Digital Rights Management and e-Learning Sarah Currier and Lorna M. Campbell Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS) Centre for Academic Practice, Strathclyde University JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

References Towards a Digital Rights Expression Language Standard for Learning Technology A Report of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee Digital Rights Expression Language Study Group Principal Authors Norm Friesen, Magda Mourad, Robby Robson Contributing Authors Tom Barefoot, Chris Barlas, Kerry Blinco, Richard McCracken, Margaret Driscoll, Erik Duval, Brad Gandee, Susanne Guth, Renato Ianella, Guillermo Lao, Hiroshi Maruyama, Kiyoshi Nakabayashi, Harry Picarriello, Peter Schirling JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

What are digital rights? Digital rights determine who can do what under which conditions. Digital rights are not static. E.g. The author of an academic paper has intellectual property rights, the publisher holds copyright, readers will have usage rights when the paper is purchased or acquired. Many of these rights may change over time. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

What is digital rights management? Digital rights management is the process of: recording, transmitting, interpreting and enforcing digital rights. E.g. DRM involves recording information on the digital rights of a LO or asset, delivering both the LO and its licences and conditions of use to the user and protecting the LO against unauthorised use. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

What is the aim of digital rights management? The aim of DRM is to prevent unauthorized use and to preserve the integrity of digital information. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Why do we need digital rights management? We need digital rights management to: Avoid adverse legal actions. Ensure payment. Ensure proper attribution. Ensure the intellectual fidelity of content. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Digital rights management and e-learning Digital rights management issues are not specific to e-learning but… …the ability to specify and enforce digital rights is crucial to the success of e learning. DRM is of particular importance to the reuse and repurposing of learning objects. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

DRM and e-learning issues: multiple authors Educational content frequently has multiple authors. Authors institutions may have different policies for managing IPR, copyright and reuse. Aggregated resources will have multiple authors, rights and licences. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

DRM and e-learning issues: Dynamic rights Rights holders will have different & changing requirements. For instance: Authors may wish to make a paper free for academic use, charge a fee to commercial users and forbid military use. Publishers may initially charge a fee for new resources then make them freely available after a specific time period. Examination bodies may make papers available for a specific period and to a specific cohort of users. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

DRM and e-learning issues Learner created material There are many instances in e-learning where learners create or alter content as part of the learning experience. For instance: Taking tests, Producing documents, Sending , Interacting with simulations, Posting to bulletin boards. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

DRM and e-learning issues Attribution, quality control and fidelity In the educational community attribution and quality control are paramount. Reuse may only be permitted if authors are appropriately acknowledged. Fidelity of ideas and interpretations is also important. Authors may not allow their material to be reused out of context. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

DRM and e-learning issues Version control and appropriate copies Many copies of a single learning object may exist. Learning objects may be repurposed or aggregated to form new objects. The relationship of different versions of an object must be recorded. Repositories must know which version of an object to present to a user. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Who is dealing with DRM issues? IEEE Learning Object Metadata Standard LOM deals effectively with IPR by recording author, publisher, validator, editor, instructional designer, etc. But LOM provides the absolute minimum level of detail for rights management: Cost, Copyright and Other Restrictions, Description. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Who is dealing with DRM issues? IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee Digital Rights Expression Language Study Group The DREL Study Group aims to identify the most appropriate approach to developing a digital rights expression language tailored to meet the requirements of learning technology. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Who is dealing with DRM issues? CEN/ISSS Learning Technology Workshop Educational Copyright Licence Conditions Project Team. Led by Richard McCracken,Head of Rights, Open University. Producing an overview of all types of copyright issues. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Digital Rights Expression Languages Rights may be managed using digital rights expression languages. DRELs specify the permissions given to users, distributors and repositories and the conditions and obligations that have to be satisfied for these permissions to be exercised. JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003

Existing Digital Rights Expression Languages ODRL Initiative: Open Digital Rights Language Content Guard: Extensible Rights Markup Language (XrML) American Association of Publishers: Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Open eBook Forum: Open eBook JISC IPR Workshop, May 2003