Stanford Center for Internet and Society

I still can't seem to get movable type to let me save and publish my entries of any length. So here is the discussion re unpublished public domain at Academic Copyright - Elizabeth Townsend

I am still having technical problems... so I am currently still blogging over at academiccopyright.typepad.com. Right now, I'm just starting to concentrate on stuff on the unpublished public domain. Got a response from the Mark Twain project. (I will post the response probably tomorrow) Will start to contact others.

Also, the brief re Kahle is super cool. This issue is soooo important for scholars too, who are so dependent on the materials of others for their work. Without the freedom to comment and criticize with whatever supporting material necesssary (quotes), scholars are beholden to literary executors with their own agendas.

With Jake off and about, I'm not sure who to ask technical questions to. If anyone is willing to help -- I'm having trouble with a couple of things -- extended entries, etc., I would greatly appreciated some advice. I can't figure out why the extended entries aren't saving, and only short entry body posts go through. I also have a couple of other technical questions.

2. Topic: Fair Use and Blogging

I am also really interesting in looking more into the activities of bloggers and how this could change our concept of fair use in a good way. Bloggers seem far less conservative than others on what they consider fair.

3. Area Focuses -

At the other blog site -- academiccopyright.typepad.com -- I've been tryig to post every week or two materials on specific topics connected to copyright and a scholar's work, i.e. permissions, duration, publishing contracts on articles, etc. I plan to continue this here this year.

4. News and Events

Just the regular blogging activity stuff.

1. Unpublished Public Domain Project

I am starting to gather information from archives and libraries on what steps were taken to obtain copyright on unpublished materials created before 1978 that were set to lose copyright on December 31, 2002. (If they were published before that date, they received copyright protection until 2047.) For first time, unpublished works are now part of the public domain under federal copyright. I am interested in three types of activities: traditional edited collections (i.e. the publishing of LETTERS TO A LOST GENERATION before the deadline, for instance); microfilming of unpublished works; and databases and websites of archival or unpublished materials. My interest is in understanding the scope of new public domain material, and how easy it is for scholars to know that these materials are in the public domain. I am also interested in the international aspect of this. I will post what I learn as I go.

The first entry always seems to be the hardest to write. I've been blogging at typepad this summer on academic copyright issues (http://academiccopyrighgt.typepad.com). I plan to continue doing that over here. Here are a few things I hope to do with this blog.

(I am having trouble with saving extended entries for some reason, so I am posting each of the four areas in individual entries.)

I came to the topic of copyright within an academic setting from my own doctoral work, initially a biography, which has subsequently turned into a comparative generational biography of the Great War generation. It was the 1990s, when the courts were looking at fair use and biography. I suddenly saw copyright issues everywhere—in research choices and in classroom and websites for teaching purposes. I wanted to know more. I wanted to understand the parameters of copyright law that might affect my daily choices. Since then I have developed a copyright philosophy that while operating within existing laws and customs, actively encourages the use of all of the rights, policies, and privileges available.

Welcome! I am very excited to be beginning this non-residential fellowship at CIS. I am in the process of transferring my blog over here and should be up and running by the weekend. For now, go to http://academiccopryight.typepad.com.