tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730930067468816440.post1150009875047882375..comments2024-03-20T16:54:00.918-05:00Comments on Collaborative Manuscript Transcription: Can a Closed Crowdsourcing Project Succeed?Ben W. Brumfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363399128262210534noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730930067468816440.post-53682123847379289562011-07-27T20:34:15.838-05:002011-07-27T20:34:15.838-05:00Thanks for all the comments. One of things I worr...Thanks for all the comments. One of things I worry about as I talk with folks in the UK about digitization projects is that the Crown Copyright/non-Bridgeman regime is going to make this kind of open<i>er</i> (but still restricted) use the best we can hope for. As Chris Lintott points out, Ancient Lives is a massive advance in openess despite the restrictions.<br /><br />To the extent such things are possible, I think that the case for openness should be made to rights-holders. One of the side effects of restricted use is that a project limits its user contributions to only the kinds of activities permitted. A good example of the downside of this may be seen in the comments to the <a href="http://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/07/26/1346205/Crowdsourcing-Ancient-Egyptian-Scrolls#comments" rel="nofollow">Slashdot post discussing Ancient Lives</a>. There are three separate comment threads bemoaning the copyright on the images (<a href="http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2349588&cid=36885676" rel="nofollow">1</a>, <a href="http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2349588&cid=36889154" rel="nofollow">2</a>, <a href="http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2349588&cid=36886892" rel="nofollow">3</a>). What's interesting is that in addition to general grouching about closed projects, two of the posts discuss computational approaches to assembling and analyzing the papyrus fragments in terms of "what would happen if we put the images through X?" This is a form of public participation which was likely never envisioned as it's well outside the scope of Ancient Lives tool, but it's prohibited nonetheless.Ben W. Brumfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08363399128262210534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730930067468816440.post-67606512654135775902011-07-27T02:49:27.546-05:002011-07-27T02:49:27.546-05:00Gavin, that's a bit of an exaggeration! '...Gavin, that's a bit of an exaggeration! 'Most' unpublished works remain in copyright in the UK until 2039 possibly, but certainly not all. There are also some handy regulations whereby many older literary works can in fact be published, despite remaining in copyright, although I agree the law is extremely frustrating when it comes to archival documents.<br /><br />Other examples of successful 'closed' crowdsourcing projects might be the commercial genealogy ones, such as Ancestry's <a href="http://community.ancestry.co.uk/wap/download.aspx" rel="nofollow">World Archives Project</a>.Alexandra Eveleighnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730930067468816440.post-13692696118701917952011-07-26T13:35:15.735-05:002011-07-26T13:35:15.735-05:00The more relevant part of UK copyright law is that...The more relevant part of UK copyright law is that all unpublished works are under copyright until at least 2039 no matter how old they are.<br /><br />Lots of UK institutions claim that just by making a straightforward mechanical copy of a document they gain a new copyright. I'm not convinced that the letter of the law agrees with them, but no-one can afford to challenge it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730930067468816440.post-34634235022453782332011-07-26T10:22:10.335-05:002011-07-26T10:22:10.335-05:00I wouldn't call one cranky tweet a "contr...I wouldn't call one cranky tweet a "controversy". <br /><br />It's a very slick and engaging site with a captivating topic, and I don't disagree with tapping the internet's cognitive surplus (the project on which I'm working aims to do the same thing) to transcribe (or categorize or delineate). I only regret that the results aren't more free and open.<br /><br />Closed crowdsourcing can indeed succeed, Google's Map Maker being a prime example. The understanding that the work you give away to Google will show up eventually in Google Maps and be available to use via the Maps API has to be a factor in the success. There's some tangible return and in the same currency (maps on the web via API).<br /><br />Still, I'd rather people were instead donating their time and energy to OpenStreetMap.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730930067468816440.post-38643811632582407652011-07-26T08:55:09.872-05:002011-07-26T08:55:09.872-05:00Thanks for the (very fair) post about our project....Thanks for the (very fair) post about our project. The only things I'd like to add is that Ancient Lives represents a radical opening of a collection that until now has been very hard to reach, although it obviously falls a long, long way short of being very open. Secondly, any academic use of the results by the project team will, as with all of our projects, give full credit to volunteer transcribers. <br /><br />It will indeed be interesting to see what happens!Chris Lintotthttp://www.zooniverse.orgnoreply@blogger.com