9: 16-27. Retrieved from: https://timreview.ca/article/1016
Mowery, David C., and Arvids A. Ziedonis. “Markets Versus Spillovers in Outflows of University Research.” Research Policy 44.1: 50-66. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.07.019
Murray, Dennis L., et al. “Bias in Research Grant Evaluation has Dire Consequences for Small Universities.” PLoS ONE 11.6: 1-19. Retrieved from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155876
SÁ, CRESO M., and ANDREW KRETZ. “Technology Commercialization as University Mission: Early Historical Developments at the University of Toronto.” Technology & Culture 57.1: 119-43. Retrieved from: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/611802
Sá, Creso M., and Jeffrey Litwin. “University-Industry Research Collaborations in Canada: The Role of Federal Policy Instruments.” Science & Public Policy (SPP) 38.6: 425-35. Retrieved from: http://spp.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/6/425.full.pdf
(Using CLUES, the library catalogue, for books with a Canadian focus from the last 5 years).
Brownlee, Jamie,author. Academia, Inc : How Corporatization is Transforming Canadian Universities. Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing. Retrieved from: http://clues.concordia.ca/record=b3271762
(ebook) Lacroix, Robert, Louis Maheu, and Paul Klassen translator, eds. Leading Research Universities : Autonomous Institutions in a Competitive Academic World. Montreal Quebec ;aKingston Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario: McGill-Queen’s University Press; Canadian Electronic Library. Retrieved from: http://clues.concordia.ca/record=b3231050
(ebook, original edition) Lacroix, Robert, and Louis Maheu, Les Grandes universités De Recherche : Institutions Autonomes Dans Un Environnement Concurrentiel. Montréal, Québec: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal. Retrieved from: http://clues.concordia.ca/record=b3293016
A colleague of mine used a tool call Padlet in a classroom setting during a presentation to foster open collaboration with attendees. Padlet is a collaborative website which allows posting small tidbits of information in a series of “wall-like” pages. A bit like a community board filles with sticky notes of links, videos and the like.
If you fiddle with the access settings of a padlet site, you can create a semi-open collaborative activity with a class.
Here is a quick tutorial I found on Youtube:
In fact, this tool reminds me of this interesting list of iPad apps presented at this training event in my university:
