[WikiEN-l] SOS -- Save Our Sources

[Ray Saintonge]

Steve Bennett wrote:

>On 12/4/06, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>Fair use generally only applies if you are using the copyrighted
>>material in an article about the material itself.
>>    
>>
>That's a very specific example of fair use which Wikipedia generally
>dictates as the only one it's willing to accept. I believe that lots
>of other uses can be "fair use". For example, it's generally
>acceptable for an academic to photocopy bits out of a journal so that
>they can study it at home, if the journal can't be borrowed - no
>violation of copyright takes place. I believe this would be in the
>same category. We would not be copying the material to avoid someone
>having to buy the book, we'd be copying it to enable readers to simply
>check that it says what someone is claiming it does. Perfectly fair,
>IMHO.
>
I think that the theory that fair use is applicable in this is a dubious 
one.  In any event the place for this kind of medium would be in 
Commons, and they don't allow fair use at all.  The academic who 
photocopies an article for his own research does not normally make that 
article available to a broad range of people.  Even limiting access to 
logged-on users is still making the article available to a very large 
number of people. 

How much of an article would we keep?  In some cases snippets may be 
enough, but in the really contentious material fact-checking may require 
a context for the material.

>>Most dead-tree sources can be found a good library, which should be
>>    
>>
>enough to verify it if we need to.
>
>Know anyone who has ever gone to a library to verify a Wikipedia
>citation? Ever had a suspicion about a dead-tree citation? Could you
>be bothered going to a library to check it out? Could you be bothered
>to click on a link?
>
Honest and thorough fact checkers are not about to cut corners by 
avoiding a trip to the library if they feel it is important enough.  I 
have frequently had suspicions about citations.  Nothing stops us from 
asking another Wikipedian to check it out when we don't have access to 
convenient material.  For some going to a well-stocked library may be a 
100 mile drive.  Clicking on a link is obviously convenient, but it 
could also promote tunnel vision and diminish the possibility of editors 
looking for alternative sources that may view the issue differently.

Ec