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Forwarded from NINCH list - part 1 (this is a LONG newsletter!)
Judy
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N I N C H
Networked Cultural Heritage Newsletter
No. 6
February 7, 1997
www-ninch.cni.org/news/news.html
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A news and information digest for those working to preserve and
provide access to cultural heritage resources through networked digital
technology.
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This newsletter is published through the NINCH-Announce listserv of the
National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage. You are welcome to
distribute it freely, with due acknowledgments. It is also available in a
hyperlinked version on the NINCH web site, within two days of publication.
S U M M A R Y
1. ACLS AND VIACOM SETTLE SUIT INVOLVING ELECTRONIC RIGHTS
Macmillan's claims that its rights to publish the ACLS "Dictionary
of American Biography" (DAB) "in any form" included electronic
publication, and that it could publish its own additions to the DAB
under that name, were dropped in a recent settlement. Under the
settlement, ACLS grants Macmillan the license to publish an
electronic version of the unaltered DAB (until the year 2000). In
1998, ACLS and Oxford University Press will publish a brand new
"American National Biography."
2. CORPORATE DIGITAL ARCHIVE
Simon and Schuster's new Corporate Digital Archive can access its
40,000 archived images for re-use by the company and for direct sale
on the Internet.
3. COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION: NEXT STEPS UNCLEAR
Whether the WIPO Copyright Treaty will be ratified by the Senate
with implementing legislation, or not, and whether last year's NII
Copyright Protection Act will be re-introduced are all unclear.
However, worrying database protection legislation will be
introduced.
4. FCC UPDATES:
>SPECTRUM AVAILABLE FOR NEW UNLICENSED EQUIPMENT
FCC has made available 300 MHz of spectrum for Unlicensed
National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices, which could
provide a means for educational institutions, libraries, and health
care providers in rural areas to connect to basic and advanced
telecommunications services, as envisioned by the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.
>UNIVERSAL SERVICE PROPOSALS: BENTON CALLS FOR MARKETING PLAN
A marketing plan outline to guarantee that eligible recipients of
universal service support are informed of their eligibility has been
filed with the FCC by the Benton Foundation and the Center for
Strategic Communications
5. NEW DOMAIN NAMES
The International Ad Hoc Committee announced new domains on
the Internet including .arts for cultural and entertainment
organizations.
6. GETTY PROVENANCE INDEX NOW AVAILABLE
The Getty Provenance Index is now available on CD-ROM. It holds
over 330,000 records on 16th-19th century art.
7. GLOBAL RESOURCES PROGRAM
A new collaborative program will improve access by US research
libraries to foreign-language resources through distributed
collections and expanded electronic delivery of material. The Global
Resources Program will grow beyond pilot projects in Japan,
Germany and Latin America to include Southeast Asia and Africa.
8. AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE PRESENTS FULL-LENGTH MOVIES OVER INTERNET
On January 22, the American Film Institute, using new
compression technology, opened its new series, AFI OnLine
Cinema, in which it will broadcast a different classic Hollywood
movie each month over the Internet.
9. UNICODE BABBLE
The Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities at the
University of Virginia is developing Babble, a software program
that will enable researchers to display and manipulate Unicode texts
(non-standard character sets).
10. SOFTWARE FOR TEACHING OVER THE NET/VIRTUAL LEARNING SUPERIOR?
A popular software program designed at the University of British
Columbia enabling teachers to develop online courses may soon be
commercially available. Meanwhile a California statistics professor
claims that students learning in a virtual classroom tested 20%
better than their counterparts who learned the material in a
traditional classroom.
11. MOVEMENTS
Doug Bennett, Peter Grenquist, Susan Hockey, Roger Kennedy,
Daniel Pitti, Scott Stoner, and Jennifer Trant have announced
significant movements in the field.
12. PAUL EVAN PETERS MEMORIAL SERVICE
The memorial service for Paul Evan Peters will be held on February 18,
1997,February 18 at 4pm at Georgetown University's Dahlgren Chapel.
13. CONFERENCES, PUBLICATIONS, WEB RESOURCES AND AWARDS
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ACLS AND VIACOM SETTLE SUIT INVOLVING ELECTRONIC RIGHTS
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has announced that
it reached settlement in its suit against the Macmillan publishing
company to prevent publication of an unauthorized edition of the
"Dictionary of American Biography" (DAB).
The venerable DAB goes back to the 1920s when ACLS licensed
Scribners to publish a 20-volume work. Over the years, the original
was updated with ten supplements. With changing historiography
and new scholarship, however, there was a great need for a revised
work, while preserving the historic DAB in its original form.
Macmillan, which had taken over Scribners only then to be
acquired by Viacom, declined the invitation to publish the new
work and Oxford University Press was chosen by ACLS to publish
the new American National Biography, which will be published in
print and electronic forms in 1998.
In 1990, ACLS agreed to allow Macmillan to publish one final
Supplement to cover the years 1976 through 1980, but then
Macmillan summarily announced its plans to publish an electronic,
CD-ROM version of the DAB (claiming right to publish "in any
form") and add to this authoritative work new and revised
biographies under the DAB name. ACLS filed suit in May to stop
publication of the CD and the additional supplements, believing,
according to its press release, that this was its only vehicle "for
maintaining its rightful control over the DAB and its ability to
preserve that work as an irreplaceable -- but unaltered -- monument
to the great historians of the first half of the twentieth century."
The Settlement provides for ACLS to grant Macmillan an exclusive
license to publish (until January 1, 2000) the existing DAB as a CD-
ROM with no new text, unless approved by ACLS (which will
receive royalties from the electronic version). For its part
Macmillan will ensure that none of its new works are perceived as
revisions of the existing DAB, that it will not alter the DAB in its
electronic version, and that any supplements published on
Americans who died after 1980 must be distinguished from the
DAB itself and cannot be described or sold as extensions of it.
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CORPORATE DIGITAL ARCHIVE
Simon and Schuster's new Corporate Digital Archive, reported
recently by Business Week, is an indication of how one commercial
publisher is realizing the benefits of digitizing older material.
Initially, the archive will be used for searching and accessing the
publisher's archive of 40,000 images for re-use in its own
publications. However, with a goal of generating half of its
revenues from electronic publishing by the year 2000, the company
plans on direct sales of its images. The new system can add a digital
watermark, calculate royalty payments and track the use of an image
throughout the Internet. (See Business Week 23 Dec. 96
p80/Edupage Dec. 17, 1996)
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COPYRIGHT AND DATABASE LEGISLATION: NEXT STEPS UNCLEAR
Currently there is no clear indication of the next steps forward with
copyright legislation. The WIPO Treaty has to be ratified by the
Senate but whether any substantial implementation legislation will
be required is uncertain. Such legislation could provide the
opportunity for clarifying domestic positions on the Treaty (and its
Agreed Statements), including the extension of fair use and other
limitations and liability by service providers for online copyright
infringements.
There is currently some jockeying within government agencies and
committees as to where the lead and main interest will come from:
the Patents and Trademarks Office, the Copyright Office in the
Library of Congress, the Commerce Department, the National
Economic Council, the White House itself, individual House and
Senate members, the Senate Judiciary Committee or the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
It is quite clear however that a form of the deferred WIPO database
treaty (last year's domestic HR3531--see <http://www-
ninch.cni.org/News/Newsletter2.html#New Database Bill>) will
not only be discussed at other WIPO meetings in the next few
months but will be introduced as legislation. There is also the
possibility that a version of last year's NII Copyright Protection Act
will be re-introduced.
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FCC UPDATES
SPECTRUM AVAILABLE FOR NEW UNLICENSED EQUIPMENT
In response to a proposal made by Apple Computer and the
Wireless Information Networks Forum, the FCC recently made
available 300 MHz of spectrum for Unlicensed National
Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices.
These wireless devices are planned to provide short-range,
high speed wireless digital communications, to support the creation
of new wireless local area networks (LANs) and to facilitate access to the
information highway.
U-NII devices may also provide a means for educational
institutions, libraries, and health care providers in rural areas, to
connect to basic and advanced telecommunications services, as
envisioned by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. According to an
FCC press release, educational institutions could form inexpensive
wireless computer networks between classrooms, thereby providing
cost-effective access to an array of multimedia services on the
Internet. Similarly libraries could use this spectrum to provide
wireless links within buildings, among branches or connect to other
institutions. See FCC news release on ET Docket No. 96-102 at
<http://www.fcc.gov/>.
UNIVERSAL SERVICE PROPOSALS: BENTON CALLS FOR MARKETING PLAN
Following up on our earlier reports on FCC Universal Service
proposals <http://www-ninch.cni.org/News/Newsletter4.html#JOINT BOARD>, we
report that the Benton Foundation and the Center for Strategic
Communications filed the outline of a plan to guarantee that eligible
recipients of universal service support are informed of their eligibility.
The administrator of the new universal service fund would be charged with
developing and implementing universal service marketing campaigns to make
eligible individuals and institutions aware of the resulting support
mechanisms. Benton's plan calls for a collaborative effort between
representatives from consumer groups, public interest advocates,
state consumer advocates, as well as experienced marketing
executives from the telecommunications industry. For details see
<http://www.benton.org/Policy/96act/reccomments.html>.
ACCESS NOTE:
The New York Times reported the announcement by New York
City's Mayor Giuliani of a $150 million plan to provide access to
computers for every child in NYC's schools and to connect the city's
schools to the Internet. New York's ration of one computer for 16
students is far below the national average of one per 10.5 students.
The Mayor is asking the business community to contribute to the
plan.
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