Sparky Award Web tools

August 20, 2008 David Free Awards, Scholarly Communication 0

The organizers of the Sparky Awards video contest have released several new resources to help college instructors and librarians engage students in an exploration of information sharing and copyright by encouraging their participation in the 2008 contest, “MindMashup: The Value of Information Sharing.” Contestants are invited to submit videos of two minutes or less that imaginatively portray the benefits of the open, legal exchange of information on the Internet. Mashup is an expression referring to a song, video, Web site, or software application that combines content from more than one source.

Educators at all types of institution — including 4-year colleges and universities, community and junior colleges, art and film schools, and others — are invited to incorporate the contest into fall curricula, whether as a formal assignment or extracurricular activity. The following new resources are available to facilitate adoption of the contest:

–    Video invitation to enter the Sparky Awards
–    Sparky Awards promotional poster
–    Educators’ Guide to Using the Sparky Awards in Your Classes
–    Librarians’ Guide to Introducing the Sparky Awards on Your Campus
–    Banner ad art to promote the Sparky Awards on Web sites

All tools are available for download and customization through the Sparky Awards Web site, along with complete details on the awards.

The 2008 Sparky Awards are organized by SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and cosponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, Campus MovieFest, Penn Libraries, Students for Free Culture, and The Student PIRGs.