[Air-L] Using screen captures in Thesis paper

[Annette Markham]

Hi Emily,

It's indeed a tricky situation.  Jim makes some important qualifications
for the fair use argument. I'll just add that Fair Use is a U.S. specific
doctrine, applied as an exception to U.S. copyright law.  So this argument
may not apply to your project, depending on where the data is collected as
well as where you're publishing.  It's worth checking on how copyright is
interpreted in your specific contexts.

I encountered some similar difficulty when wanting to publish screenshots
for an academic journal in Denmark. I write a bit about it in this blog
post http://bit.ly/xQjV4l .  I didn't find a solution, in my case, to allow
me to publish screenshots, but I found some good arguments for why it ought
to be allowed.  A good resource for thinking about this issue is the "Code
of best practices for fair use in scholarly research in communication"
created by the International Communication Association.
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-scholarly-research-communication

Annette

*****************************************************
Annette N. Markham, Ph.D.
Guest Professor, Department of Informatics, Umea University, Sweden

amarkham at gmail.com
http://markham.internetinquiry.org/

Co-Editor, International Journal of Internet Research Ethics
http://www.ijire.net <http://www.ijire.net>


On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 5:48 AM, Porter, James E. Dr.
<porterje at muohio.edu>wrote:

> Emily,
>
> The first question I would ask is, Where and how are you planning to
> publish or distribute your research? If you were using these screen shots
> in a doctoral dissertation, that's one kind of use -- and one that I would
> say is more likely covered under educational fair use. If you are planning
> to use these screen shots in a commercial textbook eventually, that's
> another kind of use -- less likely to be viewed as fair use. Most journal
> publishers I know would be reluctant to print screenshots without copyright
> clearance, or without an indemnity clause in the author agreement. The fact
> that you have written the company to request permission both helps you and
> hurts you: Helps you in the respect that it shows a good faith effort to
> secure permission; hurts you in the respect that it presumes the need to
> request permission.
>
> Best,
> Jim Porter
>
>
>
> Hi, Emily and all,
>
> Could Emily make a fair-use argument? Something along the lines
> of--this information is publicly available, and for research purposes,
> it should be permissible for her to include the screenshots with
> proper attribution--I'm not a lawyer or a legal scholar, but perhaps
> some that are on this list might be able to comment?
>
> Peter
>
> On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 10:45 PM, Emily Liu <b941020045 at gmail.com<mailto:
> b941020045 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> While doing my research on the online forum-based interactive gaming site (
> www.gaiaonline.com), I have encountered another problem.
>
> The site's Terms of Service mention that "The visual interfaces, graphics,
> design, compilation, information, computer code, products, software,
> services, and all other elements of Gaia Online provided by Gaia, including
> without limitation any artwork, Gaia virtual items, Gaia Gold, Member
> Submissions, Gaia Member Online Accounts or User IDs, or visual art and any
> combination thereof (all of the foregoing, collectively, the "Materials")
> are protected by copyright, trade dress, patent, and trademark laws,
> international conventions, and all other relevant intellectual property and
> proprietary rights, and applicable laws. Except as expressly authorized by
> Gaia, you agree not to buy, sell, license, distribute, copy, modify,
> publicly perform or display, transmit, publish, edit, adapt, create
> derivative works from, or otherwise make any unauthorized or commercial use
> of the Materials. You agree to abide by all copyright notices, information
> and restrictions contained in any Materials." Yet I need to include
> screenshots of the forum and user avatars in my thesis to illustrate my
> research site and let others understand how forum-based role playing is
> conducted.
>
> I have tried to get authorization to use the site's images by writing to
> their usertalk email, public relations email, and the site moderator, but
> received no replies. In this case, can I still include screen capture
> images in my paper? How should I deal with the issue of copyright or
> authorization?
>
> Thank you
>
> Emily
>
> --
>
> Min-Ju Liu (Emily)
>
> M.A. Student in Applied Linguistics
>
> Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
> National Sun Yat-sen University
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> --
> Peter Joseph Gloviczki, Ph.D.
> http://petergloviczki.com
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>
> ------------------------------------
> James E. Porter
> Professor, Department of English and
> Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies
>
> Department of English
> Bachelor Hall 356A
> Miami University
> Oxford, OH  45056
> email: porterje at muohio.edu
> twitter: http://twitter.com/reachjim
> web:
> http://www.units.muohio.edu/english/People/Faculty/I_P/PorterJames.html
> ------------------------------------
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