|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Minutes of 8 January 1999 Members attending: Frank Abrams, David Broome, Mark Crowell, David Danehower, Peggy Hoon, Ernie Knowles,Sandra Newville, Everette Prosise, Michael Rappa, Rebeca Rufty, Scott DeSpain, Ross Whetten. 2. Update on Copyright Ownership Town Meetings 3. Review of Responses to First Town Meeting 4. Review of Responses to the UNC Faculty Assembly Copyright Colloquium 5. Discussion of Process to Arrive at Draft Copyright Ownership Policy 6. New Business 7. Adjourn 1. Co-chair David Danehower called the meeting to order at 2:10 P.M. 2 .Update on Copyright Ownership Town Meetings Danehower began by reporting on the first Copyright Ownership Town Meeting which was held on December 8, 1998 in Williams 2215. Even though this was exam week, there were 55 attendees which was felt to be a good turnout. At this town meeting, Danehower and Hoon gave a 25-30 minute introductory presentation including the background and charge of the Copyright Ownership Task Force. The town meeting was then opened up to the attendees and a spirited discussion of the issues and concerns ensued. The summary of the issues raised at the town meeting was then discussed by the task force. Members of the task force who were able to attend the town meeting were invited to give their impressions and comments to the rest of the group. It was evident at the town meeting that faculty were very concerned that the university intended to start asserting ownership in scholarly works that have traditionally remained with faculty such as monographs and journal articles. There was further discussion regarding courses vs. course materials, faculty creating courses here with university materials and then taking them to another university, and copyright as it may intersect with the Public Records Act. The next two Copyright Ownership Town Meetings will be as follows: 1. January 20, 1999, 2:30--4:00 p.m., Poe Hall, Rm. 216 2. February 16, 1999, 12:15--2:30 p.m., North Theater, CVM 3. Review of Responses to First Town Meeting Danehower, using overhead transparencies, reviewed and led the continuing discussion of the comments and concerns raised by the attendees of the first Copyright Ownership Town Meeting. Some of the discussion concerned the possible utility of irrevocable, royalty-free licenses allowing the university to use materials created with significant university resources as opposed to joint copyright ownership and management. As pointed out by Rappa, there are some, more unique kinds of courses that the faculty feel a lot of ownership for in contrast to very standard, basic courses that are very uniform and being taught simultaneously by multiple faculty. Members of the task force acknowledged that the university makes substantial investments in some kinds of projects and should have rights to it. It may not have to be ownership but rights to use it. The irrevocable, royalty-free license to use the material or the web page, and the right to modify it were discussed approvingly. These are used already when using the NC State TV studios to create video courses. Ownership does not have to be a zero sum gain. The problems come in with competition if the copyright ownership (if it is not the university) wishes to teach the course at other universities. Many faculty talk about *selling* their course, but who is talking about *buying* courses? For example, would NC State really buy a course on meteorology or would they hire a professor to create one? If the university does obtain a nonexclusive right to use the course, will commercial publishers still agree to publish it? Is there a need to maintain a commercial presence in the creation and dissemination of information? The task force then entered a discussion about universities taking over the role of publishing scholarly works, possibly by expanding their own university presses or becoming electronic publishers. The major of costs of publishing would fall out and the intellectual property would remain within the academic community. The academic community needs to get together an make a concerted effort to set up the infrastructure and support it in order to get away from predatory commercial publishers. 4. Review of Responses to the UNC Faculty Assembly Copyright Colloquium The task force, with the aid of overhead transparencies, reviewed the list of issues gathered at the November 5, 1998, UNC Copyright Colloquium. It was emphasized that this was the result of a *brainstorming* session at the end of the colloquium and does not represent any sort of consensus or formal recommendations of the Faculty Assembly. 5. Discussion of Process to Arrive at Draft Copyright Ownership Policy Due to time constraints, this item was deferred to the next task force meeting. An open email letter, addressed to the Copyright Ownership Task Force, from one of the history professors was circulated and discussed. It was felt that this letter might be representative of a segment of the faculty and underscored the need for faculty education in this area and of experiences beyond their own. 7. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m. Submitted by Peggy Hoon |
||||||
|
Return to Ad hoc and Task Forces Return to COTF home page |
Comments may be sent to academic@ncsu.edu
Last Updated:3/23/99