Month: November 2008

Academic Technology, Copyright

New Guide to Using Copyrighted Material in the Classroom

admin

American University’s Center for Social Media has issued a new guide to using copyrighted materials in the classroom. The authoring of the guide involved over 150 educators and a review by experts in copyright law. Overall, the publication stresses the flexibility of the “fair use” provisions of copyright law which may allow for more legal use of copyrighted materials in teaching than many educators believe. Read the Chronicle of Higher Education’s brief coverage. Read the guide: The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education Continue reading New Guide to Using Copyrighted Material in the Classroom

Email, Security, Software, Tips

Open an Unanticipated PDF File, Infect Your PC!

Nick

Most everyone knows not to open executables (e.g., .exe, .bat, etc.) and documents (e.g., .doc, .xls, .ppt, .html, etc.) received via email when they’re not expected. However, did you know that Adobe Acrobat documents (.pdf) fall into the same category?? It’s quite straightforward for an attacker to invisibly modify a pdf document in such a way that it takes control of your PC when you open it. Unfortunately, anti-virus programs won’t always detect these malicious pdf documents accurately. There are two ways to protect yourself: 1. Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe software (go to Help and … Continue reading Open an Unanticipated PDF File, Infect Your PC!