GATEWAY OR GATEKEEPER - THE IMPLICATIONS OF COPYRIGHT AND DIGITALIZATION ON EDUCATION

Copyright represents a delicate balance between society's need to acce ss important and enriching material and the rights of the creators. As technology transforms the means for creating and exchanging informati on, the challenges to copyright carry serious implications for educati on. This paper considers the issues surrounding copyright, education, and the digitalization of society and traces the history of copyright through the evolution of communication media-its role in creating and distributing knowledge. The dialectical relationship between communica tion as transmission and communication as dialogue serves as the theor etical basis for this analysis. Two suggestions for maintaining the ba lance include licensing arrangements and modification of fair use.