Ray Saintonge wrote:
I guess I would
like to see it done through the community as well to
help reduce costs. Particularly in the printing business, there are
economies of scale that help to reduce costs significantly. This book
which was for sale at $12 a copy could be brought down to $4 or even
less in large volumes. It only makes sense that this is something that
can and should be done with a centralized coordinated effort for this
reason alone.
One huge issue on top of everything else is simply inventory control.
As this is physical items, that means they can be damaged, stolen,
cause damage, and a host of other related problems. Lulu Press does
offer this sort of inventory control, and there are other for-profit
businesses who are willing to do print-on-demand, but that does involve
other compromises. Certainly we shouldn't be tied down to one printer
in any case, and in this situation the Wikimedia Foundation should be
the publisher of the content, not Lulu Press.
Allowing others to produce the physical formats does save us the need to
hire people for inventory maintenance and shipping, or to rent
facilities for storing these goods. I agree that longer print runs do
benefit from economies of scale, but short runs make updating without
wastage of obsolete stock easier.
It still helps out even with print on demand systems if you have a high
volume of sales. The point I was trying to make is that by trying to
pool our efforts to publish content jointly, we can help reduce costs
not only for ourselves, but for everybody involved. It helps even if
all we are doing is moving from one print-on-demand printing house to
another for competitive rates. If it becomes in our interest (Wikimedia
users trying to physically print content) to purchase physcial
facilities due to increased savings, perhaps that is something that can
be discussed when that makes a wise business decision.
I will say that the print industry is very competitive in almost every
aspect, and so many options available that we shouldn't be tied down to
a specific business model. Lulu Press and places like that, however,
seem to be the easiest way to do some initial printing and get started
in the process. There are more things, however, that can be done with
an organized group of Wikimedia users, and I would like to be involved
with those who want to do this with English-language content.
There are some
legal issues such as placement and usage of trademarks.
You hit that one well, and in this situation we need to have it defined
exactly how and in what ways that the WMF would like to have their
trademarks and logos used on publications.
What's really needed in terms of trademarks in general is a clear policy
statement from the Board about the kind of activities that it considers
to be violation of its rights. This may be greater of less than what is
available in its rights under the law, though it stands to reason that
the more it deviates from its legal rights the more the policy will be
challenged. None of this prejudges what an actual legal proceeding
would produce. The primary effect of such a policy would be to give a
safe harbour for activities that are not clearly forbidden.
Agreed. I'm not demanding that the WMF drop everything just to help fix
this squeeky wheel, but I would point out that by cooperating with
Wikimedia users and providing a path that seems reasonable will make
everybody comfortable. There will eventually be some genuine sleezebags
who will push the envelope and perhaps force legal action by the WMF
into trademark defense, but we are not trying to push the limits of
legality here. All I'm asking for is to see what the WMF would consider
to be reasonable uses of their trademarks with print publications. The
sense I am getting is absolutely no use of any trademark is permitted,
even if it is a mere URL or even a side mention like "Thanks to the
Wikimedia Foundation for hosting the servers that made this content
possible." If those need to be removed to keep Brad and the WMF board
happy, I will oblige. I think that would be unfortunate, however.
--
Robert Scott Horning