[Foundation-l] Dead Sea Scrolls

[Liam Wyatt]

Wikimedia Israel and I met with the Israel Museum in the days immediately
following Wikimania. The specific purpose of that event was to set up a
'Wikipedian in Residence' position at their research centre, starting with a
project to create articles about Israeli artists in English and Hebrew
Wikipedias. This is described in the August "This Month in GLAM" report:
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2011/Contents/Israel_report

Unsurprisingly, when we were giving our introduction presentation about what
Wikimedia does, what we stand for and how we operate, the issue of
Copyright-in-scans-of-Public-Domain-work was raised. Quite directly
actually. We informed the museum on no uncertain terms that Wikimedia's
policy is to follow the Bridgeman v. Corel precedent. They responded that it
is standard practice of the museum industry worldwide to claim copyright in
scans and that Bridgeman is not a precedent in Israel. All of which is true
and correct.

Which brings us back to the same position we have with every museum that
makes these copyright claims. We must stand by our principles and provide
our readers with access to digitised versions of public-domain cultural
heritage (such as the dead sea scrolls) when we have access to them. The
museums must realise this is a key point of both principle and law for us.
However, we must also try to politely stand by these principles in a way
that is not deliberately antagonistic towards the museum - especially
towards museums that are willing to work with us like the Israel Museum is.
We are on the same side when it comes to sharing knowledge and public
education, we just go about it in different ways.

We cannot expect museums to arrive at free-culture-compliant policies in one
day. It will take time to make them comfortable with it. In the mean time it
is our duty to demonstrate the value and advantages of sharing their content
whilst (politely but firmly) criticising the current policies. Maybe one day
our productive relationship with the Israel Museum will eventuate in them
*inviting* us to have an editing-day dedicated to the Dead Sea Scrolls and
will proactively *share* their own multimedia. Who knows? In the mean time,
if you would like to get involved with the Israel Museum project you can
read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/IMJ

-Liam

wittylama.com/blog
Peace, love & metadata