At one of our last Morningside training sessions Kenny Crews discussed his recent presentations on copyright and DH. We explained our Developing Librarian Project and together we came up with a series of helpful recommendations concerning copyright and DH projects. Any discussion of copyright will be filled with nuances and “what ifs,” but a lot of our conversation this time was about fair use and a search for a variety of practical steps one might take in building a DH project that pulls together a variety of copyrighted sources with attention to respecting the copyrights of others and managing the new copyright in the finished project.
This post is not about the law. Readers can find more information about fair use and much more from the website of the Copyright Advisory Office. But the list of thoughts below are some practical ideas that might help respond to the copyright concerns. The law is far more complex than a blog post can allow, so the list below is a variety of “first steps” to consider.
Recommendations/Suggestions
1. Review and pick the CC license that is right for the project. Creative Commons can let you effectively share your work widely, and it can help prevent conflicting views among the various contributors.
2. Document that everyone in the group has agreed to the CC license using a spreadsheet and store the spreadsheet with the project files. There is a good chance everyone on the project has rights; clarifying agreement up front can avoid problems down the line.
3. Be selective about including 3rd party content in the project. You might want everything, but choosing only the materials that specifically advance your study can help with fair use.
4. Pick and display content in a manner indicating research and scholarship. Keep your eye on scholarship. That is why you are doing the project.
5. Images should be low resolution and of a small size. Fair use often centers on whether your use conflicts with the market for the original work; using only small and low-res images can reduce market harm.
6. Give credit where credit is due (practice responsible scholarship). Actually, credit is not a key part of copyright law, but it is almost always a good idea regardless.
7. Document group understandings in a charter that is posted along with the project. Success comes from agreement, including agreement for how to manage and use the project in the future.
8. Keep thorough, ongoing records of all 3rd party content and provide citations. Very important. Cite sources and know where you found them.
9. Get copies of licenses and read and adhere to license agreements for source content. Many materials come from databases, or have CC licenses, or perhaps individual permission from copyright owners; keep permanent records of the permission and licenses.
10. Check current markets for content and avoid materials that are being actively marketed (actively seek out and use CC content). Watch for uses that might conflict with active markets for images, music, and other materials. If you can link to materials on the web, you are helping yourself and the copyright owners.
These practical suggestions are no substitute for scrutinizing copyright, but they are a useful start.
