Monday, July 30, 2007

Using Science Fiction Films in the Classroom

Firooznia, F. (2006). Giant ants and walking plants: Using science
fiction to teach a writing-intensive, lab-based biology class for
nonmajors
. Journal of College Science Teaching, 35(5), 26-31.

Films were used to teach the scientific method in a laboratory course.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Media Literacy - Class activities

Jordan Rose from the Center for Science Education told me about this great site: PBS Teachers - Media Literacy. I think the activities under the sections "Science & Technology" and "Health and Fitness" are good and relevant for college students.

Topics discussed include natural disasters, science fiction movies, and anthropomorphism of nature.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Katrina Hurricane film list

Browse this list of Hurricane Katrina films and news clips.

Rent or Buy?

The library policy is to try to buy a film instead of renting a film. Please send Kristan the titles you want to use in your class.

If the library cannot purchase the title, we may be able to rent it. The Music & Media Library has a film rental service to support courses in Emory College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. To initiate the rental process, instructors should fill out a Rental-Film Request Form and deliver it to the Heilbrun Music & Media Library at least four weeks in advance. Please note that the library can only rent films currently in commercial distribution in the US.

Charges: For each title, the library pays up to $100 of the rental fee. The sponsoring department pays any additional amount.

Public Showings

The library owns some films that were purchased with public-performance licenses and therefore can be shown outside the classroom. Contact James Steffen at the Music and Media Library at 7-8107 or steffen.james@gmail.com to see if the film you plan to show has public performance rights.

Departments wishing to sponsor showings which are not intended for a particular class should make their own rental arrangements. The Music & Media Library staff can provide information about vendors and procedures.

How do other universities handle this? See Showing Films at Harvard

Copyright Law & Academic Use

According to the law, you may only show a film if you are at home showing a film to your family and a couple of friends, OR you are in a classroom with registered pupils and therefore fit in the exemption detailed in section 110(1) of the copyright law, OR you have obtained permission for the performance from the copyright holder.

Please note, the exemption in section 110(1) is specifically for classroom use and students enrolled in a class. It DOES NOT INCLUDE activities such as showing a film at a club meeting or showing films to groups on campus or in residence halls or as part of a public lecture. To show a film outside the classroom, you MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION from the copyright holder (i.e. have a public performance license from the copyright holder) -- it does not matter if you or your group charge admission to the event or not.

Also note that some of the library's films and videos are covered by license agreements made at the time of purchase. In such cases, Emory may only use the film under the terms specified in the license. Sometimes the library has to agree to highly restrictive licenses in order to obtain an important title. The library also owns some films that were purchased with public-performance licenses and therefore can be shown outside the classroom.

Copyright law can be confusing!! The Emory Music and Media Library can work with you to determine the licensing and viewing rules for the films it owns. As there can be legal and financial consequences for not following copyright law, please consult the Library before showing a film. Contact James Steffen at the Music and Media Library at 7-8107 or steffen.james@gmail.com for more information.

About Emory's Film Library

The collection is rich in unexpected ways and includes many works which are difficult to obtain outside the Library. Our librarians work with independent filmmakers as well as educational film distributors, feature film distributors and television distributors from around the world to obtain videos for the Emory collection. Librarians have obtained videos directly from filmmakers who have not yet acquired distributors or whose films have been suppressed, and are often on the phone with distributors to arrange purchase of documentaries and films as soon as they are released.

Among the library’s strongest film collections are those related to Africa, public health, AIDS, as well as a wide variety of ethnographic and documentary films. Additionally, the collection contains a large selection of feature films from various countries, including many titles that are not distributed on DVD in the US. Particular areas of strength include Japanese and various Latin American national cinemas.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Environmental Studies Films at Emory

A list of films of interest to the Department of Environmental Studies at Emory is available.

Faculty can reserve films for a class by contacting the Heilbrun Music Library staff.

Students can view films in the Heilbrun Music Library and some DVDs can be rented. Learn about student rental privileges.

Faculty can contact Kristan for assistance locating films related to a specific theme and request film purchases.