The social, political and legal aspects of Text and Data Mining (TDM)

The ideas of textual or data mining (TDM) and subsequent analysis go back hundreds if not thousands of years. Originally carried out manually, textual and data analysis has long been a tool which has enabled new insights to be drawn from text corpora. However, for the potential benefits of TDM to be unlocked, a number of non-technological barriers need to be overcome. These include legal uncertainty resulting from complicated copyright, database rights and licensing, the fact that some publishers are not currently embracing the opportunities TDM offers the academic community, and a lack of awareness of TDM among many academics, alongside a skills gap

Cloud law and contract negotiation

The main characteristics of cloud computing services are explained and the clauses typically included in contracts between suppliers and customers of such services are discussed. Storing data on a cloud service can be more comfortable for an organization and cheaper than local storage, but it involves several risks. Recommendations are given on how to negotiate contracts. A list of questions to be asked of cloud service suppliers is provided so that a potential client can take an informed decision and avoid unpleasant surprises

Kathy Peiss, information hunters.

This is a book review of Kathy Peiss, Information hunters by Charles Oppenheim. The author is Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania; her previous books have been about US social history. So why has she now written about, as the book’s subtitle puts it, 'when librarians, soldiers and spies banded together in World War 2 Europe’? As she makes clear, the reason is that she became intrigued by the story of her father, Reuben Peiss and his activities during the Second World War. The result is a fascinating (if slightly flawed) his-tory of how librarians were co-opted into the US war effort – indeed, arguably they were not simply co-opted but rather pushed hard for their involvement

The Cambridge handbook of copyright limitations and exceptions.

This 419-page heavyweight tome comprises 22 chapters contributed by experts, many of them very well known, together with an anonymous brief Preface. The chapters are organised into five parts, which reflect the broad themes covered. The text makes you want to read it cover to cover, rather than what we more commonly do with handbooks, which is to home in on chapters of interest. The topics covered in this collection of essays cover theoretical foundations of exceptions, international aspects, models on exceptions, workings of exceptions, and a final chapter on technology. Despite the book’s title, this not really a handbook, if one uses that term to mean a reference work providing instructions; so why not just remove the first four words of the title? The chapters vary in length from about 10 pages to about 30 pages

Introduction to information science.

This is a review of a book by David Bawden and Lyn Robinson. The book is a second edition, the original having been first published in 2012. The book covers all the aspects of information science theory and practice that a student is likely to encounter. As well as being international in scope, the book is extremely well written, up to date and authoritative

David Stuart, web metrics for library and information professionals. [Book review]

This is the second edition of a book that sold well, but had become somewhat dated with rapid developments in its field. Although primarily aimed at library and information staff, and with the strong implication that this is a field where LIS staff can make themselves indispensable to their employers, this book will also appeal to anyone in other professions who have an interest in web metrics. The book's emphasis on LIS staff reflects the fact that they already engage heavily with online content, and here is an opportunity for LIS staff to demonstrate the impact that individuals and organisations have. The book provides an introduction to the various types of web metrics that can be analysed, and includes examples of software applications for those confident in such things. Each type of web metrics that can be analysed is given its own chapter, and the pros and cons of the use of such metrics – for none of them are perfect – are discussed. The author, who has published many books and research articles in the field, is without doubt an authority on the subject, and his commentary on each type of metric is helpful. Intriguingly, he describes himself as a 'would-be theologian'

Attitudes to the rights and rewards for author contributions to repositories for teaching and learning

In the United Kingdom over the past few years there has been a dramatic growth of national and regional repositories to collect and disseminate resources related to teaching and learning. Most notable of these are the Joint Information Systems Committee’s Online Repository for [Learning and Teaching] Materials as well as the Higher Education Academy’s subject specific resource databases. Repositories in general can hold a range of materials not only related to teaching and learning, but more recently the term ‘institutional repository’ is being used to describe a repository that has been established to support open access to a university’s research output. This paper reports on a survey conducted to gather the views of academics, support staff and managers on their past experiences and future expectations of the use of repositories for teaching and learning. The survey explored the rights and rewards associated with the deposit of materials into such repositories. The findings suggest what could be considered to be an ‘ideal’ repository from the contributors’ perspective and also outlines many of the concerns expressed by respondents in the survey

RoMEO Studies 8: self-archiving: the logic behind the colour-coding used in the Copyright Knowledge Bank

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show how the self-archiving of journal papers is a major step towards providing open access to research. However, copyright transfer agreements (CTAs) that are signed by an author prior to publication often indicate whether, and in what form, self-archiving is allowed. The SHERPA/RoMEO database enables easy access to publishers' policies in this area and uses a colour-coding scheme to classify publishers according to their self-archiving status. The database is currently being redeveloped and renamed the Copyright Knowledge Bank. However, it will still assign a colour to individual publishers indicating whether pre-prints can be self-archived (yellow), post-prints can be self-archived (blue), both pre-print and post-print can be archived (green) or neither (white). The nature of CTAs means that these decisions are rarely as straightforward as they may seem, and this paper describes the thinking and considerations that were used in assigning these colours in the light of the underlying principles and definitions of open access. Approach – Detailed analysis of a large number of CTAs led to the development of controlled vocabulary of terms which was carefully analysed to determine how these terms equate to the definition and “spirit” of open access. Findings – The paper reports on how conditions outlined by publishers in their CTAs, such as how or where a paper can be self-archived, affect the assignment of a self-archiving colour to the publisher. Value – The colour assignment is widely used by authors and repository administrators in determining whether academic papers can be self-archived. This paper provides a starting-point for further discussion and development of publisher classification in the open access environment

Legal issues for information professionals VIII: understanding the recent changes to the law

This article considers the recent changes in UK copyright law and the implications of them for information professionals. It sets the background to why these changes have come about. The most important changes are those on database rights and those resulting from the EU Directive on copyright in the information society. The latter has imposed new rules regarding so-called Technical Protection Systems, Rights Management Information and copyright for commercial research purposes. Suggestions are made for what will qualify as commercial copying or what will not. The article concludes with some thoughts on the management of risk in the current environment