2008/4/28 Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang_at_inria.fr>:
> The issue of Orphan Works is more and more discussed in various places.
> Questions :
>
> - do you know whether the issue is raised in the context of open-access ?
>
> - where ?
>
> - should it be discussed, and where or how ?
Yes, it should.
(i) For the humanities monograph open access is essential.
Peter Suber says in his authoritative OA overview:
"Nor need OA even be limited to literature. It can apply to any
digital content, from raw and semi-raw data to learning objects,
music, images, multi-media presentations, and software. It can apply
to works that are born digital or to older works, like public-domain
literature and cultural-heritage objects, digitized later in life."
(ii) For the humanities and especially the historical disciplines is
the access to historical monographs or journal literature conditio
sine qua non.
Publisher's retrodigitizing of journal literature is often not legal
because publisher don't have the copyright. In Germany e.g. most
authors of journal literatur didn't transfer the copyright to the
publisher in such a way that the publishers can use their articles in
a digital context. Nevertheless publishers are digitizing their
journal backfiles - well knowing they don't have the rights to do so.
It would be impossible to clear the rights for a 50 year old journal
volume with reasonable financial effort (contacting the authors or all
their heirs).
A lot of scholarly useful photographs in the public archives are "orphan works".
(iii) If we need electronic Open Access to historical literature (and
in the humanities we do) we have to adress the "Orphans problem".
(iv) As scholarly orphans are only a part of the orphans problem we
should cooperate with open content initiatives which are propagating
better access to orphan works.
The best summary of the orphans problem which has been written in
German is from Rainer Kuhlen in his new book "Erfolgreiches Scheitern"
2008 (pp. 315 sqq.). Kuhlen has also large chapters on Open Access he
supports as speaker of the Urheberrechtsbuendnis. The book is online
at:
http://www.inf-wiss.uni-konstanz.de/RK2008_ONLINE/node/18
More information on orphans in German and English in my weblog:
http://archiv.twoday.net/search?q=verwaist
http://archiv.twoday.net/search?q=orphan
Klaus Graf
Received on Mon Apr 28 2008 - 19:25:21 BST