Presentation given on April 20, 2010 at Columbia University. Introducing concepts around copyright and licensing in art museum and how they interact with Wikipedia's policies. Introducing the concept of "de-accessioning by copyright"

1. Wikipedia, Museums
and access to Art
Liam Wyatt, 20 April 2010
Columbia University,
Copyright Advisory Office,
New York City

2. By way of personal introduction...

3. The
BM
&
me
http://www.wittylama.com/2010/03/
the-british-museum-and-me/
Andrew Dunn - CC-by-SA
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:British_Museum_Great_Court_roof.jpg

4. And a quick intro to Wikimedia...
Charity Software
Chapter Website

6. “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/

7. http://creativecommons.org/

8. “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

9. If you love something,
set it free.

10. (even if love isn’t always free)
http://www.imamuseum.org/art/
collections/artwork/love-robert-indiana

11. Some local
museum missions

12. Common theme...
Engaging the community with their culture.
Collect, preserve and share that culture.
But...

13. Art + Copyright =
Nate.erlin - CC-by-NC-ND http://www.flickr.com/photos/nateerlin/520085236/

15. Some potential issues
for those images...
• Freedom of Panorama • Commercial licenses
• Cultural rights • Attribution
• Donor restrictions • TPMs/DRMs
• Museum photo policy • Fair use / fair dealing
• Different national laws • Copyright in scans
• Website terms of use • Database rights

16. Tricks and traps for
Wikimedia, Museums
and access to Art...

17. 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” :-)

18. 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/ Caro Wallis - cc-by-NC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carowallis1/3189114504/
2009/08/museum-photo-policies-
should-be-as-open.html

19. Licensing Conditions on 3rd
parties?
If you take a
picture (when
you’re not
supposed to) Richard Giles - CC-by-SA (??)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
and give it to
File:Usain_Bolt_Olympics_Celebration
.jpg
me, am I bound
by your license
conditions?
http://ragesoss.com/blog/2009/10/09/wikipedia-and-olympics-committee-heading-for-collision/

20. 2. Licensing Conditions
(digital)
Text
National Library of Australia permissions statement.
First page of Captain William Bligh’s
log book - on the NLA Website.
Image now also available, without permission, at:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nla.ms-ms5393-2-s1.jpg

21. 3. Fair Use
Same article in:
< Afrikaans
Swedish >
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Non-free_content

22. 4. Freedom of
Panorama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_%28sculpture%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WPSPA

23. 5. Copyright in
collections and in scans

24. Feist v. Rural Telephone (1991)
Bridgeman v. Corel (1999)
Originality v. “Sweat of the brow”

25. Some obviously haven’t
heard about this law...
This is the Frick Collection’s copyright statement.
Is it deliberately flouting New York law?

26. 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...
De-accessioning by
Copyright
...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.
*in a publicly funded collection and/or in the Public Domain

27. 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.

28. 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

29. Wikimedia takes a stand,
so you don’t have to.
:-)

30. Peace, Love & Metadata
liamwyatt@gmail.com
[[user:witty lama]]
@wittylama
www.wittylama.com/blog