Download - Wikipedia, Museum and access to Art
Wikipedia, Museums and access to Art
Liam Wyatt, 20 April 2010
Columbia University,Copyright Advisory Office,
New York City
By way of personal introduction...
TheBM&
me
Andrew Dunn - CC-by-SAhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_Great_Court_roof.jpg
http://www.wittylama.com/2010/03/the-british-museum-and-me/
Charity
Website
Software
Chapter
And a quick intro to Wikimedia...
“Free”
• the freedom to use the work and enjoy the benefits of using it • the freedom to study the work and to apply knowledge acquired
from it • the freedom to make and redistribute copies, in whole or in part,
of the information or expression • the freedom to make changes and improvements, and to
distribute derivative works
http://freedomdefined.org/
“Free x2”not for profit, volunteer created,
available to use, and re-use.
Imagine never having to work with a licensing agency again!
Gratis Libre
If you love something, set it free.
(even if love isn’t always free)
http://www.imamuseum.org/art/collections/artwork/love-robert-indiana
Some local museum missions
Common theme...
Engaging the community with their culture.
Collect, preserve and share that culture.
But...
Art + Copyright =
Nate.erlin - CC-by-NC-ND http://www.flickr.com/photos/nateerlin/520085236/
• Freedom of Panorama
• Cultural rights
• Donor restrictions
• Museum photo policy
• Different national laws
• Website terms of use
• Commercial licenses
• Attribution
• TPMs/DRMs
• Fair use / fair dealing
• Copyright in scans
• Database rights
Some potential issues for those images...
Tricks and traps for Wikimedia, Museums and access to Art...
1. License conditions (in real life)
http://jumpinginartmuseums.blogspot.com/2010/03/sol-lewitt-jumping.html/
Massachusetts museum of contemporary art:“Our policy is to allow photography
everywhere” :-)
Reasons given for “no photo”• I.P. - this should be nuanced, not blanket to everything
• Conservation - Fair enough, accounts for no flash
• Revenue streams - most common, if not admitted
• Disruption of others - compare with sketching
• Security of the building - really?!
http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/08/museum-photo-policies-
should-be-as-open.html
Caro Wallis - cc-by-NC http://www.flickr.com/photos/carowallis1/3189114504/
Licensing Conditions on 3rd parties?
http://ragesoss.com/blog/2009/10/09/wikipedia-and-olympics-committee-heading-for-collision/
Richard Giles - CC-by-SA (??)http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Usain_Bolt_Olympics_Celebration.jpg
If you take a picture (when you’re not supposed to) and give it to me, am I bound by your license conditions?
2. Licensing Conditions (digital)
Image now also available, without permission, at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nla.ms-ms5393-2-s1.jpg
National Library of Australia permissions statement.Text
First page of Captain William Bligh’s log book - on the NLA Website.
3. Fair Use
Same article in:
< Afrikaans Swedish >
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Non-free_content
4. Freedom of Panorama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WPSPAhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_%28sculpture%29
5. Copyright in collections and in scans
Feist v. Rural Telephone (1991)
Bridgeman v. Corel (1999)
Originality v. “Sweat of the brow”
Some obviously haven’t heard about this law...
This is the Frick Collection’s copyright statement. Is it deliberately flouting New York law?
De-accessioning by Copyright
To take something that is the public’s* and to make access restrictions on its digital manifestation that would not be countenanced for the original object is effectively...
*in a publicly funded collection and/or in the Public Domain
...and just like real-life de-accessioning in museums it’s sometimes necessary.
But neither activity should be done just because some money can be made.
Paying a license fee sometimes feels like a papal indulgence. It’s often not to cover costs, but to make a problem disappear. I don’t mind paying for staff time and materials. I do mind
paying for access to already digitised and Public Domain material and having to sign a usage contract in order
to receive it.
The kind of things some claim copyright over! (examples)
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Agamemnon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berlin_Diplodocus.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Illuminated.bible.closeup.arp.jpg
Wikimedia takes a stand, so you don’t have to.
:-)