Regular visitors to the site and teachers who follow me on Twitter will know that I left the mainstream classroom last year to commence teaching in a newly-established ASD unit in my school. It was a major change for me, having never taught in a special needs setting previously.
So, when I discovered that there was an ASD Classroom Support Facebook Page based in Ireland, I decided to join to hook up with teachers in a similar teaching position as me. I was hoping to get hints, tips and recommendations for approaches to teaching in an ASD setting.
Since I joined the Facebook Group, I’ve been more of a reader than contributor as I’m still learning lots in my new position. However, I have made a few contributions to discussions on the page.
Last Monday, the moderator of the page posted a username and password to a shared Dropbox account. To my dismay, when I accessed the Dropbox account, I discovered that teachers had downloaded copyrighted Seomra Ranga resources, especially SEN resources, which I had spent many hours creating, and uploaded them to be stored in this shared Dropbox account.
Storing Seomra Ranga resources on another website without permission breaches the Terms and Conditions of the site. So, I composed the following message (which I reproduce here unedited) and emailed it to the moderator of the Facebook Group:
Hi XXXXXX, my name is Damien Quinn, I am a member of your ASD Classroom Support Facebook Page as I teach in an ASD unit in Sligo. I also run the Seomra Ranga website in my spare time. The reason I’m making contact with you is the fact that Seomra Ranga resources are being shared in the Dropbox account, and in a way I feel bad about it, but when I explain to you, you may understand where I am coming from.
Firstly, the Terms and Conditions section of the site clearly states:
“The resources on the site may not be reproduced for others in any form. They may not be reproduced or included on any other website or in any other printed or electronic form without the express permission of Seomra Ranga. Site visitors are strongly urged to respect this copyright.”
All of the resources on the site are free to any teacher to download and I feel that I am doing my bit to share the resources that we are creating for our unit. However, the fact that Seomra Ranga resources are being downloaded and then uploaded by others into the ASD Dropbox account run by you, affects my revenue stream. Let me explain:
To run the site is the equivalent of me having a car loan per month in expenses. The only way I can keep the site online is to try to attract advertisers. The first thing any prospective advertiser wants to know is the level of traffic coming into the site, so I need to prove this to them in statistics. So, if teachers are going to the Dropbox account instead of to the site to download their resources , I am missing out on traffic to the site and hence missing out on advertisers.
I also have Google adverts on the site and when visitors to the site click on one of those adverts, I earn a very small amount, but it all adds up. If teachers are not visiting the site, again I am missing out on a possible revenue stream to keep the site online. If I cannot earn sufficient funds through advertising and Google adverts on the site, then it cannot pay its way and I will be forced to shut it down. I don’t want to do that but I cannot afford to keep something going that is not paying for itself.
I hope that all of this makes sense and explains why I decided to write you a (rather long!) email.
So, what I would like you to do is:
a. Please remove all Seomra Ranga resources from the ASD Dropbox account
b. Remind teachers that the resources are Copyrighted and that this copyright is being infringed by sharing them on another site
c. If teachers come across a resource on the site that they like, ask them to share a link to the resource so that they visit the site to download it instead.
Again, I hope you understand my reason for contacting you and look forward to your co-operation in this matter.
Regards, Damien
I had hoped that the copyright of Seomra Ranga would be respected and that I would receive due co-operation from a fellow Irish teaching professional. The reaction really surprised me. Not only did my email, and a subsequent email, not receive a reply, in less than an hour the moderator of the Facebook Group terminated my membership and changed the password to the shared Dropbox account.
So now, due to the actions of the moderator of this Facebook Group, not only can I not enjoy the collegial support of my fellow professionals, I now also cannot gauge the continuing level of disregard for the copyright of Seomra Ranga in the shared Dropbox account.
I’m deeply unhappy with the disrespect and disregard shown to the amount of time and effort I put into creating resources and making them freely available on the Seomra Ranga website in this instance. If you are one of the 216 members of this Facebook Group, I would ask you to stand up for the principles of copyright and urge the moderator, whom I have purposely not named, to take the course of action that I requested in my original email to her.
Even though all of the more than 3,500 resources on the site are free to download, many teachers are blissfully unaware that the site itself has costs associated with it. I described it in my email above as being like having a car loan every month. Many of you may be surprised to know that it costs in the hundreds of euro to keep the site online every month. As I also outlined in the email above, if I cannot attract advertising revenue either through paid adverts or through Google Ads, then the future viability of the site is placed in serious risk.
Ironically, the original password to the shared ASD Dropbox account, which has since been changed, was “sharingiscaring”. I’ve been freely sharing resources on the Seomra Ranga website for the past seven years and hope to do so well into the future. Breaches of copyright, such as those outlined in this post, puts that future at risk.
I informed the moderator of the Facebook Group that I would be writing this post if I did not receive a reply from her. As a courtesy, I also gave her a right of reply, a chance to explain her course of actions in this case. I still have not received any communication from her. The offer of a right of reply remains open to her and I will publish it here, if she so wishes.
ASD Classroom Support Facebook Page – Moderator’s Response
Dear Damien,
Thank you for taking the time to email my personal account re this matter.
I admit I was very naive setting up the Facebook group and Dropbox. I definitely knew there was a need for help and support but over the past months the group and Dropbox have become a busy forum.
Of course myself nor any other teacher would ever want to hurt your business. Every teacher in Ireland is Aware and appreciative of the resources on Seomra Ranga.
It was never my or anyone else’s intention to put your income or business at risk.
The reason why I took you from the group is that I have felt for quite a while you had other intentions with our group.. Not to share or support others.
I felt that your email to me was slightly aggressive and I feel you could have approached me differently. Especially when I am sure that you understand that I myself have not uploaded any Seomra Ranga resources, I am doing this in my own time.. No profiting, just like many more members.. Looking for support and hopefully supporting others, while also teaching full time and hoping to have a life outside of that.
Again It was never anyone’s intention to hurt your business and once explained to the entire group I’m sure your request will be respected as it should be.
I hope we can now put an end to this online bashing of the group and myself, which I personally feel is unprofessional.
Thank you
Aine