I'm with Gil and I think he's spot on in emphasizing the importance of understanding 'fair use' as an essential need and right. I would add that as a research community we need to not only defend but promote 'fair use' whenever possible. The law (U.S.) is deliberately vague in this area because 'fair use' was always intended to be an ethical assessment/judgment made by the copyright user rather than a narrowly defined set of rules/regulations dictated from the top down. Obviously, the courts will decide the outcome if the copyright holder brings a claim of infringement, but fear or uncertainty should not deter us from using materials necessary for critical analysis (among other things). It does mean we need to make a solid argument as to how the use of materials falls within the doctrine of fair use. Mark mentioned the ICA's recent release of a "best practices" document. I'll just mention that it's the latest of several that have been developed by communities of researchers/practitioners/educators to help their members understand what 'fair use' might mean and to help make good decisions in context. Incidentally, documentary filmmakers experienced a lot of positive outcomes from developing such a document (see American University's Center for Social Media site: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use). AOIR doesn't have anything like this, so I agree it's worth talking about in Gothenburg. Andre, I'd be happy to meet about this with a group of colleagues. Maybe we could all watch Lawrence Lessig's presentation (Nov 2009 for Educause) to get geared up for it: "It's about time: Getting our values about copyright" http://blip.tv/file/2827842 annette On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 4:33 PM, Gilbert B. Rodman <gbrodman@mindspring.com>wrote:
Two quick comments here, both AGAINST the notion that André necessarily has to ask for permission to use the images in question.
First, "fair use" arguably disappears -- in specific cases, if not as a whole -- the moment you ask for permission. At the very least, asking for permission potentially prevents you from asserting "fair use" later (which you might still want to do if, for example, your request isn't answered in a timely fashion), since it demonstrates that you don't believe your quotation of the material qualifies as "fair use."
Second, "fair use" isn't simply some technical quirk in US copyright law that allows scholars to get away with what is otherwise morally questionable activity. It is arguably one of the basic rights that enables us -- along with journalists, reviewers, critics, and a vast range of other cultural commentators -- to do our jobs. I'm willing to bet that the publisher André is dealing with is NOT making him secure permission every time he quotes printed texts. He undoubtedly needs to attribute such quotes properly, and there are likely to be restrictions on how much of a source he can quote ... but "fair use" is what allows scholars to quote words written by other people (and reviewers to quote bits of books, songs, plays, movies, etc.) in the ordinary practices of research, criticism, and commentary without having to formally granted permission to do so. Put a different way, "fair use" is one of the major things that keeps copyright holders from using charges of "infringement" as a backhanded means of controlling public commentary about the works in question.
cheers gil
On 09/01/2010 05:16 PM, Brian Holland wrote:
The AP is particularly litigious in this regard. They have an extensive licensing program and they expect folks to use it. In fact, the existence of such a program is a major factor against fair use -- i.e., it makes your claim of fair use less likely to succeed.
- Brian
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of André Brock Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 5:08 PM To: Philippa Smith; air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] Permission to reproduce webpages?
Thanks, Philippa! I appreciate the heads up. Fortunately, the sites we examined (Racialicious, Jezebel, and Essence.com for those keeping score at home) aren't pulling from AP (thank god!).
I'll keep y'all posted on my progress and outcome.
André
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 4:51 PM, Philippa Smith<philippa.smith@aut.ac.nz
wrote:
Just as an aside and to throw a spanner in the works - I've had a
situation where we wanted to use a screenshot from an online newspaper but because the source of the article was Associated Press we had to get their permission as well to reproduce the text. This came at a financial cost. It's worth noting whether websites contain material from other sources that might also need permission. Unfortunately this is a can of worms scenario.
Kind regards
Philippa
Philippa Smith PhD Candidate Institute of Culture, Discourse& Communication AUT University Auckland NEW ZEALAND
André Brock<andre.brock@gmail.com> 09/02/10 9:41 AM>>>
Thanks to everyone who's answered me so far (Hi, Annette!). The legal advice was particularly helpful, and i'm going to follow Ulf-Dietrich's advice and contact the websites - i have contacts at a couple of them.
Does AoIR have a specific statement on fair use of Internet/ICT materials for research in the field? I know we have an extensive set of materials on Ethics... (and no, i'm not volunteering to write it. i'm just asking)
André
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Andre Brock<andre.brock@gmail.com> wrote:
For the first time in, well, ever I've been asked by a journal to
obtain
permission from a website to reproduce a screenshot of a webpage.
Not, to
be clear, of an image on the page - but of the page itself. I've
been
offered the option of removing the image and replacing it with a URL,
but
from an archival standpoint that's problematic. Webpages with dynamic content change all the time, not to mention that authors sometimes
change
formats/platforms, modify pages, or remove content that was included
in the
original analysis.
I don't want to miss the publishing deadline, but I need to know:
"where
dey do dat at?!?" (translation: since when did fair use guidelines get
bent
so badly in academic publishing?)
André Brock Assistant Professor, SLIS/POROI University of Iowa
-- Andre Brock Assistant Professor - Library and Information Science/POROI University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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