wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Globorama - some explanation from Don
Robert Bilsland 2008-May-23 07:52:00
Don,
I would like to see that the World Wide Panorama project gets a
suitable mention as well. As without this project they would have not
been able to find such a "ready-to-use" set of panoramas from all
round the world.
Bob Bilsland.
--- In #removed#, "G. Donald Bain" <dbain@...> wrote:
>
> I am sorry for the confusion around this issue. Let me try to explain
> the chain of events.
>
> Gabi Haindl (one of our long-time WWP participants, resident in
> Germany) alerted us to this issue back on April 17. She went to
> Karlsruhe and saw images from the WWP being used in the Globorama.
> Apparently this had occurred before, in fall of 2008. She then talked
> to Mr Bernd Lintermann, Head of the ZKM Institute for Visual Media,
> who confirmed that no permission had been sought before using the WWP
> panoramas.
>
> Many thanks to Gabi for this! Unfortunately, we (the WWP organizers)
> didn't follow through very well. Landis and Markus and I discussed
> it, but no action was taken at that time.
>
> The next thing, if I have the chronology correct, was that on May 8
> Mr. Lintermann sent an e-mail to the organizers, explaining about the
> Globorama project. He also asked us to provide him with a mailing list
> of all the members of the WWP so that he could contact you directly
> for permission. He included a proposed letter, three pages in pdf
> format, and a form to be filled out, in Word format.
>
> The WWP policy on copyright is stated very clearly on the site,
> unchanged from the very first event. Mr Lintermann's e-mail, letter,
> and form were very reasonable, and the right way to deal with it -
> EXCEPT that it should have been done before their first use.
>
> Now, it would seem to be a clear violation of everyone's copyright to
> assume that they could use your material in the first place. I am
> familiar with the "flexible" way that copyright is treated by many in
> academia (I am constantly being asked to install "free" copies of
> commercial software for professors). On the other hand, there is such
> a thing as "fair use", where materials can be used in reviews and as
> examples without permission. Just where the line should be drawn
> between fair use and copyright violation could be argued endlessly.
>
> There was also the question of whether they were actually hijacking
> our images by putting them on their server, or just showing the WWP
> site direct from the web. The former would be illegal, the latter not.
>
> Next was the request to give them everyone's e-mail address. One of
> the promises made in setting up the WWP was to protect your email
> addresses. Any mass communication should be done through this list, to
> which members can subscribe, or read digests, or archives, or opt out
> of.
>
> This was starting to get complex and we needed time to consider it.
> Unfortunately, free time is something that Landis and I have had very
> little of lately. We discussed it again but nothing was done.
>
> The next event was May 21, when many of us received an e-mail from
> Petra Kaiser, on behalf of the ZKM Center (presenters of the
> Globorama). The full text of this message is quoted below, for those
> who did not receive it. Since it did not come through #removed#,
> and we certainly did not give out an e-mail list, they must have read
> the e-mail addresses from the web site and typed them in (they are not
> machine-readable).
>
> A letter very similar to the sample that I had been sent earlier was
> attached, in pdf format. It included the assurance that this was a non-
> profit educational use, and that copyright notice, title, and name of
> photographer would be included with each image displayed. The form, in
> Word format, was also attached, to be used either to grant them
> permission or to deny them use of your images.
>
> So far so good - BUT - in numbered paragraph 5 they asserted "Please
> be informed that we assume your consent, if we do not receive any
> comment from your side." This of course is nonsense and illegal. The
> WWP is "published" in the US and the law is clear - copyright is
> implicitly granted to the artist when the work is created. Since these
> works have been created all over the world, other national copyright
> laws and international conventions may also apply.
>
> Rest assured that the organizers of the WWP will defend your
> copyrights, and will not give out your e-mail addresses.
>
> Displays of VR media such as the Globorama may be a useful way to
> publicize our efforts and further distribute our art. I encourage them
> in doing this. But we must insist that certain standards be met. (1)
> that the creators of the content (all of us) are consulted before the
> content is used, (2) that we are fully informed of how it will be
> used, (3) that copyright is strictly observed with permission
> explicitly obtained from each individual, and (4) that the Berne
> Convention on Moral Rights (which simply means that your name has to
> be kept linked to your work) is observed.
>
> There has been some discussion of this on the list, which is good.
> Please continue to comment and express your opinions. Unfortunately, I
> will only be an intermittent participant in the discussion, as I am
> about to leave for a twelve day trip in the deserts of Arizona and
> Utah, where I will have limited internet access. Landis is also out of
> town.
>
> A personal announcement will follow.
>
> Don
>
> ====================
> > Dear Madam/ Sir,
> > at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany,
<http://www.zkm.de
> > > a public cultural institution that focuses on contemporary and
> > especially on media art, an artistic research project has been
> > conducted that explores new forms of visualizing satellite image data.
> >
> > The project entitled "Globorama" is an installation shown in a
> > cylindrical projection screen of 8m in diameter and 2.8m in height.
> >
> > The goal was to enable the users to travel the entire globe by means
> > of a laser pointer. To experience not only a bird's eye view of the
> > globe respectively to see different locations from different
> > heights, but to be able to explore the chosen location, the
> > researchers and artists developed a prototype of the installation
> > that makes it possible to include panoramic images from the web.
> >
> > In this context, the developers would like to take the liberty to
> > integrate into this prototype version also pictures from the Word
> > Wide Panorama Project to explore the feasibility of the application
> > developed. Having shown the work as a "prototype-in-progress" at the
> > ZKM, we would now like to present the project as part of different
> > international, non-commercial exhibitions.
> >
> > We have noticed that copyright of the images vests with the
> > respective author, and we had contacted the organizers of the World
> > Wide Panorama Project with the request to please be so kind as to
> > distribute our request for the permission to use the images in the
> > installation via the project's mailing list. Unfortunately, we
> > haven't received any response yet, and so we would now like to
> > contact you directly. We would like to apologize that this happens
> > on such short notice.
> >
> > Further information on the installation and the context of use for
> > which we would kindly request your permission can be found in the
> > attached documents.
> >
> > We'd be more than happy to answer any further questions you might
> > have with regard to the project, and are looking forward to hearing
> > from you.
> >
> >
> > With kind regards and thank you very much for your cooperation,
> >
> > Bernd Lintermann
> >
> > Head of the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media
>