AAPB/Copyright research

Right before spring break I interviewed Alison Smith, Associate Director of Stock Sales at the WGBH Media Library and Archives. In advance of our meeting I reviewed the stock sales site, its various online catalogs, discovery systems, and general policies. One important thing to note, which is mentioned on the website, is that public media is NOT in the public domain. It is not produced by federal employees, but rather by independent media stations and contracted producers, thus the copyright parameters involve many rights holders and various interests.

My interview with Alison took about 45 minutes, which I recorded and am currently working to transcribe. Topics covered included Smith's background, stock sales staffing and workflow, WGBH rate policies, revenue, customer demographic and breakdown, professional licensing requests, impact of digitization and open access push, union/guild fees, and the broader implications of copyright on researcher and production requests. I will summarize my findings more once transcription is complete.

I have also been in communication with Peter Kaufman (Columbia) and hope to conduct a phone or in-person interview with him in the coming weeks. In advance of us speaking, I have been reading Kaufman's publications that speak to the need for moving image archives to be included in the future digital media landscape of reuse and remix, and that "by participating in the great video conversation on the web, cultural and educational institutions have the ability to engage the public," in new and innovative ways.

In terms of CopyrightX I am currently studying the rights of distribution and public performance, which play greatly into the ability of archives to digitize and share holdings with myriad or unidentified rights holders. I have also been consulting resources for librarians and educators working with digital collections--considering the AAPB is a partnership of WGBH, member stations and the Library of Congress, whose mission is much different than that of independent media stations.