Week 5 -- ownership, authorship & copyright -- oh my!

How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally?

Reverse order: Access first, then copyright and authorship.

Access. I love access! I love being able to go on the web and find anything I want! I love doing research on the web and finding professional journal articles and immediately link to other references listed. I love the one stop shopping and not having the hassle of driving to the library or dealing with inter-library loans.

I love access when I am preparing a lesson plan and have at my fingertips similar lessons prepared by others including NIH bioethics courses, Harvard offerings -- even the course syllabi are a goldmine of information.

I do find it slightly frustrating when my access is limited to a teaser blurb or abstract and full access is limited to subscription only or fee for service. I am fortunate that I have access to two full academic libraries with subscription services. If I find a resource that is restricted, I am just a few keystrokes away from full access through GWU or FSU libraries. If I am unable to find a resource through the subscription services, I usually do without. There is just so much readily available, that I rarely go the extra mile to dig up something that requires a physical library visit or payment.

I make exceptions for exceptional works -- usually from Harvard Business School. Here I pay fee for service and pay to download -- usually a nominal fee.

So, access -- yes! Hooray! I love unlimited access, convenience, and one-stop (or two key-stroke) shopping. And when I can't get what I want, I either settle for what I can get or decide to pay for quality.

Next up: copyright