B&C2 illustrations

[Praefectusclassis]

Since everyone seems to want to, but nobody actually can give more than one laus at one time, I've taken the liberty to give you a bunch Mike. On behalf of all those others

[Flavius Promotus]

And there was much rejoicing!

[Robert Vermaat]

nobody actually can give more than one laus at one time

Define 'one time'? Or can only mods awards laudes endlessly?

[Praefectusclassis]

Only mods and admins can. The rest has to wait either 1 or 24 hours, I forget.

[Arahne]

Maybe this is the newest period in development of publishing archaeological monographs- everything becomes available on line and you are just one click away from receiving newest info's. Sadly I know that it is not true . Laudes for Mr. Bishop's attitude towards availability of information.

[FAVENTIANVS]

Laus for you Mike! Your generosity reflects your elevated spirit!

Thank you very much!

[mcbishop]

I don't know; I go away for two days and come back to find you've all gone mad! Are laudes like airmiles - can I trade them in for a slightly better seat in heaven at the right foot of Robinson? ;-)

Maybe this is the newest period in development of publishing archaeological monographs- everything becomes available on line and you are just one click away from receiving newest info's. Sadly I know that it is not true . Laudes for Mr. Bishop's attitude towards availability of information.

It is already changing. The archaeological community are seriously considering publishing monographs online because of the cost of printing them (SAIR is an experiment in this direction... I even typeset one of them!) but the tricky thing is working out a model that enables the poor idiots like me who are trying to make a living out of archaeology... to actually make a living at it! In my case, there is nothing to be gained by sitting on the non-commercial rights to illustrations (what am I going to do: sue every schoolkid who rips off one of my illustrations to put on their web site? I think not...), everything to be gained by engendering good will. I know how I feel if I buy a CD I can't rip to my MP3 player (exceedingly grumpy, as it means I have to make extra effort just to get at what I paid for) because of some DRM nonsense (and I note Apple are, ironically, now proposing to do away with DRM) and there is no doubt that everything regarding rights etc is now up in the air. In other words, being over-protective of what you perceive to be your rights is counter-productive.

Remove the need to print archaeological monographs and your distribution/cost model has to be revised accordingly (are you as a punter going to pay, say, £90 for another turgid archaeological report just because it has a few pieces of equipment in it, or would you get it out of the library instead? If it costs you £5 to download legitimately, however, it is much more tempting, if you work out what it would cost you to go to the library, photocopy it, etc etc). It's the 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' philosophy, where your target consumers change from being a few academic libraries who can still afford dead-tree books, to the much larger consumer base of archaeologists, people interested in archaeology, or the past in general (which includes you lot). Make them cheap so that piracy is negligible (most people, despite what the RIAA may think, are basically honest; how many people photocopy newspapers instead of buying them?!) and you have a viable marketing model that is at least as good as, and probably superior to, the current one.

Personally, I see no conflict between retaining copyright over something but issuing it under a fairly liberal licence for free circulation. As I've said before, it's a model that Cory Doctorow has made work for SF publishing and I think it has definite possibilities in my field (hence, since the author didn't really give a damn either way, the licence for Usipi).

Mike Bishop

[Caius Fabius]

If you get 1000 Laudes, I think you can trade them in for a lifetime membership to RAT. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Robert Vermaat]

Remove the need to print archaeological monographs and your distribution/cost model has to be revised accordingly (are you as a punter going to pay, say, £90 for another turgid archaeological report just because it has a few pieces of equipment in it, or would you get it out of the library instead? If it costs you £5 to download legitimately, however, it is much more tempting, if you work out what it would cost you to go to the library, photocopy it, etc etc).

Personally, I see no conflict between retaining copyright over something but issuing it under a fairly liberal licence for free circulation. As I've said before, it's a model that Cory Doctorow has made work for SF publishing and I think it has definite possibilities in my field (hence, since the author didn't really give a damn either way, the licence for Usipi).

I'm not sure what would work best. At the moment, since I don't work for a university I miss out on loads of articles - usually I learn about their existance through word-of-mouth (well, here mostly ).

You say that paying a fee would be more attractive that going to a library and cpoy articles? I think not. At a library, I can read articles, chose which and what to copy, and copy in bulk to read them at home. Internet subscriptions are like a close library system - you can see the titles but not the content. Why should I pay for the off chance that an article contains worthwhile information for me? Must i take a subscription for every periodical that might be of interest? Even at prices of $5 a year per subscription (and you know that's fantastically low!), I could never afford that.

In paper, magazines and publications may be sparse and difficult to reach for those outside universities - but by and by they can gain access - even through media such as RAT! But hide a publication behind a paid internet subscription, and (as with JSTOR) we all depend on those who do pay to (illegally) spread the information around.

Take http://intarch.york.ac.uk/ : I hardly have any idea what they publis - only recently have internet summaries become available to get a glimpse of each article. Their prices (individual) are £39.50 per volume. £12.50 per article - impossible for me to pay. If every mag and periodicle would do that, access to scientific articles would drop like a rock.

On the other hand, I also know of publications that become freely available to all after just a few years - that's the way to go!
Laudes for http://home.freeuk.com/bgas/pubsol.htm (up to 1988) or the http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/ (up to 2002)!!

For now, I'll go to my alma mater once every few months, copying old articles for RAT members!