Tony Dye

Computer Literacy, Part 2

At the end of February, I did a post about "the new literacy" that generated a range of comments in response.  The discussion even continued on a couple of other blogs.  Because it's so easy to miss blog comments, let me highlight a few.

• Michael Sainz mentioned not only the need for technology skills, but also the desire to use them to passionately deliver the Gospel.
• Pam Matthews raised the question of how to test for computer literacy and how to integrate that thinking into the HR department and hiring processes.
• Kirk Longhofer brought in the issues of budgeting and pay and the needs for good administrative assistants.  Kirk then continued the conversation in a post on his own blog.
• Jim Walton pushed back a bit and raised the need for us (IT) to invest in training new users and volunteers.
• Jimmy Williams commented on a current day situation at his church where lack of skills had a real cost
• Mike Mayfield reiterated that training alone may not be sufficient; sometimes the underlying capacity (or desire) just isn't there.
• Michael Bells issued the reminder that relationship is more important than technology.
• Glenn Wood asked about the need for standards and then ways to test for those capabilities, to help make for a more objective hiring process.
• Allen Madding suggests building a team of volunteer mentors to come along side the staff.
• John Dolan rather strongly disagreed with the concept of computer literacy being the new literacy and challenged us all to find ways to support our less-technical users.
• Bryan Johnson mostly reinforced John's position and also suggested staffing to come along side of those without the technical skills.  He brought it down to the "simple" question of good stewardship.
• John Ventry picked up on the train of thought on his own blog and moved more into the training direction.

That's a lot of widely varied response on this topic.  Probably worth a bit more dialog here.

Kevin McCord's New Blog

Kevin McCord already does lots of interesting things on his "regular" site, but now he's launched a new site, 3D Ministry.

Update: As of 5/1/2008, Kevin has moved to Typepad.

Teacher Copyright Document

I received the document below from a former school teacher.  These were the guidelines distributed in her school.  Apparently these guidelines were widely accepted and never questioned.  I sure have some concerns.  Do you think these guidelines are suitable for a school?  For a church?

COPYRIGHT GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS

PERMITTED	NOT PERMITTED
Single copy: chapter of a book	Several chapters of a book
Single copy: article from magazine or newspaper	Several articles per magazine
Single copy: Short story, short essay, short poem	Consumables: workbooks, copyrighted worksheets, tests
Single copy: chart, graph, picture, non-syndicated, non-copyrighted cartoon	Photocopying worn ditto masters
Multiple Copies for Classroom:	Multiple Copies for Classroom:
Complete poem less than 250 words	Using/making multiple copies of same material semester after semester
Excerpt from long poem not to exceed 250 words	Creating “anthologies”
Article, story, or essay less than 2,500 words	Copying workbooks and other words meant to be used once by one student
ONE chart, graph, diagram, picture, or ns/nc cartoon PER book or periodical	Copying more than one or two excerpts from a single author during one class term
Above is allowed if: Copying is for 1 course only; not enough time to request permission; one work from a single author; less than 3 authors from collective work; 9 or less instances of multiple copying per term; copying not used to create or replace anthologies; same copying not repeated next term
Classroom quantities of current news articles if individual articles not copyrighted
All multiple copying must be at the inspiration of the individual teacher and the decision to use the material so close to the date needed for instruction as to preclude securing copyright permission from the copyright holder.
BIG BOOKS:
One illustration per book	Copying “just” the text from big book or picture book
Less than 10% of text per book	Making an audio tape of someone narrating a big book or picture book
AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS:
Creating slide sets from books, magazines, etc., as long as only one per source used	Copying audio tapes or video tapes for archival or back up purposes
Making one overhead transparency of one page of one workbook	Reproducing musical works or converting from one form to another (record to cassette)
Converting a damaged filmstrip to a slide set, keeping same order minus damaged frames	Copying any audiovisual work in its entirety (except off-air taping)
Enlarging a map with an opaque projector for tracing but not duplicating color scheme, symbols, etc.	Converting from one medium format to another
Copying non-dramatic literary, audiovisual works for use by blind or deaf individuals	Recording the text of a book or textbook onto another cassette

COPYRIGHT GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS

PERMITTED	NOT PERMITTED
SOFTWARE
Copying into RAM if copying is necessary to use the program	Circulation of archival copy
One copy for archival purposes	“Networking” software without license or permission
Probably may make a 3.5” disk from a 5 ¼” disk if the  5 ¼” disk is considered the archival copy	Loading a single copy of a software program onto several computers for simultaneous use
Back up copies of hard drives as long as they are not used to run another drive
Library lending or public domain software
DATABASES
May download searches	Downloaded searches should not be retained
	Downloaded material may not be used to create a derivative work
CD-ROM
May print out pages or references or other works for study or teaching	Printing out large section of work
MUSICALS, DRAMATIC, AND NON-DRAMATIC PERFORMANCES
School performances open to the public	School drama club performing a copyrighted play broadcast over cable to classes
	Recording of choral or instrumental concerts and then giving or selling recording to parents
MULTIMEDIA
Teacher or student-developed multimedia program of copyrighted programs for use in classroom only	Teacher or student-developed multimedia program of copyrighted works for use in displays, festivals, parent meetings, or other public events
INTERNET
Downloading public domain software	Uploading copyrighted software to Internet for downloading
	Collecting materials off the internet and compiling into a new work
DIGITAL
	Digitized a copyrighted slide collection
	Scanning copyrighted materials (magazine photograph, cartoon illustration, etc.,) for school newspaper

COPYRIGHT GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS

PERMITTED	NOT PERMITTED
MUSIC
Emergency copies for performance provided, copies are later purchased	Copying from consumables such as workbooks, exercises, etc.
Single or multiple copies of excerpts for study or teaching, IF excerpts do not constitute a performable unit such as a movement or aria	Copying for performance
Editing purchased copies for simplification, IF character of work is not changed and lyrics are not changed	Copying to create anthologies
Single copy of performances by students made for evaluation or rehearsal purposes	Copying to avoid purchasing
Copy of recording for purposes of aural testing	Copying but excluding copyright notice
Portion of commercial music played as a background in student media production
VIDEO (Educational/Instructional OFF-AIR Taping)
May record program off-air IF:
Program is used for instructional purposes, or face-to-face teaching, not for entertainment or filler	Videotaping in anticipation for requests
Program is shown once and repeated once per class by individual teacher during first 10 consecutive school days after broadcast	Showing a program after 10 days
Program is not retained beyond 45 calendar days	Retaining a program longer than 45 days
Program is recorded in its entirety (need not be used in its entirety)	Taping a program at home, using in the classroom, and subsequently retaining in personal collection
After first 10 consecutive school days, program is used only for evaluation by teacher
VIDEO (OFF-AIR taping at home)
May tape program at home and bring to school to use, but all educational guidelines must be followed	Individual who taped program may not retain it
May show “home” tape if above criteria are followed and if tape is legally made
VIDEO (Cable)
May tape programs being simultaneously broadcast (see OFF-AIR education/instructional guidelines)	May not tape programs not being broadcast simultaneously (CNN, Discovery, Disney, HBO, etc.) unless PRIOR approval or license obtained from cable network
May probably show videos or motion pictures via cable within a building as long as programs are used in face-to-face teaching and are of an instructional nature	May not show programs of a musical, dramatic, or entertainment nature
VIDEO (Purchased)
Showing purchased or rented videotape for curriculum-supported, face-to-face teaching activities	Showing purchased or rented videotape for entertainment, rewards, rainy days, filler, or non-instructional purposes

A Copyright Question

A little copyright challenge for you.  Let me start with a presumption, which may be debatable.  If I have a book, or magazine, or pretty much anything, then I'm free to make a photocopy of particular pages *for my own use.*  (but not for distribution, and if I give away the original, I must destroy the copy)

Now, take this one step further.  I've ordered books for each member of my team, but haven't received them yet, nor paid for them, but I have proof of the order.  I really want to discuss a concept from the book with my team.  Can I go ahead and make copies of a page or two, one for each member, corresponding to the books that are already on order for each of them, and for their own personal use related to the discussion?

This is a real scenario.  I am waiting for some books to arrive and really want to start the conversation early.  At my department meeting last week, I came in with the copies, explained the situation, and asked the team what we should do.  Their answer surprised me.

What would you do?

Copyright Challenge 1

Let's try a hypothetical copyright challenge.  We all like Dilbert (c) and using a Dilbert comic can certainly improve almost any presentation, right?  But, we know there are restrictions.  What do they allow?

I liked last week's cartoon, so I'm going to copy it and put it on my website.  Everybody agree, that's a clear case of copyright violation?  But, if I'm doing a presentation for "education purposes only," isn't that one of those things covered by "Fair Use?"  I don't think so.  Consider this text from the Dilbert site (and even using this text from their site to illustrate their point is well into the gray area): 

"The contents of this web site (including the property of UFS/UM and other third parties, the "UFS/UM Materials") may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed, in whole or in part, for any purpose other than individual viewing of this web site, without the express prior written consent of UFS/UM or the relevant third party. "

"Other than individual viewing."  Sounds pretty clear to me.  But wait, just because they say that on the web site, does that make it right?  (If you read this line you owe me $100 -- think that will work?)

In my opinion, copyright law, fair use, and the statements on the Dilbert site are pretty clear and seem to all be in agreement.  You can't use a Dilbert cartoon without getting permission.  Done deal.  I'm looking for someone to disagree and have some sort of case law to back up that disagreement.

Now, let's try another variance.  A pastor decides he likes Dilbert too.  This pastor wants to comply with copyright law (of course!), so he doesn't copy the cartoon.  Instead, he provides a URL to the graphics team and asks them to go to that Internet site during the sermon and just show what *anybody* can see on the web by going there.  No copying, no lawbreaking.  Right?  I think this is just as much a violation as the flagrant copying.  Again, I'd love to hear disagreement and the reasons.

What is "Fair Use?"

I'm trying to understand copyright law.  (I'm desperate, obviously)  The key of copyright seems to be the "fair use" clause.  The first challenge is to actually find that clause, rather than just all kinds of discussion about it.

The government's own site has a section on fair use, but does that actually have the text?  Nooo.  But it does link to Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107.  Finally, the real thing.  Well, maybe it's the right thing.  But it sure references far too many other sections and has so many exception clauses!  Geesh!  I can tell this is something written by lawyers for the benefit of lawyers (as in keeping them employed).

So, where is this supposed clause that says things about use by nonprofits and educational institutions?  There are a lot of references to education and nonprofit (but not much in section 107), but those clauses seem to apply to libraries and phonorecords and other not-very-church-oriented stuff.

Anybody have any great "you CAN do this and you CANNOT do this" information that actually references back to real copyright law?

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Notice the neat organization of the cables.  Notice how each of the 25 pair cables is neatly Velcro'd into place to prevent any possibility of them falling out.  Then notice how the one cable which is far more important is just a typical PC power cable with no safety feature at all.

OK, this is a phone system, not a server, but look behind your server.  All the cables latch into place with one exception.  Why is this?

Bonus question 1: Can you tell me what the specific equipment is in this picture?  (beyond saying "a telephone system" -- go for brand/model)

Bonus question 2: Do you know where this particular system is located?  (It is NOT at Perimeter church, although we do use the same basic model)

Emergency Preparedness - This is ONLY a Test

Last week, we had all sorts of "interesting things" happen.  Why should this week start out any differently.? Monday, 2 AM, got the alert -- Perimeter site is down.  Not only have we lost our T1 connection, our back-door DSL connection is out too.  Wow...that's a lot of outage and not many things in common.  OK, it could be a cable cut, but at 2 in the morning?  Well...it could be a major power failure, but we have a backup generator, so that doesn't seem likely.  What could it possibly be?

Now my mind is racing?  Fire?  Explosion?  Fire in the server room?  Fire anywhere else in the building that might have set of the sprinklers, which would be almost as bad as a fire.  I decided to wait until 6 to go in, but I didn't sleep much -- don't know why I waited.

6:00 AM, arrive at the church. Well, the building is still there, no fire trucks, and from all outside indications all is fine.  Hmmm...  Walk in the building, still fine.  Into the server room, first glance, all is fine.  So why aren't things working.  Then I notice it.  Some, but not all, of the servers are off.  The firewall is down.  The DSL firewall is down.  What could do such a thing?

The answer is simple.  We had a major power failure combined with a failure of our backup generator.  Now, back to the title of this post.  The backup generator is tested EVERY week!  How could it choose to fail at this very moment?  Actually, it didn't.  It failed weeks ago!  The company that formerly did the maintenance and testing (formerly, as up until today) did run the test every week.  But...they didn't ever check the results, so they had no record of it failing every week!

Lesson learned.  Actually, this isn't my problem -- our facilities group is responsible for the generator, so it's only a hassle for the IT department that the generator failed, but what an example for all of us.  Testing, without monitoring, or monitoring, without alerting, or alerting, without an action plan, all end up being the same as not having anything in place at all.

As I was lying awake all morning, the number of scenarios for failure going through my head was staggering.  How to have a plan to deal with them is also is also of concern.  How can this be done?  I think it's through simple things.  After the fact, we learned that quite a few people had known of the generator failure weeks ago, but didn't think to tell anyone.  How do we teach people to recognize that something is wrong, and take some action?  It's more than having a good disaster plan.  It takes reviewing it with new staff, and even re-reviewing it regular with staff that have been around.

I now remember last time we had a problem like this.  About 7 years ago.  We messed up that time, too.  sigh

Update:  We found the problem.  The battery that cranks the generator wasn't charged, or had gone bad, or otherwise failed.  Grabbed another battery and we were fine again.  Of course, this was discovered a bit after power failed the SECOND time, just moments after we'd successfully powered everything back up.  We got to test our procedures twice in 12 hours.  I didn't like this test.  But I learned from it!

Roundtable: Standards

Roundtable notes, part 7

(Standards were already given a minor bit of attention in the previous "top priorities" post)

IT sets the hardware standards. IT sets the software standards*.  Important that standards be published.

Donations?  Watch out!  "Just say 'no!'"  Suggest the donor give it to Goodwill or Salvation Army or similar.  Clif’s church has a recycling ministry where they refurb things and ship them out.  They move their church equipment through the recycling ministry.  Allows them to accept anything, even if they in turn have to dispose of it.

How do you get leadership to buy into policies and standards (and help reinforce them)?  How do you communicate the standards to users? Goes back to policies.  Most users accept if we don’t come across as the IT Nazi.  But also if you’re balking because you don’t know how to support it and you need to learn about it, you should try to enable their ministry.

Also be ready to flex.  Rigid standards can come back to bite you.  Expect standards to evolve.

Jason mentioned that he has a policy on standards that he's willing to share.  Jason, if you'll post it somewhere, I'll be glad to link to it.

* There was a minor side discussion regarding Media Shout and it's apparent requirement for Admin privileges.  Anybody know a work-around?

Best Practice Thoughts from Nick Nicholaou

Nick is president of Ministry Business Services, Inc.  He recently posted a comment to the earlier topic of Church IT Reference Sources.  I've reproduced that comment below:

This is a challenging issue because of the perspective most ministries have of IT. While consulting with a client recently I likened IT to custodial staff in that we're a necessary cost of doing business that most try to minimize. Yet "industry" is taking the lead by including IT as part of their top-tier management team!

Our team does its best to try to improve this situation. Over the years we have written hundreds of articles (more than a hundred are freely available on our website) that have been published and reprinted in trade journals targeted toward ministry. Some who read them have made the change in how they perceive IT (Rick Warren with Saddleback is a good example) and have had good results. The reality still exists, however, that most ministries make decisions that either impact IT or are impacted by IT without IT's input!

Nick and his team are yet another good resource for Church IT information.  I highly recommend creating an account on his website and then looking at the numerous articles that will be available to you after logging in.  Note that some of these articles are a bit dated, and some you may not agree with, but in almost every case, there is information worth reviewing.