[Videolib] Forwarding this on to the list from Larry Daressa (California Newsreel)
I'm sending this on to videolib for Larry D. (whose email seems to be on the fritz) I solidly support meetings between AIME and librarians to bang out best practices and to discuss issues. Unfortunately, I don't think video librarians are where the problems and controversies lie in this case. It is very often the case that media use and misuse on campuses and other institutional venues occur far outside of the library, or at least outside of the purview of librarians. One has only to look at who has responded to the Inside Higher Ed posting (http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/26/copyright) to get a sense of this. Faculty, administrators, and others who have little ongoing contact with or understanding of the video marketplace and the video content universe are often the loudest and most rancorous voices in these discussions. They're the pipers who often play loudest at institutions and who get listened to the most. It's clear to me SOMETHING has got to give here. It was suggested by one respondent to the Higher Ed blog that faculty boycott vendors who stand in the way of moving toward online access. This is, of course, patently foolish in almost all respects. (It's definitely not the perspective of most librarians!) On the other hand, I think it vividly points out the frustration and anger felt by scholars, teachers, and librarians at the rising costs of information access in a woefully underfunded and beleaguered academic world. I've been in the business a very long time, I understand how this world works, and I've continued to stand firmly behind independent video distributors. On the other hand, I am enormously concerned about the future of independent video production and distribution: the models which have developed in these early years of digital delivery seem to me predicated largely on a rather overblown sense of the worth of these products to buyers...the actual market value of a format delivered in a new format. The sense that online access must be paid for dearly because of the potentially broader access to materials is simply not a valid argument. The need to pay twice the price of a DVD's (already high) sticker price for term-limited online access is, in my opinion, not a supportable model in the long haul. All I'm really saying here is we need to figure out (soon) how both buyers and sellers can survive. I'm also saying we also need to figure out best practices which both support respect for the rights of intellectual property owners while not degrading the fair use rights granted to educators and scholars under the law. Anyway...Larry's thought-provoking note follows. -Original Message- From: Lawrence Daressa Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 11:55 AM To: 'videolib@lists.berkeley.edu' Subject: RE: videolib Digest, Vol 26, Issue 71 Dear Gary, I wholeheartedly agree with you that we should do everything possible to resolve these issues without further acrimony and adversarial posturing. You are correct that the present volatile situation could easily escalate into a situation where some universities would not buy from some distributors and some distributors would not sell to some universities. As an AIME member, I would encourage that body to enter into informal discussions with any representative group of video librarians to attempt to draw up a code of best practices for the use of copyrighted digital media. That said, I think it has to be admitted that UCLA unilaterally adopted a policy which could generously be described as a creative application of copyright law and refused, when challenged, to reconsider its action - until this week. I noted that the professors interviewed for the article also seemed to argue that copyright protection should be exempted whenever it provided an impediment to an educational purpose, the chief such impediment, of course, being economic. I wonder if these same scholars consider their salaries an impediment to an educational purpose? After all, if we exempted universities from labor laws, they could afford to hire more faculty and educate more students? This is, of course, a reductio ad absurdum but it illustrates how even deconstructionists can privilege their our discourse. Copyright holders need to be paid as much as educators as one of the unavoidable costs of education. Several months ago, I asked this list-serve's opinion of a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare prepared by the Center for Social Media at American University. I felt that the Code could be read as propounding a radical extension of the fair use doctrine by permitting the use of copyrighted material, in whole or in part, whenever it served an appropriate educational purpose, defined as illustration, explanation or criticism, not simply of the work but of its subject matter. I pointed out that much educational media was produced precisely to serve those ends. I then wrote to the Center for Social Media expressing my uncertainties and
Re: [Videolib] Forwarding this on to the list from Larry Daressa (California Newsreel)
The rhetoric can get pretty heated on both sides of this issue, but when all is said and done, we do need to work together and not as adversaries. Both Gary and Larry make some excellent points. I will just go out on a limb and say I don't mind paying a bit more to get a greater sense of ownership of the items I buy. It is when the control is kept out of my hands and we are forced into a corner with a format that no longer is viable or practical for our users. Then we are told we can pay some enormous sum of money (after begging for permission) to convert that format to something we CAN use. I still think that producers are making these documentaries for an audience. If the audience no longer has access to the material, who gains what?? Christine Crowley Dean of Learning Resources Northwest Vista College 3535 N. Ellison Dr. San Antonio, TX 78251 210.486.4572 voice 210.486.4504 fax NEW NAME AND email--ccrowl...@alamo.edu -Original Message- From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of ghand...@library.berkeley.edu Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 12:12 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Forwarding this on to the list from Larry Daressa (California Newsreel) I'm sending this on to videolib for Larry D. (whose email seems to be on the fritz) I solidly support meetings between AIME and librarians to bang out best practices and to discuss issues. Unfortunately, I don't think video librarians are where the problems and controversies lie in this case. It is very often the case that media use and misuse on campuses and other institutional venues occur far outside of the library, or at least outside of the purview of librarians. One has only to look at who has responded to the Inside Higher Ed posting (http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/26/copyright) to get a sense of this. Faculty, administrators, and others who have little ongoing contact with or understanding of the video marketplace and the video content universe are often the loudest and most rancorous voices in these discussions. They're the pipers who often play loudest at institutions and who get listened to the most. It's clear to me SOMETHING has got to give here. It was suggested by one respondent to the Higher Ed blog that faculty boycott vendors who stand in the way of moving toward online access. This is, of course, patently foolish in almost all respects. (It's definitely not the perspective of most librarians!) On the other hand, I think it vividly points out the frustration and anger felt by scholars, teachers, and librarians at the rising costs of information access in a woefully underfunded and beleaguered academic world. I've been in the business a very long time, I understand how this world works, and I've continued to stand firmly behind independent video distributors. On the other hand, I am enormously concerned about the future of independent video production and distribution: the models which have developed in these early years of digital delivery seem to me predicated largely on a rather overblown sense of the worth of these products to buyers...the actual market value of a format delivered in a new format. The sense that online access must be paid for dearly because of the potentially broader access to materials is simply not a valid argument. The need to pay twice the price of a DVD's (already high) sticker price for term-limited online access is, in my opinion, not a supportable model in the long haul. All I'm really saying here is we need to figure out (soon) how both buyers and sellers can survive. I'm also saying we also need to figure out best practices which both support respect for the rights of intellectual property owners while not degrading the fair use rights granted to educators and scholars under the law. Anyway...Larry's thought-provoking note follows. -Original Message- From: Lawrence Daressa Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 11:55 AM To: 'videolib@lists.berkeley.edu' Subject: RE: videolib Digest, Vol 26, Issue 71 Dear Gary, I wholeheartedly agree with you that we should do everything possible to resolve these issues without further acrimony and adversarial posturing. You are correct that the present volatile situation could easily escalate into a situation where some universities would not buy from some distributors and some distributors would not sell to some universities. As an AIME member, I would encourage that body to enter into informal discussions with any representative group of video librarians to attempt to draw up a code of best practices for the use of copyrighted digital media. That said, I think it has to be admitted that UCLA unilaterally adopted a policy which could generously be described as a creative application of copyright law and refused, when challenged, to reconsider its action - until this week. I noted that the professors interviewed for the article also seemed to
[Videolib] Lawrence Lessig article
Hi all I assume that many of you may have seen this already. Lessig is brilliant! http://www.tnr.com/print/article/the-love-culture Gary Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library UC Berkeley 510-643-8566 ghand...@library.berkeley.edu http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself. --Francois Truffaut VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
Re: [Videolib] Lawrence Lessig article
Wow. I almost missed reading this, too, Gary. It was in my junk mail folder for reasons I cannot ascertain. I hope it wasn't lost to most of the group. I think we all need to write our Congressperson if we ever want to see any improvement in this mind-boggling situation. Christine Crowley Dean of Learning Resources Northwest Vista College 3535 N. Ellison Dr. San Antonio, TX 78251 210.486.4572 office 210.486.4504 fax ccrowl...@alamo.edu Northwest Vista College is one of the Alamo Colleges www.alamo.edu/nvc/lrc From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu on behalf of ghand...@library.berkeley.edu Sent: Fri 1/29/2010 5:01 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Lawrence Lessig article Hi all I assume that many of you may have seen this already. Lessig is brilliant! http://www.tnr.com/print/article/the-love-culture Gary Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library UC Berkeley 510-643-8566 ghand...@library.berkeley.edu http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself. --Francois Truffaut VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors. winmail.datVIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
Re: [Videolib] [Fwd: FW: quick response....]
I would say no. Relevant questions are: Is Dr. Fellini a Film Studies professor? Who owns the DVDs? Are any of the DVDs copy-protected? The right to circumvent copy-protection to make clips for FACE TO FACE classroom use is accorded only to Film and Media profs using DVDs purchased by their departments (not personal or college library copies). I would say that if Dr. Fellini is a film studies prof and the DVDs belong to a dept. library then he can make one copy, or maybe a couple, of a clip compilation. If he is not a film studies prof then he can only make such a clip compilation if the DVDs have no copy-protection encoding. If he makes the clip compilation, after using it in class he could lend it to his students who want to copy it though. To be frank, I don't see what the point of it would be, except to stoke his own ego about the favoriteness of his favorite scenes. It would be like handing out a xerox of your favorite passages from Shakespeare, or something. What does that teach, at a college level? Judy Shoaf From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Randal Baier [rba...@emich.edu] Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 9:00 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] [Fwd: FW: quick response] What a brilliant scenario. Can I crib this for a workshop? It seems to me that this is legal. It seems to be crying out for political action by the FAIR USE LIBERATION ARMY. But I'm a little bit wondering about the distribution of the clips by DVD. But these are clips, little snippets ... and yet ... what exactly do these clips show? Are they like on the level of 20 sec. Bette Davis looking into the eyes of her beau at the end of Dark Victory and convincing him that she can see? ... or are they longer, like the end of I am a Walrus on Magical Mystery Tour. You've gotta see the whole endlessly Noah's Ark of it to really appreciate the song. i.e. are they so pithy that their essence compromises the actually movie .. a simulacrum. I don't think so. They seem to be examples devoted to ... oh, maybe core issues in cinema, or something of that ilk. If I were an attendee at the workshop I guess I'd vote for the time honored community of scholars option. But you know, ask a lawyer and who knows, we might be illegal most of the time! Best, Randal Baier From: Rosen, Rhonda J. Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 12:21 PM To: 'videolib@lists.berkeley.edumailto:videolib@lists.berkeley.edu' Subject: quick response Everyone... We have a quick and dirty workshop for some faculty this afternoon. We have a scenario and we find we are differing in our opinions within our own department, and was curious what you'd say. Would you mind giving me a quick response? Thanks, Rhonda Dr. Fellini wants to create a mini-digital library of movie scenes for his students. He obtains (legal) dvds of the films, burns the selected scenes onto a DVD and distributes copies to each student-is this legal? Rhonda Rosen| Head, Media Access Services William H. Hannon Library | Loyola Marymount University One LMU Drive, MS 8200 | Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659 rro...@lmu.edumailto:rro...@lmu.edu| 310/338-4584| http://library.lmu.edu Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library UC Berkeley 510-643-8566 ghand...@library.berkeley.edumailto:ghand...@library.berkeley.edu http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself. --Francois Truffaut VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors. VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
