Copyright pushes and pulls
April 2nd, 2008 by NaomiI’ve been in full flow before the responses to the Gowers Copyright Consultation are due in (8th April and counting) and in recent days I have been working with various clients to help them get their submissions in on time, as well as working with various smaller organisations across the public sector to bring the consulatation to their attention and try and galvanise a last push for broader exceptions for the public sector. I am mindful that we are not going to necessary win this time round (because it really does feel a bit like we have gone into *battle* mode particularly over the last few days), but instead, and perhaps differently than before, we are really beginning to stake our very important mark on the landscape that is the Knowledge Economy. It becomes a lot more than just closing our eyes “and hoping for the best” (as an old boss of mine liked to say), but instead this time, one of real positioning, setting the agenda and making sure that collectively, we raise our voices. Exciting times ahead and I am just blown away by the support of all the smaller organisations across the public sector, how much they want to be involved, but also how much better informed now they are than they were a few years ago. What is shocking, and I am always reminded by this (as I was at a recent training course that I ran last week in Worcester) is the totally unacceptable level of risk that these organisations have to face to in order to act in the public interest. This has to change.
So, what happens if the next stage of the consultation does not offer enough redress to the various organisations across the public sector…we keep on pushing, making our case, and raising awareness (and our collective voices). The pull is that if we want to maximise the impact and contribution to society, education and culture of our research institutions, places of learning, centres of excellence and cultural heritage organisations - copyright cannot continue to be (or be viewed as) an obstacle, a risk or a drain on resources. It must instead be logical, understandable and fair. This will create a wonderful cycle of respect - the more we can make sense of copyright and the fair dealing exceptions in particular, the more it makes sense. Wham bam, we have moved a step closer to resolving the secondary consequence of out-of-touch laws, that of a whole generation of those who believe that copyright is intrinsically wrong.
Copyright mutterings
March 26th, 2008 by NaomiFor my first post on my new blog, I’m not going to provide profound words of wisdom, but rather just tell it how it is. I hope that I can maintain this vein of reporting back, and work permitting, use these entries to keep a record of issues that I come across, thoughts that occur to me and also a log of what I spend my working (and sometimes dreaming!) time on).
Today, I’ve been working on a range of projects which highlight in my mind the fragility of many public sector bodies in terms of owning and using stuff creating by other people. Copyright exceptions by and large don’t measurably apply (or in some cases, don’t apply at all) and in terms of helping them do what they need to do, they are pretty much stuffed. On another level, I heard of one cultural heritage organisation today, (call them Museum A) who is being sued for putting a photograph up on their website which they were given by a third party in all good faith. Museum A was contacted by the photographer and told to take the photograph down (which they did immediately), but despite this, the photographer is going after them big time. In so many ways, museums in particular are just stymied on every front…
So, what can I do to make a difference? In the scale of things, its a bit like taking a small gem stone pick axe and trying to carve out a tunnel…but, today, I have been putting the finishing touches on a number of submissions to the big UK-IPO Proposed Extensions to the Copyright Consulation - I am not holding out huge amounts of hope that any of our collective submissions will make a whole lot of difference this time, but certainly, I believe that we are, perhaps for the first time articulating the *real* issues and obstacles that public sector organisations are faced with in terms of providing access to stuff which they don’t own the rights, how hetrogeneous institutions working across the public sector are and the range of our contributions to the UK’s Knowledge Economy. It’s also about positioning and carrying through momentum and maybe, things will change if not now but soon….its also about hope and realising (and communicating) the value of what public sector bodies are doing…
More from me soon
Naomi
