This week’s Web 2.0 Weekly article will be a little different in that I won’t be writing about a new Web 2.0 tool for the classroom.  Instead, I’m going to focus on an issue that I feel is critical to 21st Century educators: terms of service agreements.  My personal opinion is that we, as Lutheran educators, have a responsibility to model good online citizenship by abiding by the agreements under which Web 2.0 sites provide their services.

Let’s take a look at YouTube.  YouTube has always been somewhat controversial in educational circles because some of the content hosted there is not suitable for minors.  Some teachers and administrators see no educational value to the site, while I know others who make very good use of YouTube to provide a multimedia component for their lessons.  The point of this article isn’t to argue the educational merits of YouTube, though.  What I want to do is take a look at YouTube’s Terms of Use.

First, let’s look at the mechanism by which users accept the Terms of Use

2. Accepting the Terms

2.1 In order to use the Service, you must firstly agree to the Terms. You may not use the Service if you do not accept the Terms.

2.2 You can accept the Terms by simply using the Service. You understand and agree that YouTube will treat your use of the Service as acceptance of the Terms from that point onwards.

In other words, using YouTube means you have accepted their Terms of Use and agree to be bound by them.  Such a provision is fairly standard for Web 2.0 services, so there really isn’t anything shocking about it.

What does YouTube have to say about restrictions it places on your use of the site? This section is a bit long, so I’m going to only focus on a few of the restrictions.  I encourage you to check out this section in its entirety at the link above.

5. General restrictions on use

5.1 YouTube hereby grants you permission to access and use the Service, subject to the following express conditions, and you agree that your failure to adhere to any of these conditions shall constitute a breach of these Terms on your part:

1. you agree not to distribute any part of or parts of the Website or the Service, including but not limited to any Content, in any medium without YouTube’s prior written authorisation, unless YouTube makes available the means for such distribution through functionality offered by the Service (such as the YouTube Player);

2. you agree not to alter or modify any part of the Website or any of the Service (including but not limited to the YouTube Player and its related technologies);

3. you agree not to access Content through any technology or means other than the video playback pages of the Website itself, the YouTube Player, or such other means as YouTube may explicitly designate for this purpose;

4. you agree not to (or attempt to) circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with any security related features of the Service or features that (i) prevent or restrict use or copying of Content or (ii) enforce limitations on use of the Service or the content accessible via the Service;

12. you agree not to access Content or any reason other than your personal, non-commercial use solely as intended through and permitted by the normal functionality of the Service, and solely for Streaming. “Streaming” means a contemporaneous digital transmission of the material by YouTube via the Internet to a user operated Internet enabled device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and not intended to be downloaded (either permanently or temporarily), copied, stored, or redistributed by the user.

13. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content.

There’s a great deal of information in this section that’s worth noting for the classroom.  The most import, in my opinion, is the absolute prohibition on downloading any content for non-real-time viewing.  Many teachers want to download YouTube videos so that they can have easy access to them later or so they can embed them in presentations.  Some may also have bandwidth issues that make it difficult to stream video content.

It’s actually very easy to download content from YouTube.  There are numerous sites and programs designed to do just that, but making use of them violates YouTube’s Terms of Use.

Some of you may be wondering why I’m making such a big deal about this.  You might also be thinking that no one really cares if you download videos from YouTube.  I feel this is an important issue because it show students (and the community at large) our trustworthiness.  YouTube’s Terms of Use are a legally binding contract between you and YouTube.  By using the site, you agree to uphold that contract.  The same can be said for software licensing agreements and (legal) music downloads.  Violating those agreements (beyond just the possibility of committing a criminal act) shows students two things.  First, that restrictions like those in YouTube’s Terms of Use are meaningless  and it’s okay to circumvent them.  Second, it creates an atmosphere of distrust in the classroom.  If the teacher is willing to break their agreements with major companies, why wouldn’t they do the same with their students?

We are called upon to hold ourselves to the highest of standards.  In Philippians 2:14-16a (ESV), Paul writes

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life…

Part of “shining as lights in the world” is setting an example for our communities about what it means to be a child of God.  Upholding terms of service agreements is just one way we can do that.

So, what can you do to make use of YouTube videos in presentations without violating their Terms of Use?  There are two ways to do just that.  The simplest solution is to just place an active hyperlink to the desired YouTube video in your presentation.  Clicking on the hyperlink will launch your computer’s default web browser and display the video.  This method may run afoul of security restrictions on your system, so be sure to try it out first.  The other solution is to make use of YouTube’s playlist feature to create a playlist of videos you want to share with your class.  (You may need a YouTube account to access this feature.)  Then, you’ll just need to use a web browser to open your playlist and select the desired video.