Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 11:21:03 -0400
Subject: Re: Contentville and UMI


Some very practical concerns. Although I never really saw (still dont) the
point of channelling intellectual/emotional resources into reworking a
dissertation and putting it out as a book in the first place- can't "move
on" and do other stuff in-depth. But you are right - we don't have time to
produce a whole other book while negotiating the realities of teaching,
service and research requirements (and some personal life in between). 

Maybe the requirements will have to eventually "adapt" to the changing modes
of publishing etc (but alas - maybe not in our "tenurable" times...).



r

At 11:17 AM 8/13/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Freer distribution of theses also raises another question. In general,
>tenure requests have been based on the first book--and that book is usually
>a revised version of the dissertation. New faculty rarely have the time to
>produce another, completely new book-length piece of research in the five to
>six years that they have to get ready for tenure review. What will happen to
>the tenure review process if dissertations no longer turn into books, and
>young faculty need to produce a "second" book within that time period? I do
>not think that universities will give more support, either in time release
>or in financial support for research! Lisa
>
>
>----------
>>From: Danny Butt <db-AT-icvp.com>
>>To: postcolonial <postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
>>Subject: Re: Contentville and UMI
>>Date: Sun, Aug 13, 2000, 2:12 AM
>>
>
>>Always interesting when you think you're kind of on top of things then
>>suddenly "hey! that's not supposed to be happening to us!". Fairly relevant
>>to Maya Dodd's point in some ways :).
>>
>>Of course - sort of like Napster vs. home taping issue -  nothing's *really*
>>changed: libraries often charge for making copies available to anyone But it
>>certainly lets work circulate faster and in digital form.
>>
>>Radhika noted that many people try and turn their thesis into a book -
>>sometimes with minimal rewriting. Although the theses have always been
>>nominally freely available, they've remained relatively obscure and hard to
>>get, and institutions haven't been trying to market them. Authors have
>>basically been able to exploit this "distribution inefficiency" to
>>"monetise" their content via book publishers. However, the rise of sites
>>like Contentville seems to throw that model into question.
>>
>>My guess is that students are going to start paying a bit more attention to
>>the intellectual property policies of the institutions they're signing on
>>with. From my experience these have been more based on "gentlemen's
>>agreements" and historical practices than what's in the policies. I'm
>>certainly troubled by the thought of my current thesis-in-progress ending up
>>being hawked in a less-than-sympathetic way by some contractor to the
>>institution. OTOH, I don't see much I can do about it, and anyway the idea
>>of this academic thing is that it's supposed to spread ideas, right?
>>
>>Interesting times in the academic intellectual property world! have more to
>>say on this but I think Maya's thread is more important so we should
>>probably get back on topic...
>>
>>cheers
>>
>>danny
>>
>>
>>Elizabeth Deloughrey wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Folks:
>>> 
>>> First, apologies for the length of this email. I have checked the UMI web
>>> site and they have their own program to order dissertations on-line. I've
>>> scoured through their news releases, web links, and company profile and see
>>> nothing of Contentville even mentioned. UMI website:
>>> http://www.umi.com/hp/Products/DisExpress.html
>>> 
>>> If you have questions about the relation between UMI and Contentville, you
>>> can email the president of UMI/Bell & Howell at
>>> JoeReynolds-AT-bellhowell.infolearning.com
>>> 
>>> A quote of his which is telling:
>>> 
>>> Reynolds stated. "We will continue to expand our intellectual property for
>>> the academic researchers of the world and will continue to offer the best
>>> value for our customer's research dollar."
>>> 
>>> I also found a completely uncritical press release which is very recent and
>>> have pasted it below. Although it doesn't say as much, it seems the
>>> Contentville president was faced with legal action if he continued to sell
>>> others' works without paying royalities. He is lauded for "choosing" to
>>> abide by the law.
>>
>>> 
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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>
****************************************************
Radhika Gajjala
http://www.cyberdiva.org/
http://lingua.utdallas.edu:7000/4425/
http://moo.hawaii.edu:7000/599/



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