Lucy Bernholz
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226335506
- eISBN:
- 9780226335780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226335780.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
Modern civil society, nonprofits, and foundations are structured to manage the donation of time and money and regulations codify the limits of their use. Going forward, digital data and ...
More
Modern civil society, nonprofits, and foundations are structured to manage the donation of time and money and regulations codify the limits of their use. Going forward, digital data and infrastructure will become additional philanthropic resources. Philanthropic experiments with digital assets require new rules of ownership, shifts in governance practices, and networked institutions. This chapter uses a case study of the Digital Public Library of America to theorize about governance and policy implications for nonprofits and philanthropy in a digital age.Less
Modern civil society, nonprofits, and foundations are structured to manage the donation of time and money and regulations codify the limits of their use. Going forward, digital data and infrastructure will become additional philanthropic resources. Philanthropic experiments with digital assets require new rules of ownership, shifts in governance practices, and networked institutions. This chapter uses a case study of the Digital Public Library of America to theorize about governance and policy implications for nonprofits and philanthropy in a digital age.
Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199664559
- eISBN:
- 9780191758409
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664559.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
Mass digitization of texts, images, and other creative works promises to unprecedentedly enhance access to culture and knowledge. With the electronic ‘library of Alexandria’ having started to ...
More
Mass digitization of texts, images, and other creative works promises to unprecedentedly enhance access to culture and knowledge. With the electronic ‘library of Alexandria’ having started to materialize, a number of legal and policy issues have emerged. The book develops an extended conceptual account of the ways in which mass digital projects challenge the established copyright norms through the wholesale copying of works, their storage in cloud environments, and their automated processing for purposes of data analytics and text mining. As individual licensing is not compatible with the mass scale of these activities, alternative approaches have gained momentum as effect of judicial interpretation, legislative initiative, and private-ordering solutions. The book queries the normative and policy implications of this newly emerging framework in copyright law. Adopting a cross-jurisdictional perspective, it concludes that lack of clarity as to the scope of authorial consent does not only bear the risk of legal uncertainty, but can also lead to the creation of new and not readily transparent monopolies on information and knowledge. In this respect, a new regulatory framework is outlined drawing from the insights developed in areas of law where the concept of consent in the use of data has been thoroughly elaborated. Illustrating how mass digitization unveils a number of unsettled theoretical issues within copyright, the book builds a sophisticated case that digital repositories in the mass digital age should be and remain fully-fledged public goods to the benefit of future generations.Less
Mass digitization of texts, images, and other creative works promises to unprecedentedly enhance access to culture and knowledge. With the electronic ‘library of Alexandria’ having started to materialize, a number of legal and policy issues have emerged. The book develops an extended conceptual account of the ways in which mass digital projects challenge the established copyright norms through the wholesale copying of works, their storage in cloud environments, and their automated processing for purposes of data analytics and text mining. As individual licensing is not compatible with the mass scale of these activities, alternative approaches have gained momentum as effect of judicial interpretation, legislative initiative, and private-ordering solutions. The book queries the normative and policy implications of this newly emerging framework in copyright law. Adopting a cross-jurisdictional perspective, it concludes that lack of clarity as to the scope of authorial consent does not only bear the risk of legal uncertainty, but can also lead to the creation of new and not readily transparent monopolies on information and knowledge. In this respect, a new regulatory framework is outlined drawing from the insights developed in areas of law where the concept of consent in the use of data has been thoroughly elaborated. Illustrating how mass digitization unveils a number of unsettled theoretical issues within copyright, the book builds a sophisticated case that digital repositories in the mass digital age should be and remain fully-fledged public goods to the benefit of future generations.
Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035019
- eISBN:
- 9780262335959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035019.003.0006
- Subject:
- Information Science, Library Science
The licensing model has important implications for public libraries. The practice of library lending has depended heavily on the exhaustion principle. But in the context of ebook lending, exhaustion ...
More
The licensing model has important implications for public libraries. The practice of library lending has depended heavily on the exhaustion principle. But in the context of ebook lending, exhaustion has not given libraries the same freedom they used to enjoy over physical copies. The restrictions imposed by copyright holders allow expansive vendor control over library ebook lending. They not only infringe upon library patrons’ freedom to borrow or access library ebook collection, but also diminish the libraries’ ability to discharge their important cultural functions. The prevalence of digital copies makes it harder for libraries to preserve works that lack perceived economic value or that are subject to censorship. It also threatens the privacy of library patrons and stifles innovation.Less
The licensing model has important implications for public libraries. The practice of library lending has depended heavily on the exhaustion principle. But in the context of ebook lending, exhaustion has not given libraries the same freedom they used to enjoy over physical copies. The restrictions imposed by copyright holders allow expansive vendor control over library ebook lending. They not only infringe upon library patrons’ freedom to borrow or access library ebook collection, but also diminish the libraries’ ability to discharge their important cultural functions. The prevalence of digital copies makes it harder for libraries to preserve works that lack perceived economic value or that are subject to censorship. It also threatens the privacy of library patrons and stifles innovation.
Jane C. Ginsburg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265666
- eISBN:
- 9780191771927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265666.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
Access to ‘all the world’s knowledge’ is an ancient aspiration; a less venerable, but equally vigorous, universalism strives for the borderless protection of authors’ rights. Late 19th-century law ...
More
Access to ‘all the world’s knowledge’ is an ancient aspiration; a less venerable, but equally vigorous, universalism strives for the borderless protection of authors’ rights. Late 19th-century law and politics brought us copyright universalism; 21st-century technology may bring us the universal digital library. But how can ‘all the world’s knowledge’ be delivered, on demand, to users anywhere in the world (with Internet access), if the copyrights of the creators and publishers of many of those works are supposed to be enforceable almost everywhere in the world? Does it follow that the universal digital library of the near future threatens copyright holders? Or are libraries the endangered species of the impending era, as publishers partner with for-profit Internet intermediaries to make books ubiquitously available? Does access-triumphalism therefore risk giving us not the universal digital library, but the universal digital bookstore? And, whether libraries or commercial intermediaries offer access, how will the world’s authors fare?Less
Access to ‘all the world’s knowledge’ is an ancient aspiration; a less venerable, but equally vigorous, universalism strives for the borderless protection of authors’ rights. Late 19th-century law and politics brought us copyright universalism; 21st-century technology may bring us the universal digital library. But how can ‘all the world’s knowledge’ be delivered, on demand, to users anywhere in the world (with Internet access), if the copyrights of the creators and publishers of many of those works are supposed to be enforceable almost everywhere in the world? Does it follow that the universal digital library of the near future threatens copyright holders? Or are libraries the endangered species of the impending era, as publishers partner with for-profit Internet intermediaries to make books ubiquitously available? Does access-triumphalism therefore risk giving us not the universal digital library, but the universal digital bookstore? And, whether libraries or commercial intermediaries offer access, how will the world’s authors fare?
Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199664559
- eISBN:
- 9780191758409
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664559.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
The technological shift occurring with mass digitization impacts on established copyright norms and principles in a number of ways. It challenges the common perception of the concept of copyright ...
More
The technological shift occurring with mass digitization impacts on established copyright norms and principles in a number of ways. It challenges the common perception of the concept of copyright use; the meaning and function of the work as the subject matter of protection; the grounds of entitlements to rights; and the scope of the exclusivity of such rights. It has been observed that, in many instances, mass digitization begs for a re-definition of copyright from a system of ex ante permission to one where rightholders have merely a right to ‘opt out’ from having their works used in certain ways. This is what has been described as ‘turning copyright law on its head’.Less
The technological shift occurring with mass digitization impacts on established copyright norms and principles in a number of ways. It challenges the common perception of the concept of copyright use; the meaning and function of the work as the subject matter of protection; the grounds of entitlements to rights; and the scope of the exclusivity of such rights. It has been observed that, in many instances, mass digitization begs for a re-definition of copyright from a system of ex ante permission to one where rightholders have merely a right to ‘opt out’ from having their works used in certain ways. This is what has been described as ‘turning copyright law on its head’.
Eleanor Robson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265420
- eISBN:
- 9780191760471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265420.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a ten-year project to edit and analyse ancient Sumerian literature, came to an end on 31 August 2006. Like Egyptian, Sumerian is one of the ...
More
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a ten-year project to edit and analyse ancient Sumerian literature, came to an end on 31 August 2006. Like Egyptian, Sumerian is one of the world's oldest written literatures, with a classical corpus comprising some 500 compositions attested in many thousands of manuscripts from the early second millennium bc. This chapter reflects on how ETCSL has changed the practice of literary Sumerology, what it has not been able to achieve, and what could and should still be done. In particular, it argues that the collaborative working that projects like ETCSL foster has brought Sumerological practice much closer to ancient ideals of literacy — ideals that have themselves come to light through quantitative analysis of the ETCSL online corpus.Less
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a ten-year project to edit and analyse ancient Sumerian literature, came to an end on 31 August 2006. Like Egyptian, Sumerian is one of the world's oldest written literatures, with a classical corpus comprising some 500 compositions attested in many thousands of manuscripts from the early second millennium bc. This chapter reflects on how ETCSL has changed the practice of literary Sumerology, what it has not been able to achieve, and what could and should still be done. In particular, it argues that the collaborative working that projects like ETCSL foster has brought Sumerological practice much closer to ancient ideals of literacy — ideals that have themselves come to light through quantitative analysis of the ETCSL online corpus.
Susan Hockey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198711940
- eISBN:
- 9780191694912
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198711940.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter speculates on what electronic scholarship of the twenty-first century might look like. The production of high-quality electronic texts and resources is very labour intensive. It is ...
More
This chapter speculates on what electronic scholarship of the twenty-first century might look like. The production of high-quality electronic texts and resources is very labour intensive. It is imperative to find ways of making these resources as broadly multipurpose and reusable as possible. This must be done in the context of different theoretical perspectives in scholarship and in the context of a broadening range of users, from undergraduates to senior professors, in high schools and in the community at large for distance learning and for continuing education. Meanwhile, the Internet provides the opportunity for the tools and techniques developed in computing in the humanities to be put at the centre of the scholarly arena.Less
This chapter speculates on what electronic scholarship of the twenty-first century might look like. The production of high-quality electronic texts and resources is very labour intensive. It is imperative to find ways of making these resources as broadly multipurpose and reusable as possible. This must be done in the context of different theoretical perspectives in scholarship and in the context of a broadening range of users, from undergraduates to senior professors, in high schools and in the community at large for distance learning and for continuing education. Meanwhile, the Internet provides the opportunity for the tools and techniques developed in computing in the humanities to be put at the centre of the scholarly arena.
Matthew L. Jockers
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037528
- eISBN:
- 9780252094767
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037528.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book introduces readers to large-scale literary computing and the revolutionary potential of macroanalysis—a new approach to the study of the literary record designed for probing the ...
More
This book introduces readers to large-scale literary computing and the revolutionary potential of macroanalysis—a new approach to the study of the literary record designed for probing the digital-textual world as it exists today, in digital form and in large quantities. Using computational analysis to retrieve key words, phrases, and linguistic patterns across thousands of texts in digital libraries, researchers can draw conclusions based on quantifiable evidence regarding how literary trends are employed over time, across periods, within regions, or within demographic groups, as well as how cultural, historical, and societal linkages may bind individual authors, texts, and genres into an aggregate literary culture. Moving beyond the limitations of literary interpretation based on the “close-reading” of individual works, the book describes how this new method of studying large collections of digital material can help us to better understand and contextualize the individual works within those collections.Less
This book introduces readers to large-scale literary computing and the revolutionary potential of macroanalysis—a new approach to the study of the literary record designed for probing the digital-textual world as it exists today, in digital form and in large quantities. Using computational analysis to retrieve key words, phrases, and linguistic patterns across thousands of texts in digital libraries, researchers can draw conclusions based on quantifiable evidence regarding how literary trends are employed over time, across periods, within regions, or within demographic groups, as well as how cultural, historical, and societal linkages may bind individual authors, texts, and genres into an aggregate literary culture. Moving beyond the limitations of literary interpretation based on the “close-reading” of individual works, the book describes how this new method of studying large collections of digital material can help us to better understand and contextualize the individual works within those collections.
Matthew L. Jockers
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037528
- eISBN:
- 9780252094767
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037528.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses the enormous promise of computational approaches to the study of literature, with particular emphasis on digital humanities as an emerging field. By 2008 computers, with their ...
More
This chapter discusses the enormous promise of computational approaches to the study of literature, with particular emphasis on digital humanities as an emerging field. By 2008 computers, with their capacity for number crunching and processing large-scale data sets, had revolutionized the way that scientific research is carried out. Now, the same elements that have had such an impact on the sciences are slowly and surely revolutionizing the way that research in the humanities gets done. This chapter considers the history of digital humanities, also known as humanities computing, community of practice, or field of study/theory/methodology, and how revolution in this emerging field is being catalyzed by big data. It also emphasizes the potential of literary computing and cites the existence of digital libraries and large electronic text collections as factors that are sparking the digital humanities revolution.Less
This chapter discusses the enormous promise of computational approaches to the study of literature, with particular emphasis on digital humanities as an emerging field. By 2008 computers, with their capacity for number crunching and processing large-scale data sets, had revolutionized the way that scientific research is carried out. Now, the same elements that have had such an impact on the sciences are slowly and surely revolutionizing the way that research in the humanities gets done. This chapter considers the history of digital humanities, also known as humanities computing, community of practice, or field of study/theory/methodology, and how revolution in this emerging field is being catalyzed by big data. It also emphasizes the potential of literary computing and cites the existence of digital libraries and large electronic text collections as factors that are sparking the digital humanities revolution.
Matthew L. Jockers
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037528
- eISBN:
- 9780252094767
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037528.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses new approaches and new methodologies in literary evidence gathering. Science derives conclusions based on evidence, and ideally, is open to new methodologies. Furthermore, ...
More
This chapter discusses new approaches and new methodologies in literary evidence gathering. Science derives conclusions based on evidence, and ideally, is open to new methodologies. Furthermore, science attempts to be exhaustive in the gathering of evidence as much as possible and must therefore welcome new modes of exploration, discovery, and analysis. This chapter emphasizes literary criticism's heavy reliance on associations as evidence and explains how literary studies differs from scientific experimentation. It also considers the advantages of “close reading,” the primary methodology used in the study of literature, and proceeds by looking at the ways that big data—the equivalent to digital libraries in literary studies—is changing the way data sampling is being undertaken. Finally, it describes how new methods of analysis allow us to extract new forms of evidence from the digital library.Less
This chapter discusses new approaches and new methodologies in literary evidence gathering. Science derives conclusions based on evidence, and ideally, is open to new methodologies. Furthermore, science attempts to be exhaustive in the gathering of evidence as much as possible and must therefore welcome new modes of exploration, discovery, and analysis. This chapter emphasizes literary criticism's heavy reliance on associations as evidence and explains how literary studies differs from scientific experimentation. It also considers the advantages of “close reading,” the primary methodology used in the study of literature, and proceeds by looking at the ways that big data—the equivalent to digital libraries in literary studies—is changing the way data sampling is being undertaken. Finally, it describes how new methods of analysis allow us to extract new forms of evidence from the digital library.
Barbara Cassin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823278060
- eISBN:
- 9780823280506
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823278060.001.0001
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
In this witty and openly polemical critique of Google, Barbara Cassin looks at Google’s claims to organize knowledge, and its alleged ethical basis, through a reading of its two founding principles: ...
More
In this witty and openly polemical critique of Google, Barbara Cassin looks at Google’s claims to organize knowledge, and its alleged ethical basis, through a reading of its two founding principles: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information” and “Don’t be evil”. Cassin is a formidable Hellenist by training, and in Google-Me she uses her profound knowledge of Greek culture, philology and philosophy (and of the history of philosophy more broadly) to challenge the basis on which Google makes its claims and the manner in which it carries out its operations. The perspective it presents on Google is anything but drily philological, densely philosophical, or academic in its tone, but it offers us an entertaining account of its origins and history up until 2007. We would all be well-advised to take this critique seriously, since it goes to the heart of what we often think of rather uncritically as the benefits to humanity of increasingly advanced internet technology. As Cassin puts it toward the end, “Google is a champion of cultural democracy, but without culture and without democracy.” Published originally in French in 2007, Cassin’s book is translated into English for the first time by Michael Syrotinski, and includes a co-authored and updated afterword by Cassin and Syrotinski.Less
In this witty and openly polemical critique of Google, Barbara Cassin looks at Google’s claims to organize knowledge, and its alleged ethical basis, through a reading of its two founding principles: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information” and “Don’t be evil”. Cassin is a formidable Hellenist by training, and in Google-Me she uses her profound knowledge of Greek culture, philology and philosophy (and of the history of philosophy more broadly) to challenge the basis on which Google makes its claims and the manner in which it carries out its operations. The perspective it presents on Google is anything but drily philological, densely philosophical, or academic in its tone, but it offers us an entertaining account of its origins and history up until 2007. We would all be well-advised to take this critique seriously, since it goes to the heart of what we often think of rather uncritically as the benefits to humanity of increasingly advanced internet technology. As Cassin puts it toward the end, “Google is a champion of cultural democracy, but without culture and without democracy.” Published originally in French in 2007, Cassin’s book is translated into English for the first time by Michael Syrotinski, and includes a co-authored and updated afterword by Cassin and Syrotinski.
Christine L. Borgman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014397
- eISBN:
- 9780262272087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014397.003.0014
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
Embedded and wireless sensor networks are transforming research in the biosciences, environmental sciences, and other fields. However, these technologies also contribute significantly to the data ...
More
Embedded and wireless sensor networks are transforming research in the biosciences, environmental sciences, and other fields. However, these technologies also contribute significantly to the data deluge associated with e-Research and cyberinfrastructure activities. Embedded networked sensing research is a reflection of e-science and thus presents an opportunity to understand the transformation of scientific work and collaborative research, along with the emergence of communities of practice that give rise to new forms of data production. This chapter focuses on embedded sensor networks and their applications in e-Research, especially in “big science” and “little science” as well as digital libraries.Less
Embedded and wireless sensor networks are transforming research in the biosciences, environmental sciences, and other fields. However, these technologies also contribute significantly to the data deluge associated with e-Research and cyberinfrastructure activities. Embedded networked sensing research is a reflection of e-science and thus presents an opportunity to understand the transformation of scientific work and collaborative research, along with the emergence of communities of practice that give rise to new forms of data production. This chapter focuses on embedded sensor networks and their applications in e-Research, especially in “big science” and “little science” as well as digital libraries.
Prashant Reddy T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199470662
- eISBN:
- 9780199088850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199470662.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter critiques three particular patents cases in the US and EU that were filed in the 1990s by Indian NGOs and the Indian government. The three patents in question were related to neem, ...
More
This chapter critiques three particular patents cases in the US and EU that were filed in the 1990s by Indian NGOs and the Indian government. The three patents in question were related to neem, turmeric, and basmati. All three cases caused outrage in India because of the perception that the West was ‘stealing’ traditional knowledge from India. This chapter explains the rhetoric and misinformation surrounding all three cases and explores how the media and the government dealt with these issues at a time when awareness about patent law in India was low. These three cases were followed by the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). This chapter explores and critiques the rationale for the TKDL and its efficacy in achieving its stated goals.Less
This chapter critiques three particular patents cases in the US and EU that were filed in the 1990s by Indian NGOs and the Indian government. The three patents in question were related to neem, turmeric, and basmati. All three cases caused outrage in India because of the perception that the West was ‘stealing’ traditional knowledge from India. This chapter explains the rhetoric and misinformation surrounding all three cases and explores how the media and the government dealt with these issues at a time when awareness about patent law in India was low. These three cases were followed by the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). This chapter explores and critiques the rationale for the TKDL and its efficacy in achieving its stated goals.
Alan G. Gross and Joseph E. Harmon
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190465926
- eISBN:
- 9780197559635
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190465926.003.0009
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Equipment and Technology
A South African by birth, white, of German ancestry, fluent in Afrikaans, Helena Pohlandt-McCormick spent six months in her native country in 1993 and a full year in ...
More
A South African by birth, white, of German ancestry, fluent in Afrikaans, Helena Pohlandt-McCormick spent six months in her native country in 1993 and a full year in 1994 studying the Soweto uprising. During that time, she assiduously examined the relevant archives but was unable to find any of the posters she knew the marching students carried: . . . From the transcripts and correspondence of the Cillié Commission I knew that the Commission had received, from the police, many posters and banners that had been confiscated during various student marches in 1976. None of them would have fit into a traditional archive document box and, though mentioned on the list of evidence associated with the Cillié Commission, they were initially not to be found. I continued to request that archivists search the repositories—without success. Until, one day, perhaps exasperated by my persistence or wanting to finally prove to me that there was nothing to be found in the space associated with K345, the archival designator of my Soweto materials, one of the archivists relented and asked me to accompany her into the vaults in order to help her search for these artifacts of the uprising! To be sure, there were no posters to be found in the shelf space that housed the roughly nine hundred boxes of evidence associated with the Cillié Commission. But then, as my disappointed eyes swept the simultaneously ominous and tantalizing interior of the vault, I saw a piece of board protruding over the topmost edge of the shelf. There, almost 9 feet into the air, in the shadowy space on top of the document shelves, lay a pile of posters and banners. . . . We can understand Pohlandt-McCormick’s mounting sense of excitement. It is not just the discovery itself; it is the sense of being in touch with the past—literally in touch. It is the knowledge that no photograph can do justice to any 3D object, whether it is a collection of posters, a cache of cold fusion memorabilia, or Enrico Fermi’s Nobel medal.
Less
A South African by birth, white, of German ancestry, fluent in Afrikaans, Helena Pohlandt-McCormick spent six months in her native country in 1993 and a full year in 1994 studying the Soweto uprising. During that time, she assiduously examined the relevant archives but was unable to find any of the posters she knew the marching students carried: . . . From the transcripts and correspondence of the Cillié Commission I knew that the Commission had received, from the police, many posters and banners that had been confiscated during various student marches in 1976. None of them would have fit into a traditional archive document box and, though mentioned on the list of evidence associated with the Cillié Commission, they were initially not to be found. I continued to request that archivists search the repositories—without success. Until, one day, perhaps exasperated by my persistence or wanting to finally prove to me that there was nothing to be found in the space associated with K345, the archival designator of my Soweto materials, one of the archivists relented and asked me to accompany her into the vaults in order to help her search for these artifacts of the uprising! To be sure, there were no posters to be found in the shelf space that housed the roughly nine hundred boxes of evidence associated with the Cillié Commission. But then, as my disappointed eyes swept the simultaneously ominous and tantalizing interior of the vault, I saw a piece of board protruding over the topmost edge of the shelf. There, almost 9 feet into the air, in the shadowy space on top of the document shelves, lay a pile of posters and banners. . . . We can understand Pohlandt-McCormick’s mounting sense of excitement. It is not just the discovery itself; it is the sense of being in touch with the past—literally in touch. It is the knowledge that no photograph can do justice to any 3D object, whether it is a collection of posters, a cache of cold fusion memorabilia, or Enrico Fermi’s Nobel medal.
Lea Shaver
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300226003
- eISBN:
- 9780300249316
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300226003.003.0009
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
This chapter discusses the non-profit organization Benetech, which operates many programs turning technology to social benefit. The biggest part of this work is Bookshare, an adaptive-format digital ...
More
This chapter discusses the non-profit organization Benetech, which operates many programs turning technology to social benefit. The biggest part of this work is Bookshare, an adaptive-format digital library for people with blindness and other print disabilities. It also mentions CEO Jim Fruchterman, who spent more than a year fighting for international adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate cross-border sharing between libraries for people with disabilities. He is keenly aware of how copyright law can limit the possibilities for addressing book hunger through innovative non-profit efforts. The chapter concludes with the Marrakesh Treaty and how it provided important support for the global spread of copyright exceptions for the blind.Less
This chapter discusses the non-profit organization Benetech, which operates many programs turning technology to social benefit. The biggest part of this work is Bookshare, an adaptive-format digital library for people with blindness and other print disabilities. It also mentions CEO Jim Fruchterman, who spent more than a year fighting for international adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate cross-border sharing between libraries for people with disabilities. He is keenly aware of how copyright law can limit the possibilities for addressing book hunger through innovative non-profit efforts. The chapter concludes with the Marrakesh Treaty and how it provided important support for the global spread of copyright exceptions for the blind.
Prashant Reddy T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199470662
- eISBN:
- 9780199088850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199470662.003.0011
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
As religions become commercialized, gurus who proclaim themselves to be the messengers of gods leave behind fortunes in the form of intellectual property, either as books, or audio and video ...
More
As religions become commercialized, gurus who proclaim themselves to be the messengers of gods leave behind fortunes in the form of intellectual property, either as books, or audio and video recordings. Temples too claim trademark rights in symbols representing various deities. Where people are quick to take umbrage at being offended due to religious sentiments, it is not surprising that the Trade Mark Act dealt with issue of trademarks that offended religious sentiments. This chapter discusses related questions such as who has the right to use the names of religious figures in trademarks. Or to whom does the intellectual estate of a spiritual leader belong? Or when does an authority decide that a combination of yoga postures or healing techniques can be legally protected? This chapter discusses issues that represent the challenges that intellectual property law faces in the new age.Less
As religions become commercialized, gurus who proclaim themselves to be the messengers of gods leave behind fortunes in the form of intellectual property, either as books, or audio and video recordings. Temples too claim trademark rights in symbols representing various deities. Where people are quick to take umbrage at being offended due to religious sentiments, it is not surprising that the Trade Mark Act dealt with issue of trademarks that offended religious sentiments. This chapter discusses related questions such as who has the right to use the names of religious figures in trademarks. Or to whom does the intellectual estate of a spiritual leader belong? Or when does an authority decide that a combination of yoga postures or healing techniques can be legally protected? This chapter discusses issues that represent the challenges that intellectual property law faces in the new age.