Aufderheide, Sinnreich, Imperiale, and Silvernail (2016)
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Source Details
| Aufderheide, Sinnreich, Imperiale, and Silvernail (2016) | |
| Title: | Norms-Shifting on Copyright and Fair Use in The Visual Arts Community |
| Author(s): | Aufderheide, P., Sinnreich, A., Imperiale, L., Silvernail, C. |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Citation: | Aufderheide, P., Sinnreich, A., Imperiale, L., Silvernail, C. (2016). Norms-Shifting on Copyright and Fair Use in The Visual Arts Community. Visual Arts Review (Winter 2018). |
| Link(s): | Open Access |
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| About the Data | |
| Data Description: | The US-based organisation College Art Association (CAA) sent a survey (coded and fielded through Qualtrics platform) to its - more than - 26000 members, and around 2400 responses were registered, so it was a 9% rate. |
| Data Type: | Primary data |
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| Cross Country Study?: | No |
| Comparative Study?: | No |
| Literature review?: | No |
| Government or policy study?: | No |
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Abstract
“This study tracks changes in behavior and attitude among visual arts professionals after the development of a code of best practices in the copyright doctrine of fair use. A survey of 2,400 professionals fielded only months after its publication demonstrated broad awareness of the code, informing practice and inspiring efforts to spread awareness. The greatest degree of awareness and change was among editors, several of whose publications altered their copyright policies. Professional and social networks were critical to spreading awareness. Despite a continuing lack of confidence in interpreting the law among individual professionals, the existence of a code contributed to significant change in norms and practices via institutional adoption. This study demonstrates that codes of best practices can affect field behavior, but that change depends on publicity, formal education, continuing support for early adopters, and institutional policy changes”.
Main Results of the Study
Even after the enactment of the code of best practices on fair use, participants to the survey kept respecting and taking into high consideration copyright, and they mostly relied on seeking permission rather than on fair use. However, when unable to obtain permission, visual arts professionals were now more inclined to apply fair use, although their ultimate preference was to make use of materials located in the public domain, by often modifying their creative choices. In terms of visibility and awareness of the code, respondents stated that the code was deeply discussed among CAA’s members (especially through CAA conferences and publications), with professionals that were more experienced in the field having more knowledge of the code itself. In general, the authors noticed that “with knowledge of fair use comes the power to employ it”, although there is still considerable confusion on how to properly apply fair use and this can hinder creativity practices.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
[[Has intervention-response::The authors believe that when social organisations and institutions, such as museums, universities, and libraries, change and improve their policies, individuals can consequently change their behaviour. And, simultaneously, institutional organisations can do that when individuals make them aware of such change. Therefore, there is the need of a virtuous circle where “[i]nstitutional policy makers and informal social networks must work synergistically to bring about lasting change”.]]
Coverage of Study
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