On Catherine Fisk’s Working knowledge
This year, after a brief discussion, one of my students asked to see a lawyer. I need to admit at once that I have many faults. These, however, do not (fully) explain the request. It arose in a discussion of the practicalities of academic life and in response to students’ concerns that basic scholarly practices are increasingly subject to non-negotiable contracts. If they plan to give a talk, their hosts may present a contract demanding the right to reuse the talk. If they write an article, journals will demand the copyright before publishing. If a university employs them, it may demand ownership rights to anything they invent or write on university property during their employment. If they begin collaborative research with other organizations, these may first insist on “nondisclosure agreements”. Such “NDAs” may even allow an organization to remove negative findings from research results. And, of course, the act of downloading a software package or even opening a website often brings with it the implication that the user has read and agreed to innumerable and unfathomable pages of legal demands.
Auteur: Paul Duguid
Working Knowledge