ENTRIES TAGGED "Creative Commons"
Forking the book
How long will it be before the book becomes "unstable" again?
As one of the first mass produced industrial artifacts the book remains a solid cultural signifier of stability. That aura is pretty strong and attractive and makes it pretty hard to think about books as being anything other than static and stable. It appears to be part of their DNA.
While we continue to refer to ebooks as ‘books’ stability seems to be carried on as part of the currency. We don’t really even challenge it. EPUBs and mobi (etc.) with their ‘self -contained’ exactly reproducible nature also appear to reinforce the static nature of things.
Books are stable. Websites are not. That seems to be a delimiter that’s ‘in the air’.
The complex world of copyright, licensing, and piracy
Bill Rosenblatt untangles several thorny areas of IP distribution and ownership
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our TOC theme this month is “legal” and I thought it would be interesting to have a conversation with Bill Rosenblatt covering a variety of topics in the legal realm. Bill is a recognized authority on intellectual property in the online world. He’s also an author of the Copyright and Technology blog as well as the founder of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies.
Key points from the interview include:
- Copyright vs. Creative Commons — As Bill says, “copyright law is a huge mess”, and Creative Commons (CC) is a viable alternative. CC has never fully embraced the commercial content community though. CC also doesn’t really make enforcement of IP ownership any easier.
- Libraries and sales vs. licensing — I feel our industry is overcomplicating the library channel situation but Bill explains how digital content isn’t subject to copyright but rather to whatever licensing terms are being offered. Bill feels libraries are “screwed” unless there’s a change in the law. It doesn’t help that libraries aren’t accustomed to trying to operate like businesses.
- First-sale doctrine — ReDigi is a great example of a company that’s pushing the envelope on sale vs. licensing of content. Bill feels it’s unlikely ReDigi will prevail in the current litigation to resell digital music. (See related TOC article here.)
- Piracy — Bill points out that obscurity is indeed a bigger problem than piracy…until you become famous. He asserts that Lady Gaga doesn’t benefit from piracy but I’m not sure I agree. After all, maybe future paying Gaga fans start off pirating a song or two before they get hooked.
This post is part of the TOC podcast series. You can also subscribe to the free TOC podcast through iTunes.
Traditional vs self-publishing: Neither is the perfect solution
Dan Gillmor offers an author's perspective on choosing how to publish.
In this video podcast, author Dan Gillmor talks about the pros and cons of traditional publishing versus self-publishing.
Publishing News: Apple shifts on subs
Apple softens its subscription position, metadata could improve academic searches, and ebooks offer a new purpose for edits.
In the latest Publishing News: Readability's co-founder Richard Ziade offers his take on Apple's policy reversal, Creative Commons and the Association of Educational Publishers delve into web search, and Pete Meyers takes a look at the art of editing in storytelling.